Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)Dec 31, 2023
Ian's update on Xitter alts.
✴️Twitter. Hellsite. Old account now wiped. Presence maintained.
✳️Spoutible. Nice. Polite. Very US-centric. Pulling back.
✴️Threads. Forgot I had an account. Juts started using. Too early to tell
✳️Bluesky. Fine so far
✴️Masto. Best engagement
Show threadIan M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)Dec 31, 2023
Feels like nothing has all the features of Xitter, be it lack of DMs, online animated gifs, good formatting of threads, quote tweeting, simple sign up or good oversight and moderation to limit anger, misinfo & harm. Hopefully the sharp edges will get smoothed off one in 2024.
Show threadIan M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)
For the moment, I'll keep posting across multiple platforms (now 4😮‍💨).
Followers help (Masto(5600)>>BS(1400)>>Spoutible(570)>>Threads(37), as do boosts\retweets both of which I now lack. But I remember that same feeling a decade ago so I'll keep working on it.
Dec 31, 2023 at 11:14pmElk
Show threadIan M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)Dec 31, 2023
I'll try & pick up the blog writing in 2024, but mostly niche writing for myself as a blog only gets a few hundred initial reads, so the feeling of urgency/service is no longer there.
Challenges ahead if I want to keep aiming to fulfil any fantasy of a science communication role
Show threadIan M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)Dec 31, 2023
I've learned lots being on social media for >10yrs, but the change due to a proper pandemic (sorry H1N1), aligned with chaotic billionaire playboys & ongoing deliberate human division have been the most significantly harmful for SciComm to date. Not sure where we're heading.
Show threadDr Pieter PeachDec 31, 2023
@mackayim2022 Wherever it is where heading one thing is for certain, and that’s that there is no social media utopia. It’s a constant evolution of the ecosystem. I think back to this 2009 blog post I wrote as Twitter was just beginning to gain wider adoption and how far we’ve come, but clearly still have to go to ensure reason ultimately wins out over nefarious intent. https://web.archive.org/web/20160812124113/http://www.ppeach.com/blog/2009/04/increasing-signal-to-noise-on-h1n1swine-flu/
Pieter Peach » Increasing signal-to-noise on H1N1/Swine flu

Show threadIan M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)Dec 31, 2023
@PieterPeach Nice.
Show threadoldguycrustyJan 1, 2024

@mackayim2022

The energetic denialism of what seems like objective reality sometimes feels like we are moving towards a sort of new Dark Ages, but with overwhelming volumes of 'data-and-noise-but-not-information'.

#propaganda
#Denialism
#MagicalThinking
#Tribalism
#Cultism
#AntiIntellectualism

Show threadKath MurphyJan 1, 2024
@mackayim2022 Hello. Found you.