Social is Hard

Social media has been a great asset to my career. It has helped me build new relationships, keep on top of trends in IT, and generally be that co-worker sitting across from me. I have worked from home for at least as long as I worked from an office. I often miss the social aspect of working in an office environment, so platforms like Twitter make me feel connected.

I've been on Twitter since April 2008. I have spent years building a community. But like many of you lately, I've had to reconsider Twitter since its change in management. I no longer fear the imminent technical collapse of Twitter. But I am having second thoughts about supporting the platform under the current management.

I never had a problem filtering content and keeping the noise down. That's still not an issue today. Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of trust.

I used to trust that Twitter would maintain some degree of order. You can't yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, and you shouldn't knowingly promote disinformation. It doesn't matter what color you are. Blue disinformation is as bad as red, and Twitter had at least something in place.

This trust also extends to the no-win situation of banning accounts. Again, I don't care which side of the aisle you are on; if you crossed Twitter's reasonably written, in my opinion, guidelines, you should no longer have a seat at the table.

But today, all bets are off. Whether due to staff cuts or Elon's whims, Twitter is a public no man's land where almost anything goes. That's also part of the problem. There's no telling what Twitter will allow or ban on a given day. The platform feels arbitrary, fickle, and unpredictable. In short, I don't trust Twitter, the platform. I also do not trust or support Elon Musk, and today, Twitter and Mr. Musk are one in the same.

I've decided to take most of my social media activity to Mastodon. There is a growing PowerShell community. You can follow me at https://techhub.social/@JeffHicks. My Twitter account will remain open and active. I have some automation in place I will keep for now. I'll probably still post on Twitter occasionally. I have no plans to abandon the monthly PowerShell PSTweetChat, although I might experiment with something similar on Mastodon.

Social media remains an important part of my career and my personal life. I've reached a point where I had to make a philosophical decision about supporting Twitter. And yes, I know I am hedging my bets. One reason I am maintaining at least a lower Twitter profile is that my community of followers isn't leaving Twitter and value the content I share.

You can also find links to my online activities at https://jdhitsolutions.github.io/ and https://linktr.ee/jdhitsolutions.

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