the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke

I have given up completely on Twitter. Nothing to do with the new owner, more because it seemed to have become a cesspit of abuse, and it was also getting flooded with things that it seemed to think that I would like. I must, at some point, remove the Twitter element on this page, but do not seem to be able to find time at present. Maybe it’s a job that I can fit in on holiday later in the year.

I do have a couple of Instagram accounts linked to aspects of my life, but don’t use either of them now and I really ought to get rid of both. TikTok I have n to tried and see no reason to bother with and whilst I still look in on LinkedIn and have been accepting requests to join my network, I don’t bother to look much at what is going on. I really only keep it so that I can nose around and see what people I know are up to.

Facebook, which at one time I derided, I do look in on daily, but I really ought to get rid of some of my Pages there as I just don’t use them that often. Once again, they were set up for use in a business sense, to establish a social media presence, but that need is now past. Just as I cleaned up other aspects of my web profile, there is more to do. One of the problems is that the platforms often make it hard to shut things down. I get to the stage where I can’t be bothered.

On Facebook there are a number of groups that I follow where things that interest me are shown, but even there there can be some nasty stuff published.there are times when I think that anti-social media is a better description. I don’t care if people abuse me on any of my posts. They are entitled to their opinions, and if they think that I am wrong they can say so. If they do so in an abusive manner then that is their problem and it shows them up for what they are. I am not shrinking violet and have been called all sorts of things to my face – I was a soccer referee at one time. But, on the whole, I prefer to keep such unpleasantry out of my life and so tend to leave groups where that sort of behaviour is unmoderated.

One of the other things that I do not like is the level of plagiarism. The same photo, often with the same text will get re-posted in other groups and, when challenged, will get the response “Well, I thought people here would like it”. Maybe, but it would have been nice to have asked first. There is also the promulgation of wrong information, not necessarily through malice, but ignorance.

Social media may be a benefit to some. It certainly is a profitable business, but it is something that I have moved away from and that is why you’ll find I am not out there as much as I once was.