I’ve ignored this blog and website for a really long time. Nearly all of my energy has been pointed toward the success of Panda Mony Toy Brands and our first line Alter Nation, but now is not the time to ignore whatever platform a person might have.
I’m really unhappy with standard social media platforms. I use them for advertising 99% of the time, that’s it. I don’t feel closer to people, I don’t feel like I’m staying in touch, it feels very cynical, and I can get a shocking amount of information about tens of millions of people just by buying a $5 ad. People in technology know how scary it is and how the algorithm can be used to less than honest ends, but I don’t know that everyone really gets it. The echo chamber makes it really easy to not care. But there are things happening in the world that we have to care about, and we need to care a lot. Facebook/Instagram/Twitter aren’t giving me the tools I need to make the kind signal I want to make. Audience, yes, but I need to get that audience away from their platform so the message isn’t diluted by all the noise.
So, rather than scream into the void I’m coming back here. I can use social media the way I’m comfortable using it – as an advertising platform – and get the message out in a different way.
I don’t know how well this will work, but this is a time of change and experimentation, so I’m going to experiment.
You’ve eloquently expressed what I’m feeling, too. I’m taking a month off Facebook and Twitter, despite having a podcast and a new book to promote. Not only does promotion and online advertising feel like shouting into a hurricane, it feels somehow inappropriate. Outraged posts seem to serve only to divide us further — but where else can the disenfranchised safely protest? In the time of riot police, tear gas, and COVID-19, people are relying even more on social media as an outlet. Which I think, ironically, dilutes its power to scale with the intensity of emotion. I appreciate your long form posts, and I admire your willingness to share openly on your blog. I hesitate to share my political views on my own blog. Partially because I probably just need to listen. But also probably out of a sense of self-preservation. It is hard to find the balance.
I get it, being a helpful ally right now is key. Rene and I are trying to throw our weight behind the things we can without just grasping at everything all at once. It’s a measured response, but I want to have the emotional and physical stamina to keep up this fight after the initial burst ‘cuz this isn’t going to be over any time soon.
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