social media

  • Some Quick Thoughts on Meta’s Threads

    At its core, a mostly tech-based social platform is child’s play for any competent developer…but the secret sauce is in people wanting to be there.

    It’s why Mastodon isn’t the heir-apparent to Twitter. That platform is too hard and siloed to figure out. And since it’s not algorithm-based, it feels even emptier.

    It’s why Bluesky isn’t good. That platform is a ghost town because of the Draconian invite system that was last effective for Gmail…a patently non-social platform.

    It’s why Clubhouse, Apple’s Ping, and Google+ ultimately failed.

    And it’s why I think if anything is going to replace Twitter1, it will be Threads.

    First, Threads is made by Meta/Instagram. If you’ll remember, they tried to buy Snapchat for $3BN. When Snapchat declined, Instagram rolled out Stories and more or less ended Snapchat’s meteoric rise to social media power.

    That also means they also have a TON of people…2 Billion I believe…who can easily join the platform, profile, followers and all. No invite needed…just an instagram account.

    They reached 2 million users in 2 hours. That’s the power of leveraging their current Instagram user base.

    Next, because it’s algorithm-based, it feels busy. Maybe a little too busy right now, but that will mellow out.

    But it definitely doesn’t feel like a ghost town, which means people want to be there.

    Finally, they timed it right. This was in the works for a while, but they launched after another tumultuous weekend for Twitter.

    Every time Elon does something stupid, people leave (or at least threaten to). Without a suitable replacement, many end up coming back. Threads feels like that suitable replacement.

    Expect them to iterate quickly. Threads already has some features Instagram users want, like clickable links. But I expect DMs (probably, sadly, through Messenger), hashtags, and a web-based interface to come soon.

    Are you on Threads? Give me a follow, @jcasabona

    1. BIG if. ?
  • I’m Back on Twitter

    I know.

    In some ways, I knew when I wrote the On Leaving Twitter post back in January. Part of me figured I’d be writing this post.

    So after 3+ months of being completely off Twitter, I’m back on.

    Not entirely because I missed it1, but because at CEX I was convinced it’s somewhere I need to be.

    My friend Justin Mooretold me that as a coach, Twitter is where I need to be because that’s where people ask questions.

    In my own experience, that rings true. LinkedIn feels like a place to expound ideas rather that participate in discussion…at least at the moment.

    Twitter feels much more conversational.

    It’s also the place I feel most comfortable posting multiple times a day, and therefore the place where I feel like I can promote things the best.

    So I’m back there. I’ve taken some steps to make it less frustrating, which I’ve outlined for members in an upcoming newsletter, and in a recent episode of How I Built It PRO.

    If you’re still there, you can follow me @jcasabona.

    1. Though there were some aspect I did miss. ?
  • On Leaving Twitter

    I mocked these posts. Made fun of people. Told them at Christmas that no one cares if you leave Twitter1.

    Now I’m writing the post. Banning 3rd party apps, and turning on the “Home” feed (with stuff you didn’t opt-in to seeing) was a bridge too far. It took my carefully curated experience and turned it into a mess of aggravation.

    It was everything I hated about Twitter, that 3rd party apps fixed. Jason Snell put very well my feelings on the matter.

    So I made the tweet. The one you make to pin to your profile, letting people know where they can find you:

    My plan from here it to work on a “micro blog” type of post for this site, and be active on other social platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram.

    I’m not fully on-board with Mastodon yet because it feels like a disjointed mess, but if Ivory by Tapbots2 can fix it, I will consider it.

    The best way to get in touch with me is via email: joe@casabona.org or via ZipMessage.

    1. For the record, I still think that’s true. ?
    2. Who made the incomparable Tweetbot Twitter client ?
  • Putting More Effort into LinkedIn

    The social media platform wars are an ongoing nuisance for content creators. It seems like you need to be on all of them all the time.

    But with claimed that Twitter is dying1, and a potential ban on TikTok from the US Government, the push and pull of where to be continues to be a constant question.

    Upon reflection, I’ve realized that I get the most engagement, growth, and positive leads from LinkedIn. This is likely a result of my niche — marketers and business owners who are serious about making a podcast part of their business — being there primarily.

  • Do we REALLY Need to Own Our Platform?

    Last week’s Facebook outage brought the onslaught of common takes we hear when something like that happens. Calls to go outside, read, achieve world peace — you know, the standard responds. But in the WordPress space, there was also the predictable platitudes about how you should own your own platform. But my question for those people, and something to consider: do we really need to own our own platform?

  • Managing Social Media for a Government Agency with Joseph Galbo

    Just because you’re a government organization doesn’t mean you can’t have a little personality. That’s what my friend Joe Galbo proves day-in and day-out over at the Consumer Products Safety Commission. I’ve wondered for some time how they manage their social media strategy there and Joe’s the brains behind most of the operation. We’ll talk content, memes, data and more, as well as how he can get it all done at the federal level.

    The post Managing Social Media for a Government Agency with Joseph Galbo appeared first on How I Built It .

    Original Source: https://howibuilt.it/managing-social-media-for-a-government-agency-with-joseph-galbo/

  • The Social Media Tools I’m Using

    2018 continues my search for finding a good social media management tool. A while back, I wrote about using Buffer Pro and what its been like for me. I’ve since moved away from the pro version, because there were a few things that I really didn’t like about it. The first was how much manual work was needed for me to repeat posts. The other was a pretty terrible bug that voids URL arguments. That means if I had an affiliate code attached to a link, because Buffer adds their own stuff to the end of a URL for stats, I wouldn’t get credit for links, or purchases. Buffer literally cost me money over Black Friday weekend. Today, my setup is janky at best and I continue evaluating solutions, but here’s what I got.

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  • Thoughts on Buffer Pro after 1 Month

    Moving into 2017 I knew I needed to do more to increase engagement on social media for both WP in One Month & How I Built It. Simply promoting isn’t a great strategy; while I convert most listeners and students through my personal Twitter, I want change that. I tried doing it manually for a while, but it was too time consuming. After toying with the idea, I decided to upgrade to Buffer Pro for a year to see if it would help me while also saving time. About a month in, I have some thoughts.

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  • Interesting Links for January 11, 2013

    It’s not often I will do a links roundup, but as my Facebook and Twitter friends can attest to, I’ve been posting a lot this week. I’ve tried to hold back, but I will post the good ones here. Of-course, this will then get posted to Facebook and Twitter, but hey- better one than like 15, right?

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