My first WT:Social post!
I have always liked Wikipedia, and I do donate $$ to them every year. I like the founders’ concept of user involvement in WP. There were those in the early days that said it could never work, never last, and yet it has. Some colleges and universities have begun to accept Wikipedia-based articles as legitimate, with proper citations. I appreciate that WP carries no advertisements.
I have been a Facebook member for 10 years now. I like it. So many of my friends are on it, and, I have become reacquainted with former high school students I once taught long ago, and formerly long lost family members. There is something positive to be said for an Internet based social network as large as FB. We shall see the growth of WT, or not. Some things don’t catch on as expected. I hope that it does.
Something that many folks might not realize is that there are still pockets of population in the U.S. (and as well, around the world) that live in remote rural areas not served by telephone or broadband Internet. I live in such an area. I have a cell phone, but it is of no use here because there is no cellular service. And no broadband. My Internet connection is via satellite up and down, as is the Internet service for many of my neighbors here. That’s what I’m using right now. After I click “submit”, my data packets will go through my satellite modem, out to the dish, then 28,000 miles up to the “bird” (satellite), then repeated 28,000 miles back down to earth to an Internet gateway somewhere, and finally, to anyone reading this message. It’s pretty magic. It’s also pretty expensive 🙁
So, with no phone, I keep in touch with my friends and neighbors who also choose to live in and around this remote area, and others living in the cities via Facebook messenger, or email. We’ll have to see how many flock to WT:Social. I’ll still keep my FB account running. As far as so-called “clickbait”, it doesn’t really apply to me because I never click, so I take no bait. I’m a savvy surfer on the ‘net.
Thinking back on the evolution of the Internet (the public version, not DARPA), I remember moving from dial-up BBS (bulletin board services) to browser-based Internet when AOL came out. If you’re old enough, you may remember those endless CDs showing up in your post box inviting you to join AOL for… what was it, $7/month? Can’t remember. Steve Case was the CEO, and I can remember emailing him about a problem I was having with AOL, and he personally replied. I also remember when he sent out a bulk email, announcing with great joy that AOL had achieved a membership of 10,000! Whoa! I still kept up with my BBS dial-up accounts, but AOL was the new force in town. The BBS often required long distance telephone charges, whereas AOL with it’s web browser utility did not. It wasn’t long before the vast majority of BBS sites went away. There are still a few with toll-free phone numbers for those still on dial-up.
So, the evolution of the Internet user experience in a nutshell. I will be active here on WT, and will look forward to others coming aboard. I will spread the news at our tiny town post office tomorrow. That’s our “nerve center” of the town. Which, BTW, is Darwin, CA. Look it up just for fun.
Namaste, Max