Paul Jacobson

Tag: social media

  • Reminders why blogs remain relevant despite social media

    Reminders why blogs remain relevant despite social media

    Chris Maiorana published a post highlighting why blogs remain relevant despite social media, perhaps because of social media.

  • The greatest propaganda machine in history

    The greatest propaganda machine in history

    Sacha Baron Cohen recently spoke about how social media services have become the “greatest propaganda machine in history”. Much of the media’s focus, when reporting on his remarks, was on his attack on Facebook. While he certainly targeted Facebook, he also spoke about how Google, YouTube, and Twitter shape online discourse, and how they help…

  • “Are our present social media posts going to mortify our kids in the future?”

    “Are our present social media posts going to mortify our kids in the future?”

    One of the challenges of being a parent in a time where we can share so much of our lives on social media is deciding how much to share about our kids. I decided to stop sharing much more than tidbits about our kids online a year or two ago. One of the reasons I…

  • Like Twitter, but for reading (and not in a good way)

    Like Twitter, but for reading (and not in a good way)

    Jamie Rubin recently wrote about abridgement going too far when it comes to books in his post “Abridge, Too Far“. I’ve been thinking about abridgments lately because of an ad that keeps popping up on Facebook. It’s for a service called Blinkist. The service claims it allows you to “fit reading into your life.” It…

  • Blogging is the antidote to social media woes

    Blogging is the antidote to social media woes

    I like this approach, it’s what I’ve been doing for a little while now: If you are frustrated with the state of social networks, I recommend blogging more. I love seeing new blogs and photo blogs just as we’re having a serious debate in the mainstream about social networks. The way out isn’t easy, but…

  • Is social media awful by design?

    Is social media awful by design?

    I’ve only just started reading Mark O’Connell’s article in the New Yorker titled “The Deliberate Awfulness of Social Media“, but this part stood out for me. The problem is the business model based on the manipulation of individual behavior. Social-media platforms know what you’re seeing, and they know how you acted in the immediate aftermath…

  • Saying goodbye to Twitter

    This is starting to feel like an apt description of so much social media these days: Social media has become death by a thousand angry micro-posts. Maybe it’s time to get away.

  • Should Tumblr be the next Twitter? I hope not.

    Should Tumblr be the next Twitter? I hope not.

    I can’t help but think that Jeremy Gordon’s call for people to return to Tumblr after abandoning Twitter misses the point a bit. But on Tumblr, people could go on for at long as they needed to, a valuable tool for posters who could actually justify it. (And I use the past tense here in…