Post #1151132

2026-04-06 13:25 UTC

I think if we’re honest with ourselves, the “service” most reporters provide on social media is entirely self-serving. A one-way firehose of signal boosting and self promotion. “Look at me! I wrote this story. Click on it!” And then you ask them a question, or have a correction, and nobody reads it, because Wired doesn’t care about building a community, just reaching a consumer. It’s fire and forget. We already have a tool for that, it’s RSS. What value does reposting a link here provide?

Replies (9)

@odd@mstdn.social 2026-04-06 13:34

@Haste@mastodon.social I wasn't on Twitter before its downfall, but from what I've heard I got the impression that microblogging was a two-way street with journalists, scientists and 'common' folk. It probably was more like you are suggesting though. But it does make me wonder if early Twitter really was less self-serving in a way.

Open ##1151131
@badri@snipetteville.in 2026-04-06 17:46

@Haste makes a lot of sense! And I think this is a good place for reporters too, but not reporters as *reporters* but reporters as *people* if you know what I mean. Just the same way people from any other profession is welcome Leave the promotion behind on the other places where it (as fate would have it belongs) and come here when you want to engage with people

Open ##1151135
@crazyeddie@mastodon.social 2026-04-06 14:11

@Haste I'm imagining a whole lot of reasons why you could expect better turnaround from social media posts, even if you treat it just like a feed and never reply to anything. Primarily engagement--like my blog probably won't get any attention not only because it sucks but also because there's no way to engage with it. Until I fix that I'm probably wasting time. I can add comments to my site but that's going to be a new service they have to join or I'm enabling social media commentary.

Open ##1708519
@Dianora@ottawa.place 2026-04-06 14:25

@Haste Precisely why I eschew accounts with many followers but few followed. If I want news, I will read it elsewhere. Exchange of ideas not lectures is what I am after.

Open ##1708520
@whatanerd@social.treehouse.systems 2026-04-06 15:23

@Haste I've run into a small handful of reporters and journalists who've done that, along with a few other content creators who... don't really engage with folks but are here to just drop self-promo and that's that. I don't really mind certain kinds of self-promo (e.g., "I wrote a thing!" or "I made a thing!"), especially when it's nested within genuine interaction or other interesting posts (even if it's shitposting with another person). I love seeing people drop their art (whatever it is) or writing, and it's given me a lot of cool and new perspectives I haven't otherwise found. But I think if more journalists and reporters actually engaged with people, it might alleviate (not solve) the issue of how a bunch of 'em forgot who they claim they write for and inform. It might even get a few to stop doing disinformation or strong one-sided perspectives of news stories (e.g., when all of their info for a story comes primarily from cops or corporate mouthpieces without further looking into it).

Open ##1708521
@OliviaVespera@spacey.space 2026-04-06 15:47

@Haste I guess to talk about it with other folks. But then again how often do I do that with articles I read. it just feels like personal isolated self development. Where do you go from there when you read an article?

Open ##1708522
@pwloftus@pwl.farted.net 2026-04-06 16:13

@Haste it’s so much easier for them to negotiate a deal with a central owner of non-federated social media to artificially force their posts into your view. That doesn’t work here if there is an instance devoted to fire and forget with no community participation I’d personally block it at the instance level. It’s amazing to me that corporations have positions for social media posters but not necessarily participatory users. It’s all about an initial hook, click and view counts. I don’t care who sees my posts here some are just into the void. I can be as weird as I want to be. Also I have no relatives that call when I post ambiguous song lyrics worried about my mental health.

Open ##1708527
@wjmaggos@liberal.city 2026-04-06 16:55

@Haste good social media is RSS with boosts and replies. I primarily want to follow lots of people who will then surface the best articles so I don't have to subscribe to everyone's RSS feed. and see some discussion.

Open ##1708529
@dalias@hachyderm.io 2026-04-06 17:33

@Haste Back on :birdsite:, I felt like they did provide a service. They cited their own articles, but adversarially to the publications they worked for - poking through the clickbait and bullshit headlines, telling the stories of what they cared about, how they researched the story, etc. that they weren't allowed to do in the actual publication. Now, all they do is act as mouthpieces for the companies they work for. 🤮

Open ##1708530