The Reciprocation Expectation
There's something about publishing blog posts on mainstream platforms that I've never liked. It never used to exist, and has only come about because platforms happened. It's the unwritten expectation that if somebody shows interest in your writing, you should show interest in theirs too.
Don't get me wrong – many people don't really mind if you read or not (I think I fall into this camp) – they are writing more to empty their head, and because they enjoy writing – they are not writing to attract an audience, or to build a social network. As in all things I suppose there is a minority that expect reciprocation for any interest they show. I'm not saying it's wrong – it's just a different way of seeing the world – a more transactional view.
I don't like it.
It's easy to blame the likes of Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogger and so on for building in functionality where accounts are required – it makes the engineering a lot easier. However it also causes lock-in, silos of information, and invisible walls between people, and their stories. Once you've built a walled garden around your users, you can of course start building “social” features – which I might argue aren't social at all. I've written before about how the social internet isn't really social – I'm not going there again today.
Here's an excerpt:
Each major platform is not social in it's own way. Tumblr, once a mighty bastion of creativity and free thinking, has become a ghost town. Instagram has been flooded with inspirational clothes-try-on hauliers. Facebook's algorithmic timeline has transformed it into a political hellscape where factions of families fall out with one another, never to speak again. Twitter has become festooned with soap-box keyboard warriors — investing just enough effort to type a few hundred characters, but not willing to do anything more towards the causes they broadcast, promote, or cancel.
Anyway.
I suppose this post is a very roundabout way of announcing that I've started cross-posting into Substack once more. A number of friends had asked if I might – because they don't like the big publishing platforms – they don't want accounts – can they not just get an email when I write? I found myself reluctantly agreeing with them. It takes very little effort from me, and serves as a back-channel of sorts – a place you can find and subscribe to writing without having to set foot in the quagmire that the big publishing platforms often become.
The second blog lives at jonathanwrotethis.substack.com – you can subscribe by email for free, it's emails are arguably nicer than those that Wordpress churn out, and it requires no membership. If you've not seen substack, it's worth a look.
I'll climb back off my soapbox now, go make a coffee, and put my feet up for a bit. I ran this morning.