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Social fragmentation

Despite all its faults, as a science writer I have found social media wonderful - it allows me to tap into both the science and writing communities, which is excellent for someone working in a job where you don't have much opportunity to meet others in your line of work.

I've been involved in this kind of thing for a while, beginning with an ancient forum (I can't remember where it was hosted) set up by the Society of Authors. I'm still in contact with quite a few writers from this, who can share a wry smile when remembering the lack of foresight from whoever set it up, that a forum titled Writers' Exchange might look a little misleading when the words are run together without an apostrophe.

Until recently, by far the most useful social media site for me was Twitter. It probably still is, but X is declining in value because a number of my long-standing contacts have abandoned it out of dislike for its owner. Personally, I think this amounts to cutting off your nose to spite your face, as it would take a long time for any alternative to generate the same following - and some, such as Mastodon, seem to me too technical and user-unfriendly for mass adoption. I briefly flirted with Threads, but it's too phone-oriented.

So, I'm not leaving X - but I do now also post on both Bluesky, and would be very happy to build up my contacts if anyone would care to follow me. My full social broadside is:

I usually post any new stuff on all of them, though the best way to see all my output is to subscribe below.

Image by Nathan Dumlao from Unsplash

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