TotW: Using it for Our Purposes?

seek, and ye shall find

What is social media good for? How do you use it for what works for you, how do you remind yourself what your goals are for using it, and when do you know that you've lost the thread? What are the ways you use it that you would call anarchist, and why would you call them anarchist? Or are anarchy and social media on two different planes that don't intercept each other for you?

I am starting to be on a social media platform that I've never used before, and it's making me think about these things: what is the point of adding a vote to something that's already got hundreds or thousands of votes? What kind of intimacy is it possible to have, or desirable to have, on such a platform? As someone who hates celebrity culture, for (among other things) the way that it makes people think they know other people based on entirely mediated and alienated representations, which then become part of the celebrity's understanding of themselves... it's hard not to see social media as the radical decentralization of that, so that everyone is encouraged to be that flattened and reactive version of themselves. Does having multiple accounts make that different for the multiple-accounted, since it allows at least for breadth, if not necessarily more depth?

And for those who make mistakes, get overly vulnerable, misinterpret something, share too much, whatever the mistake might look like, how does one recover? How do you recognize that you've gone too far, what even makes something a mistake in this context? (Perhaps cancelling is a big thing in some circles because it's one of the few clear boundaries--or the only one, demonstrating that something bad has actually happened?)

Accepting that anarchistnews is a social media forum (even if you don't use any others), all of us here are implicated in these questions. How do you use social media anarchistically/anarchically?

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For better or for worse, I think that a lot of the new people who are becoming anarchists these days are doing so through social media.

can anarchist use _____ for anarchy? should _____ exist in the first place? what for and how is _____ mostly being used? how has it mostly been used historically? what have been the consequences and implications?

you could ask this of anything; hammers, plows, knifes, firearms, bombs, roads, mines, factories, farms, agriculture, controlled fire, the internet, etc.

the internet is different in one important way, with A.I., it's not just some dumb tool that simply does your bidding, it can potentially think and adapt quicker than you and in ways you cannot understand or control. using social media feeds these algorithms and they make choices with all that information, fine-tuning how to nudge people online and irl.

"What is social media good for?" gathering big data about all people, for surveillance and research to further control via politics and marketing, the terms almost seem antiquated when referring to the way algorithms are being used to target people, with ads for products, or disinformation campaigns, propaganda, psyops, experiments

"How do you use it for what works for you, how do you remind yourself what your goals are for using it, and when do you know that you've lost the thread? What are the ways you use it that you would call anarchist, and why would you call them anarchist? Or are anarchy and social media on two different planes that don't intercept each other for you?"

being able to send messages at close to the speed of light is handy. but let's not kid ourselves, there's no "goal" when mindlessly scrolling and knee-jerk reacting to things online. it's a mindless time-leech that feeds on your attention.

"I am starting to be on a social media platform that I've never used before, and it's making me think about these things: what is the point of adding a vote to something that's already got hundreds or thousands of votes?"

adding statistical power by giving them a larger sample size, it's not just one data point your giving away either, but many variables.

"What kind of intimacy is it possible to have, or desirable to have, on such a platform?"

some people can feel intimate with a mannequin or a chatbot, no surprise they will be able to do so with people from afar, whether catfish or parasocial

"Does having multiple accounts make that different for the multiple-accounted, since it allows at least for breadth, if not necessarily more depth?"

people that have multiple alts are pathetic and should spend less time online.

"And for those who make mistakes, get overly vulnerable, misinterpret something, share too much, whatever the mistake might look like, how does one recover?"

this happens irl too, social dynamic are complicated, from gracefully recovering from a faux pas, to apologizing for a mistake or bad behavior.

