Beyond Meta
When Social Media Is No Longer Social
Systemic Issues
The ongoing exodus to Bluesky continues apace now that Meta has joined the band of untouchables, along with Musk’s X. The search continues for an online utopia, where you can see, speak and hear no evil. This quest seems destined to fail, given the fact that any social network involves humans.
Apart from stirring previously dormant moral outrage, I am not sure that Musk has made X much worse: Twitter had been a cesspit for years, enabling users – including the likes of the Taliban – to microblog their oppression of others. Now? X is still a cesspit, but its stink is less diverse. That said, perhaps Bluesky reeks too, with dangerously high levels of smug. For now, anyway.
The Last Post
After 12 years, and with nearly 4,000 followers, I closed up shop on my Facebook business page this month. How would the small village I had nurtured survive, I pondered? Easily, it turns out. Just 12 people mourned the last post containing my farewell. And one of these was my mother-in-law, who gets my WhatsApps anyway and lives five minutes away.
My timing unwittingly coincided with other people leaving Facebook for moral reasons.