It's even worse than it appears..
Monday, November 7, 2022
They should make it easier for average users to buy ads on Twitter. Probably huge amounts of money locked up there.#
I am davew@mastodon.social. Just followed some people and posted some notes. It's a lot faster today than it was the other day. I guess I have to figure out their API so I can post my linkblog items there. Or maybe someone else can help with that? Mastodon should support inbound RSS. Then we could just use RSS to hook the two worlds up. Bridges are very good things. #
Just went through the prefs system on Mastodon. Very professionally done, as good as anything anywhere. This doesn't feel like open source software, or put another way, it's nice to see open source software with commercial-level user interface.#
Developers, if you're ever wondering how FeedLand is handling a certain feed, you can give it to this app, and it'll show you, in JSON. #
The big value of Twitter is the social graph, and that's what will keep you coming back. Same thing with FB. I never built a graph on LinkedIn or Instagram, so I don't give a shit, personally, about those networks. Of course many others do. #
Neil deGrasse Tyson asks "If women ran the country, and they passed laws affecting men’s reproductive organs, I wonder what the men would do?" I replied: We would sue them. Americans are individuals. If that means anything, I must be the ruler of myself. There is a border, beyond which no one goes w/o my permission, including the government. That border is my body. Even a Republican should understand that. #
I heard on the news last night that if Repubs win Secretary of State in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, it won't be the voters who choose the next president, these officials would. But that's more or less what happened in 2000.#
It's the social graph dummy#
  • The big value of Twitter is the social graph, and that's what will keep you coming back.#
  • Same thing with FB.#
  • I never built a graph on LinkedIn or Instagram, so I don't give a shit, personally, about those networks. Of course many others do.#
  • It's like the network of charging stations Tesla has, only more so, because we the users created them, with some help from twitter (suggested follows, e.g.)#
  • Before anyone leaves Twitter we must be sure we can take our place in the graph with us.#
  • And basically that graph should not be owned by a company. #
  • The graph is almost like the US Postal Service before the web came along.#
  • Long ago when the journos were debating how to break up FB, at the time I was saying that FB should be split into two entities, the social graph and everything else. #
  • Every other developer would be able to use the graph on the same terms as FB part 2.#
  • We're there again, I don't expect the journos to listen to me now any more than they did then.#
  • Here's the punchline. I'm going to put it in uppercase so you can see it.#
    • IF THE SOCIAL GRAPH WERE A PUBLIC RESOURCE, RIGHT NOW SWITCHING OFF TWITTER WOULD BE A TOTAL NON-EVENT. #
    • LIKE CHANGING YOUR ADDRESS WITH THE POST OFFICE TO HAVE YOUR MAIL FOWARDED. #
  • Thanks for listening.#

Last update: Wednesday November 9, 2022; 9:12 AM EST.

You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)