I have former academic coworkers who use it to promote their publications etc. It’s an odd thing because their (very left) politics definitely don’t belong on twitter anymore.
for mid-level people in a space or community there’s really not much better than twitter currently: it has–or, i suppose, had–a good equilibrium of random people and smart or influential people, a unique equilibrium of semi-privacy and public space, and a culture and barrier for entry that’s low and overall decent for getting eyes on your work (to a point).
if you’re an artist, for example? there’s simply not a better platform for your work. dedicated gallery sites are fractal and don’t have all the other stuff twitter comes with. (sometimes they don’t even have all the art, to extend the example!) probably the closest mass-media to twitter that emulates the benefits is instagram, but instagram also has a different clientele and a very different culture.
I wish artists wouldn’t use Twitter, it might be convenient for them but it’s absolutely abysmal for the users, it’s impossible to do any kind of searching as is very easy on boorus.
Hey thanks for explaining this. Twitter’s not something I ever warmed to and still look at people with confusion when they use it. Like artists, there is a crazy work pressure for academics to get noticed. To the point of cruelty sometimes. It makes sense that Twitter would work because, like you said, it works well-enough and has a low barrier to entry.
in fact i’m actually a pretty good example of this: several politicians and reasonably prominent progressive figures have/had followed me on twitter just because i make interesting posts sometimes and give them useful information they don’t have. i can’t really think of another space i’d have been able to do that in, and you can sometimes do it with very important or influential people in a way that’s just not true of any other place online.
for mid-level people in a space or community there’s really not much better than twitter currently: it has–or, i suppose, had–a good equilibrium of random people and smart or influential people, a unique equilibrium of semi-privacy and public space, and a culture and barrier for entry that’s low and overall decent for getting eyes on your work (to a point).
if you’re an artist, for example? there’s simply not a better platform for your work. dedicated gallery sites are fractal and don’t have all the other stuff twitter comes with. (sometimes they don’t even have all the art, to extend the example!) probably the closest mass-media to twitter that emulates the benefits is instagram, but instagram also has a different clientele and a very different culture.
I wish artists wouldn’t use Twitter, it might be convenient for them but it’s absolutely abysmal for the users, it’s impossible to do any kind of searching as is very easy on boorus.
Hey thanks for explaining this. Twitter’s not something I ever warmed to and still look at people with confusion when they use it. Like artists, there is a crazy work pressure for academics to get noticed. To the point of cruelty sometimes. It makes sense that Twitter would work because, like you said, it works well-enough and has a low barrier to entry.
in fact i’m actually a pretty good example of this: several politicians and reasonably prominent progressive figures have/had followed me on twitter just because i make interesting posts sometimes and give them useful information they don’t have. i can’t really think of another space i’d have been able to do that in, and you can sometimes do it with very important or influential people in a way that’s just not true of any other place online.