"How do you recognize that you've gone too far, what even makes something a mistake in this context? (Perhaps cancelling..."

since people don't literally overdose on internet, there's almost no bottom to the "too far" that people can go to

"Accepting that anarchistnews is a social media forum (even if you don't use any others), all of us here are implicated in these questions. How do you use social media anarchistically/anarchically?"

if anews comment section is anything to go by, it's best to stay away from social media. obviously this is common to many comment sections and threads in different social media platforms

i think the internet as a whole is a self-perpetuating & aggravating irredeemable waste of time and resources that serves as a girder & highway for all the ecocide, wars and slavery that make up the economy. it's silk handcuffs and a gilded cage.

do anarchists have use for prisons? no, but prisoners can sometimes send & receive letters if they're fortunate. interesting to note how some anarchist have used social media from prison, even made podcasts. and those are the crumbs many of us who "are free outside of prison" settle for

this is a half-assed response. and emotionally dishonest. Most obviously along the lines that many people have complained about how fucked up anews is (for example), yet they still are here...

obviously you see something good about what you're doing or you wouldn't be doing it. you are not a passive victim in the ways that you spend your time. only focusing on one aspect of something -- even something that is overwhelmingly terrible -- doesn't help address why people/you continue to participate in it. if you don't want to engage in that conversation, fine, but presenting text walls that reiterate points that have already been made dozens of times isn't doing yourself or other readers any favors.

the prompt's attempt to find some usefulness to cancelling (at least under some circumstances) is an example of trying to understand something beyond the good/bad binary that you are pushing this topic into.

stretch yourself, it can be fun...

is somebody being "emotionally dishonest" whenever you don't like their perspective?

people "continue to participate" in a huge range of overwhelmingly terrible things, against all logic, against their own obvious self interests because patterns of behaviour are often much more powerful than our ability to reason why.

but that's not why i'm still here ... i hope! none of my misanthropic determinism shit applies to myself obviously! perish the thought!

yeah, this is a social media appreciation thread, get with the program! let’s take this thanksgiving as an opportunity to express our gratitude for social media!

i for one love social media. i posted an announcement for a bookfair and lots of people went. social media allows people to share information and reach more people than ever before. the more informed people are, the better things will be. it’s through this effective consciousness-raising that social media allows for that we’ve made great headway in anti-war organizing, indigenous struggles, class struggles, struggles against patriarchy, against racism and the ecological crisis.

like with Occupy as an early demonstration of the power of social media, now we’re often dealing with the shock of victory as Graeber said. and there’s much that can be said about the internet as social media being inherently anarchic if one considers the principles of decentralization, distributed networks, horizontality, informality, direct participation, d.i.y. etc.!

true! i’ll be brief: social media can be useful for anarchists in complex, subtle, and nuanced ways

i hope this has been said less than dozens of times, fingers crossed

I disapprove of the entire business model of selling personal info to advertisers, so I block all ads and trackers and would not object to every ad supported site and service going away. I favor self or distributed hosting as a money-free alternatice.

Google and FB especiallly I class as malicous websites (DOXING sites to be exact) and not only have no accounts there but block them out of my computers and refuse to be part od anything requiring RSVP on Facebook, Google Docs, etc

Not opposing use by others for outreach, but assume yoy will be banned at strategic times, your data handed over to the pigs, etc. Do not give them any data that cannot be given to the Daily Caller while standing in front of FBI headquarters

I too reject FB and Google, all businesses models, businesses, selling, and advertising. All websites are malicious. Wanna smash?

by using tools like NoScript and Disconnecr to block their code from your computer. Stopping Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Adsense, and FB like buttons are especially important.

If everyone protected their data these corporations would sink without a trace. Block ads and trackers today, have a noncommerical communication network tomorrow

Oh you adorable, reformist fool. the answer is not more technological fixes, it's the complete and total destruction of all technological networks.

You call me a reformist for using any website (while excluding Google and FB) but use the Internet to connect to a website (Anews) to do so.

Until you have a replacement network (e.g. a mesh network) up and running you face the "master's house/master's tools question.

Ad suported sites are not worried about scattered sabotage but adblockers scare the shit out of them

anything that isn't the most obnoxious anti-civ posturing by a person who is definitely just sitting at home, is obviously reformist, ya fukin reformy fuck! why don't you go reform yourself some more cuz that's your thing, right? REFORMY REFORMERSON with your reforming!

I get you might be sarcastic here on the anticiv crowd, but if you were only half-sarcastic I'd say that, having been through this view, we still need something to replace it with. A church or temple is built on the ruins of another one (as per, you know, Freddie Nietzsche).

