Tag: Social Media
#oneaday Day 795: Titties - deal with them
There's been Discourse happening today! Specifically on that strange intersection between the "cosy" and "wholesome" spaces, and weird misogynistic, sexphobic, neo-Puritanical behaviour. Much has been written by people much smarter than me about how the "cosy" and "wholesome" spaces are actually not all that wholesome at all -- and in fact can harbour some of...
On Social (Dis)Connection
A couple evenings ago Jennie and I ran into the lovely and inspiring Gariele, Brandon, and their daughter, Aria, riding through our neighborhood. Conversation turned to the early days of our connection, over a decade ago, facilitated by [Instagram, where this post originally appeared]. Back when [IG] - and its kin - were described as social networks, rather than social media. Connections prioritized over content. There was such a wonderful crew of VanIsle creators and advocates on here back then, sharing stories about their love for this place and the experience it affords. And the thing is, they’re still here … just a little older, many with growing kids, all no less inspiring … but a little less (algorithmically) connected.
In the age of LLMs it is desperately important to be able to mute blogs and filter websites.
And that's rare.
Alternative tech
Over the past couple of years, I have undertaken an exercise of sorts to reduce my dependence on American tech giants. Inspired by others, I thought I'd pen a short post on what services I've moved and where.
Mystery as woman feared murdered: Alleged killers’ chilling WhatsApp posts shock Malawi
A Mzuzu woman is feared to have been murdered. Chilling WhatsApp posts allegedly published by her attackers have left Malawians in shock. The woman, identified as 30-year-old Rita Mkandawire, has not been seen since the disturbing messages began circulating on Wednesday. The messages, allegedly posted using Mkandawire's own phone, claim she has been killed. They...
Bizarre fetish leaks stun Malawi
A wave of leaked explicit videos exposing bizarre sexual fetishes has rocked Malawi. The clips are spreading rapidly across social media platforms. The shocking videos have sparked outrage and renewed concerns over revenge porn, online privacy and the non-consensual sharing of intimate material. The leaks our reporter has seen depicts a range of disturbing sexual...
Curfews, Drones, and Criminal Charges: Cities Differ on Approaches to ‘Teen Takeovers’
Experts say race and class factor heavily in perceptions of these gatherings, which are fueled by social media and can involve thousands.
Adopting standard.site
RSS is back, and it's atmospheric
The UK’s New Under-16 Social Media Ban Will Cause More Harm Than It Prevents
Recently, politicians in the UK pushed forward with plans to eviscerate privacy and free speech on the internet by announcing a ban on social media for users under 16 that is set to take effect in Spring 2027. The UK government continues to falsely characterize this policy as a necessary response to growing concerns about...
A Full Guide to Properly Delete Corporate Social Media Accounts
Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, X, Reddit, Discord. Eight platforms, eight different deletion policies. A full technical walkthrough of what 'delete' actually means on each one, the prep work nobody tells you to do first, and the human-side work the documentation doesn't mention.
Being Online is Worth It Sometimes
A couples of months, I got some stickers from this platform thanks to . As of now, they're both plastered on my laptop and water bottle. This isn't the first that I got sent something from anyone online, but this definitely got me thinking about my presence all over the place, digitally. A good chunk of my time online has just been me expanding that digital footprint by feeding it the growth I had throughout my upbringing. All the lessons learned, all the changes in different parts of my identit...
Entering the Atmosphere
Not an exciting post, but theoretically, this blog post should cross-post to Bluesky and exist in some way in the AT Protocol atmosphere. Maybe that is exciting!
The Case Against Share Buttons
Back in The New Leaf Journal's early days, I had share buttons on my articles. I eventually removed them in part because I did not think they added anything useful to my site and in part because of a certain Pinterest incident. I had not thought about them in some time, but I nevertheless read...
AI Slop About Medieval London
I was linked to a site called Fake History Hunter a few weeks ago. The author, a former historical consultant, uses her site to debunk fake history in media. In AI review: Time Witnessed, she takes apart, frame-by-frame, some AI-generated TikTok monstrosity purportedly placing the influencer in a fictional version of Medieval London conjured by...
