Category: Social Media

  • The world in April, 2023

    In 2011, my near-future science fiction novel Redcrosse came out. The action was set in 2023, which is just a few short months from now. How clear was my vision? Last week at a film festival, I was trapped in an endless concessions queue that (bonus!) doubled as an internet dead zone. After I had…

  • A Simple Test for What Counts as “The Metaverse”

    Lots of walled gardens and videogame platforms are now touting themselves as part of the metaverse, but there’s an easy way to tell if it’s true. Plus, revising Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” Two shorter (although slightly connected) main stories this week… 1. Revisiting Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” If you subscribe to…

  • The Fragile Glory of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” plus… Why Apple is the right acquirer for Twitter

    Editor’s Notes: Two smaller stories this week If you like these posts, please subscribe to the newsletter version, which has lots of extra goodies and comes direct to your inbox. From the “I was right” department: Was anybody surprised when Elon Musk put his Twitter acquisition on hold? He has already gotten all of the value out…

  • Elon Musk Still Doesn’t Want Twitter

    Two weeks ago in Musk, Trump, Twitter, and New Media Math I argued that Elon Musk doesn’t really want to buy Twitter: he just wants to use the earned media to help him sell more Teslas. Then, on Monday, to my surprise the Twitter board accepted Musk’s $44 Billion offer, for which Musk had arranged the financing. I thought,…

  • The Experience Gap

    One way or another, we’re all in the experience creation biz, so it’s bracing to realize how bad we are at talking about actual experiences rather than memories. Back when I taught English Lit at U.C. Berkeley, I’d bring three balls to class. “This one,” I’d say holding up a ball, “is the thing we’re…

  • Why Facebook is Creepier than Google

    A 2/18 article in the Wall Street Journal by Suzanne Vranica, Patience Haggin, and Salvador Rodriguez—Inside Facebook’s $10 Billion Breakup With Advertisers—shows that when it comes to restraining Facebook from tracking us the real power doesn’t lie with the U.S. Federal Government, which is still spinning its wheels on any regulation of Big Tech. (Congressional…

  • NFTs, 5G, HUD: Colliding Trends and the Intermediate Future

    I’m an NFT skeptic. They seem like digital litter—cybernetic landfill that will clutter the e-commons like plastic bags blowing across a public park. This skepticism is unusual for me. I’m usually an early adopter, as the elephants graveyard in my garage of once exciting/now vanished tech will attest. Blockchain makes sense when it comes to…

  • Listen to me on this week’s “Laugh Your Cry Out” podcast!

    I’m delighted to share that I’m the guest on this week’s episode of “Laugh Your Cry Out with Joey Dumont,” a podcast about (and I’m quoting here) men’s mental health and masculinity [seen] through the lens of fatherhood, politics, and the world of business. Our enjoyable conversation has a mediocre book as its point of…

  • Will Twitter decide the 2020 presidential election?

    Is Mayor Pete Buttigieg really surging? Is Senator Elizabeth Warren really the new frontrunner? Can any of the Democratic candidates match Trump’s social media presence?  Most Americans, regardless of party, will agree that Donald Trump has been an unusual President of the United States, including his use of Twitter. Between his personal Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump)…

  • Should you look at your kid’s smartphone? Digital parenting tips #2

    (This is the second in a series of practical tips about parenting in the digital age.) My last column described conversations that parents should have before giving a kid that first smartphone. I held back talking about one important topic because it needs its own discussion: should you look at your kid’s phone? The short answer…