Why is that important? Coz every void begs to be filled by the most aggressive authoritarian interests around the corner, so get ready to face an emergency reactionary response from the "silent majority" collaborating to get their society back and working shortly. So develop a new world to outlive the old, or at least make sure the general normie temptation to return to the old is overcome and becomes deprecated.

As it did in Tunesia when the government tried to kill an uprising by pulling the plug on the Internet

online there are many forums corresponding to different areas of interest and social media has tags and search engines that allow people to find them easily. the discussion found in these forums may be insightful for the reader. there they may ask about particular concerns and personal problems. even problems they might not feel comfortable talking about in person due to taboo or persecution, such as lgbttq+ issues. through social media, people may give each other mutual moral support and even serve as help in dire circumstances, such as some forms of mental health crisis and even financial hardship with the help of crowdfunding.

We could specify further, and make it clear we are talking about "digital social media"

Each digital social medium is different. Not all of it is spyware, that's just the profitable, corporate stuff where a lot of users are. Of course, not being spyware doesn't make something wholly secure either

I think these things are good for a laugh (memes) and good for communication. I like things that allow for anonymous communication, incidentally, as well as group communication. There's really not much else to say that's positive, though. They are psychically bad for us, making our lives worse, hooking us to a sad dopamine-for-novelty-and-numbers habit

...what is social about it? Nothing!
Already anarchistnews is too much of a social media kind of thing, but anarchists on FB and the like is worse than no agitation at all, and no real anarchy will spring from FB initiatives...

this is what’s obstructing the emergence of real class vs class collective political action, anarchist just don’t take organizing seriously

social media, as mass media 2.0, facilitates the creation and maintenance of cults of personalities. for most people on twitter, they shout into the void, while liking and retweeting that which has hundreds of likes, posted by those who have thousands of followers.

the appeal of cancel culture comes in part from the ability of the small and many to make the big fall by exposing the ugly parts hidden by a carefully manicured and curated image. it’s a sense of justice with the high of a power trip. they won’t get millions of followers like the celebrity, but they can participate in making (or bolstering, like fandoms) or breaking them

thinking of the recent VFTTD, social media allows the sharing of things like anarchist memes, zines, audio and video with other anarchists around the world which are much easier to make now thanks to computers

So about that part...

If we aren't talking about Pleroma or other related federated that actually are social media, all the rest (what like 98% the population are using) is corporate-controlled proprietary media, and is pretty much now mainstream media.

It's like, totally irrelevant nowadays to have mainstream media outlets denied from your actions and organizing, as Facebook has replaced all these, and every time you got an idiot bringing a cell phone and taking pics/vids, they're basically being unpaid mainstream reporters working to the benefit of corporate and State interests.

Stupid.

social media is the perfect tool to spread disinformation and sow discord. naturally, as agents of chaos, anarchists find affinity with these means, but lack the clear goals, internal coherence and committed organization to take advantage of the chaos in an instrumental manner. whereas state programs, political parties and private firms routinely achieve and exceed their projected goals using these means. although sometimes with less proficiency and imagination than anarchists, they nevertheless achieve their desired effects, with satisfactory performance metrics. meanwhile, anarchists are mesmerized and enthralled in the exploration of the vast array of new possibilities allowed by new technical applications. you will find more discussion of the how-to of 3-d printing, blockchain and NFTs, than gunpowder and dynamite. this is also due to the subtle effect permitted speech shapes conversation. whereas a truly private conversation could be about anything, conversations on social media should always be treated as public, specially if on a corporate platform, and therefore conveniently steers away from anything that might be a threat.

-momentary pleasure

-spycraft

-advertising events

-advertising...

-having extremely limited conversations

-putting people down and/or pissing them off without the risk of getting your ass kicked or "worse"

As far as the anarchist-only question is concerned, much better for narrowing the scope of a lifestyle geared towards that than "being dangerous". Analogue has more possibilities than digital, yet digital does have it's own very limited set of possibilities...the singularity...fuck accelerationist posing.

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