Linked – Social Media Is Dying
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Linked – Social Media Is Dying

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 3 minutes

While I would love to end this with a condemnation of venture capitalists and hedge fund managers, I think it’s important to point out that many of us are complicit. Fund managers seeking the best short-term profits for their investments run funds whose shareholders include most of us. When we log in and look at our IRA or 401(k) accounts, we look for how much the value has increased, not what makes the most sense for society. Our account balance looks a little nicer when a company lays off 10,000 employees and the stock price increases.

It’s all entwined. To paraphrase Michael Corleone – “We’re all part of the same hypocrisy.”

Quick Thought – The Data Isn’t Safe – Bake in Privacy and Security
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Quick Thought – The Data Isn’t Safe – Bake in Privacy and Security

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Of course, when we create new laws or tools, we focus on the problem in front of us. Whether that be, in this case, trying to enforce an age restriction or requiring identity verification in some odd attempt at making it more difficult for people to engage in anonymous speech, we too often forget the details of how that would work exactly.

Linked – Twitter to end free access to its API in Elon Musk’s latest monetization push

Linked – Twitter to end free access to its API in Elon Musk’s latest monetization push

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

Think about it, services that tell you how many times your post has been shared on Twitter, auto-posting from a blog, automation involving automatic sharing of links, and scheduling of tweets, many of these things involve the API. Many of the tools we all use to share content on Twitter with minimal effort could either be gone or become more expensive next week. That will push a lot of excellent content out of the platform.

Linked – This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)
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Linked – This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!)

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 2 minutes

I have heard this before, but is the Twitter situation going to be the thing that moves the needle for RSS? I started using Revue to send newsletters last year as an option for people who were trying to follow my websites on social media but ran into the algorithm deciding not to shat them anything that was being posted, especially with Facebook Pages. It had some subscribers but not that many. After Twitter killed Revue, I also moved to Substack and have seen some growth, but I’m also realizing that we can’t replicate Twitter with email newsletters.

Linked – Here’s What Happens To Your Brain And Body If You Work More Than 40 Hours A Week
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Linked – Here’s What Happens To Your Brain And Body If You Work More Than 40 Hours A Week

ByMike McBride Reading Time: 1 minute

I’d argue that no job is worth risking your health, but I don’t think Elon would see it that way.

I know he likes to brag about his work hours and how “No one ever changed the world working 40 hours per week”. Reading the science on how more mistake-prone employees working all of those long hours can be makes me wonder if Elon had taken a few hours off and gotten some rest maybe he doesn’t make that offer to buy Twitter and find himself in the mess he’s in.