I don't think we're going back to having a local social media site
That, or it's Facebook forever
The social media website Bluesky went live yesterday for anyone who wants an account (until now, it was invite only). It was one of several sites to gain extra attention as Twitter/X got worse and people looked for alternatives. I’ve been there for a while and, as far as these sorts of sites go, it’s probably the one I actually enjoy the most — Mastodon I appreciate the theory but the vibes aren’t quite right, and Threads is just LinkedIn if it was run by Facebook but actually worked.
The point of me writing this is not to encourage you to go to Bluesky — or Threads, or Mastodon, or whatever — it’s to say I just don’t think we’re going back. And for the purposes of this newsletter I don’t think we’re going back to a place where it kind of feels like you’re just hanging out with other people in this city the way Twitter did, at its peak.
What I mean by this is that for a while — probably circa 2011-2021ish? — Twitter, and the #cityofPG hashtag, kind of felt like a big group text. There was news and politicians but there were also just people posting fun stuff or commenting on the news of the day. It wasn’t so big as to feel overwhelming but not so small that it felt insular. It felt like you could actually keep up with the news of what was going on in the city by following along.
Now, though, it’s too broken up and I don’t think it’s coming back. One of the jokes I’ve seen on these new sites is that people will know they’ve hit a critical mass when you can find out if an earthquake hit by logging on there. I honestly don’t ever see that happening for Prince George and a singular social media site again. I just don’t think there will be a critical mass of adoption of any one of these to make it feel like the city has a real community in a single place. The best bets, honestly, are probably Reddit — which is still pretty small — and Facebook, which has the people but still is super janky about letting you see anything that is new or sorted by time, rather than the algorithm — so yeah, people might post about an earthquake hitting but it won’t be in my feed until eight hours later.
Anyways, I’m not sure that this is necessarily a bad thing but I needed something to write about today so this was it.
Quick news:
Ness Lake Bible Camp offering free week at camp to kids in Hart community.
Prince George Hospice quilt raffle inspired by friend's palliative care experience.
Meet Boomhauer: The talking boombox man ready to rock for Coldsnap workshops.
Tonight’s Coldsnap show:
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The death of PG Twitter as a local hub for discussions/banter still makes me sad. Even with that recent windstorm, my first stop was to check Twitter and there was almost 0 local information on it. It sucks.
The newsletter game still allows a place to *input* thoughts which helps but that community feeling (more of an output) you're describing is completely gutted.