The Future of Microblogging

With Elon’s acquisition of Twitter more or less complete, the vast punditry is asking what kind of shithole will it become? Will they let Trump and his fascist goons back in to spew more hate, lies, and demagoguery? Will it become a pay-only service? Many have predicted that they’ll be forced off the platform in one way or another, and they’re looking for safe harbors.

It’s no accident I’m posting here again after 4 years of inactivity.

I was tweeting at my friend Mark earlier:

and I’m still serious. What if we just kept on microblogging on whatever platform we want, and syndicated our content via RSS again? We could still keep up with each other, control who engages with our content via access control and our own comment moderation, and more thoughtful long-form discussion rather than 280 letter bumper-sticker manifestos.

What if?