I've had social media accounts since 2009 when I was at the ripe old age of 15. Technically, I'd been using Tumblr since around 2007, but it never really fit the classification of social media in my eyes. The same goes for my relationship with YouTube, which I think I've used since 2007 as well.
But, back to my dalliances with "traditional" social media. I convinced my parents to allow me to use Facebook in 2009 because I needed to stay connected to the many groups I was a part of in high school. I also secured a Twitter account around the same time, but it was to follow celebrities. Since then, I've become very involved with Instagram, using it the most out of all the platforms I am a part. I also use TikTok, but that's mainly to rot my brain with cute animal videos and random memes.
In the wake of the disastrous election results last month, I finally decided to stop using Twitter (I will never call it the silly name Elon gave it when he bought the site and tanked it). I decided to replace it with two other predominantly text-based social sites: Threads and Bluesky.
Instead of doom-scrolling, Threads and Bluesky have me joy-scrolling again. Instead of being inundated with ads for crypto, my feeds are filled with animals, books, and all things nerd. It's fantastic. My posts on Threads have also gained widely more traction than anything on Twitter ever did, even though I had 4 times as many followers over there.
Of course, the odd "I've come to own the libs in their own echo chamber" post will randomly appear, but they are in the minority and easy to ignore. If these websites are indeed echo chambers for the left, I would rather be there, surrounded by light and laughter, than in a place synonymous with hatred and greed.
While I'm mostly using Threads as a nerd outlet, I'm attempting to use Bluesky as a place to build connections in the literary and writing world. Besides my likes (a playground of my regular chaos), my posts are either library or literary-focused, and most of the accounts I follow are publishers, literary agents, library professionals, and writers. I've received little interaction so far, but a girl has to start somewhere!
As I have marketing experience at the library, the idea of "building a brand" is not a foreign concept to me. It just freaks me out when it's associated with a person and self-promotion, not to mention myself! I understand that it is necessary, especially if I decide to go indie with publishing. The key for me will be continuing to be my weird and quirky little self, and throwing in a lemur reference or two.
What social media platforms do you prefer to use? Have you given either Threads or Bluesky a try yet?
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