PART ONE: The enshittocene we’re in

If I could convince everyone I know to read one thing right now, it would be this Cory Doctorow deep dive into the word he famously coined last year: ‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything. I would preface the link with my standard soapbox speech about Facebook being the downfall of civilization, but Cory covers most of it — and then so much more. It’s deeply important stuff, and yet in a perfect enactment of his term, I have to tell you how you can get to it if that link doesn’t work:

1. Go to the IG feed of @ft_weekend (in your browser or the app)
2. Tap/click the link in their profile
3. Scroll to the image of neon green slime spewing out of a computer monitor in front of a cloudy blue sky
4. Tap that and read the piece!

PART TWO: The verb ‘to tweet’ and where I’m doing it

In the early days of Twitter (speaking of enshittified things), there were several similar services, and before a term for using them could come into fashion, they died off. One’s Twitter feed was composed of individual “tweets,” and the verb for using Twitter was “to tweet.” Then along came Elon Musk, who of course abandoned the name Twitter in favor of X, and in the wake of that came Meta’s Twitter clone Threads and Substack’s Twitter clone Notes, along with the ascendance of Mastodon and Bluesky, and who knows what. If I were to say “I’m tweeting on Substack Notes,” I would sound like a digital rube who’s confused about the lingo. But I think there’s a case to be made for adopting “to tweet” as a platform-free verb for the action of posting on those kinds of services. It’s a perfectly good verb! Certainly more descriptive than “posting,” and after all Musk doesn’t want it.

Which is a long way to say, “Hey friends, I’m toying with tweeting on Substack Notes!” If you are using it — either tweeting 😉 there yourself or using it as a feed reader — follow me on Notes @karentempler for blog updates and likely other random chitchat. (I say ‘toying with’ because it feels like a really slippery slope. We’ll see, but I’m there.)

ALSO: If you’re following @collapseanddelight on (the highly enshittified) Instagram for blog updates, make sure you are engaging with the posts (like/save/share/comment) so Instagram knows you actually want to see them — and/or better yet, turn on post notifications! by going to the feed and tapping the little alarm bell in the upper right. (For updates beyond the blog, I’m also @karentempler) And don’t forget you can always see what you chose to follow (rather than what they’re pushing at you) by tapping the Instagram logo and choosing “following” — although you have to do it every time.

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Thank you for following along, by whatever means! I appreciate your support.