Derek Sivers kicked off a movement of people publishing Now pages on their websites to share what they’re focused on right now, and I think that’s a cool idea, so here’s mine!
- My permanent “social networking” home is now in the fediverse (currently here on IndieWeb.social). I am done with corporate media. Done.
- I am legitimately angry at what corporate media did to the internet. I can still remember the “blogosphere” of the 2000s. I was never super “famous” as a blogger, but I gladly participated in it and even won an award! (I even still have the graphic:)
- Was it perfect? No, of course not. Nobody’s suggesting that we roll back the clock and “go back” somehow to a nostalgic past. What are are saying however is that the web was on a certain trajectory, and then this glorious open platform—warts and all—got hijacked by the Facebooks and Twitters of the world (and now TikTok which is a platform I consider to be pure evil), and that’s enough. We’re through. We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore! (reference)
- The only corporate media platform I remain a part of now is YouTube, and I am actively taking steps to wean off of relying on it for much of anything in terms of my own “personal brand” or content strategy. I’ll continue to use it for as long as it makes sense to use it purely as one of my content distribution outlets, but I am by no means under the illusion I will remain there indefinitely. (Fun fact: did you know that RSS-based video podcasts are still a thing? I’ll be writing up a whole article about this soon!)
- Eventually I’ll get back to, y’know, posting actual content instead of talking about posting content (the meta-narratives on blogs & social media right now are through the roof), but I think we all deserve to relish this moment in late 2022 and come to grips with the fact that the open web never went away. It’s been here the whole time. We were just blind to the importance of preserving it and nurturing it at all costs. We thought corporations could learn how to be good citizens on the web, and that the benefits of “centralized” content outweighed the risks. We were wrong. And now a MASSIVE course correction is finally underway. Finally.