#oneaday Day 736: The sewage of social media
In the hunt for Oliver, I have been obliged to make use of two sites that I have, up until now, generally avoided using at all costs -- those being Facebook and Nextdoor. And my experiences attempting to make use of them now they might actually be useful have not done much to change my...
Missing Brand Music Video Ads
According to a May 27, 2026 report in Marketing Brew by Katie Hicks titled Why so many brands are releasing music videos, " it seems brand-created music videos are making a comeback as marketers are increasingly feeling pressure to create organic, original content to break through on social, particularly with younger audiences." This was news...
Verbinde deinen Blog mit der ATmosphere – das ATmosphere Plugin
Am 20.05.2026 war es soweit. Das Plugin für die Verbindung des Wordpress Blogs zur ATmosphere war verfügbar und natürlich habe ich es mir direkt installiert. Mit der ATmosphere als solche habe ich mich ja bereits schon einmal ausgiebig beschäftigt. Und ich meine auch die Logik dahinter so Pi mal Daumen verstanden zu haben. eurosky –...
Das Ende der digitalen Leibeigenschaft: Warum das AT-Protokoll und W Social deine Website wieder zur Zentrale machen
Das dezentrale Web formiert sich neu: Mit dem AT-Protokoll und Plattformen wie W Social bricht die Ära der Content-Souveränität an. Webseitenbetreiber nutzen ihre eigene Domain als Social-Media-Handle und speisen Artikel direkt via WordPress-Plugin in den weltweiten Datenstrom ein – ganz ohne blockierende Gatekeeper und Algorithmen-Willkür.
#oneaday Day 722: Entering the ATmosphere
I read yesterday that several blogging platforms are integrating the "AT protocol" or whatever it's called that powers services like Bluesky and the like, and one of those was WordPress. So today's post is primarily a big ol' test to see whether or not that functionality, implemented via the ATmosphere plugin, actually works, and whether...
Connected to the ATmosphere
My social media hangout of choice is Bluesky - now, this website talks to it. I think. WordPress have released an ATmosphere plugin allowing me to post directly to Bluesky from here, and maybe even suck comments back in, using the protocol Bluesky is built on. I, er, think that's good?
My Return to Insanity
I've written plenty of times about how, toward the end of 2024, I left most mainstream social media platforms. Especially those that were run by people that could be categorized as being part of what I call our “Broligarchy,” i.e. the tech bros that run companies like Meta and X (formerly Twitter). I cleaned out my accounts on Instagram, Threads, and X, and even fully took my Facebook and WhatsApp accounts off life support entirely by fully deleting them. I found a new home on places like Bluesk...
Bye bye Bridgy Fed – Bridge zu Bluesky deaktivieren
Wie ich vor einigen Monaten beschrieben hatte, kann man föderierte Inhalte aus dem Fediverse über eine Bridge auch mit der ATmosphere teilen: Das ActivityPub Plugin – Eine Bridge zu Bluesky Nun gibt es das neue Plugin ATmosphere, welches nicht nur den Blog mit meiner Identität verknüpft, sondern auch, ähnlich wie bei dem ActivityPub Plugin, Reaktionen...
Practicing not fighting on the Internet.
It doesn't happen often, but sometimes somebody makes a post here on Bear Blog that I totally hate. Maybe I think their analysis of politics is not very good, or they're making some harsh judgements about a field of work or study they (in my estimation) don't really understand. Maybe they're painting with a very broad brush and their worldview is just too limited or depressed to really back up their statements (in my opinion). Since this is a social network of a sort, it is very tempting to make...
From Bluesky to Blacksky
Part of my online presence has a new home, and why it matters.
eYou – eine neue Social Media Plattform
Am Dienstag habe ich eine kurze Bemerkung auf Bluesky gelesen, dass es eine neue Social Media Plattform geben soll. Und zwar eine mit Sitz in Europa: eYou Nun, man muss zwar nicht immer alles ausprobieren, aber mir war danach. Insofern stelle ich dir hier nun diese Plattform vor. Erste Veröffentlichung: 15.05.2026, letztes Update: 06.08.2026 eYou.social...
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