I’m not on social media much any more. I’m sure that is a net positive but it is a bit sad. I miss the best parts of it.

Instagram

Instagram died for me on the day it went to an algorithmic feed years ago. I can’t handle that. Maybe I’m just contrary but I want to see the people who I have chosen to follow. I want to see what they post in the order they posted it. I don’t want to see random stuff. Maybe I would like it again if I had the personality where I could just mindlessly scroll to see what was there. Maybe I could do that if every other post wasn’t an ad.

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I super very much hate targeted ads. I hate them so very much because they work on me so very well. I always think that everything looks cool and because I am cheap and don’t like to spend money on things that I don’t actually want to own, I don’t want to look at targeted ads.

I tried to look at Instagram the other day and was instantly bored out my mind. So many people are using Instagram as their primary social media these days and I just don’t get how. They say, “Follow me on Instagram to see my updates” and I know if I did I’d never see their posts because they’d be buried by the algorithm.

TikTok

I tried TikTok. I made some videos and I liked the video editing part of it. But I just couldn’t find my people there.

  • Most of the people were talking about YA and I just do not care about the category
  • Most of the people were OBSESSED with “spice” in a book. I avoid sex in books if at all possible but I don’t care if other people want to read it. It was the constant use of childish euphemisms instead of saying the word sex and the assertion that sexual content = a good book that made me cringe.
  • I hated the aesthetic choice to show the blank edges of books all the time. I’d scroll and it would be bland beige videos one after the other. At least Instagram had pretty pictures.

Facebook

I only use Facebook for keeping up with people I have to keep up with in real life and for following groups that don’t meet any other way. Facebook seems more like work than fun.

Twitter

I loved book twitter. I only read the people I followed and I didn’t follow anyone who had any drama so Twitter was a happy place for me. I left in November 2022 when things were starting to get ugly.

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Mastodon

I moved over to Mastodon for my twitter-like fix. I like it because it has the things that are the most important to me – no ads and no algorithm. There is a decent book community there. I cross post my posts there.

*Waves to Mastodon people*

I get some good recommendations. But the thing is, I feel fine with not checking Mastodon for a few days. I’m sure that’s a sign of maturity and good mental health but as a person who used to check Twitter multiple times a day, it feels a bit weird.

YouTube

I watch a lot of YouTube. But I never watch book YouTube. Maybe I just never found my people. Maybe I just don’t like to watch people talk about books because I would rather read about books. It takes less time. I find myself muttering, “Get to the point” if I’m watching a video. Maybe I’m just becoming a cranky old person. I guess I’m just a blog person at heart.

Do you have any book (or other) social media you really enjoy now? I’ll look for your answers in between yelling at the young whippersnappers to get off my lawn.