Yes, I’m already on Mastodon. I knew I joined back in 2016 when it was clear Jack had no idea where to take Twitter next. Mastodon is fun now that more people are joining. I don’t hate that it’s hard to find people; that was part of the fun of Twitter originally. What’s better is that it’s 2023, not 2008.
My approach to Mastodon is simple: how can I rebuild the experience I had with early Twitter, focused on smart people I actually know who might even be local to me and secondly, musicians and music critics I enjoy.
This experience has been chastening. I committed unreasonable hours to relentlessly refreshing Twitter. Now that I’ve quit cold turkey, I’m embarrassed I didn’t do it sooner. More embarrassing is the recognition of all the parasocial relationships I built as an outgrowth of my career.
Professionally, it hasn’t made a difference. There are other tools to let me know if something is happening at work. I don’t need to be on the bleeding edge of breaking news — for everything — around the clock. What I’ve been able to gather from peers is much the same as my experience: Twitter has long been a low-performance social platform for most brands, especially those that don’t have a customer service function.
How many brands started chasing their “Dunk in the Dark” moment 10 years ago and it never happened for them? My viral tweet is literally about taking down a Christmas tree! Why did this seem so vital for so long?