The reason I’m on Twitter was years of frustration with Facebook. Facebook doesn’t discuss, in my experience,…

The reason I’m on Twitter was years of frustration with Facebook. Facebook doesn’t discuss, in my experience, you’re firing ideas into a void there mostly. But over time I’ve come to see it a bit differently, and also as a possible parachute if Twitter fails. Some thoughts. /1

I’ve come to realise that FB is mostly used as a community tool, by people I know anyway. Not to discuss ideas, but to reinforce and even extend the strength of their own off-social media communities. Lots of shared ‘here’s what I did today’ type stuff. /2

Mind-numbingly boring in many ways, as content. But then I thought, maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it. They’re not sharing it so much as content. They’re sharing it to maintain and extend real world relationships, to say ‘I’m here, this is a bit about what I’m doing’. /3

I think there’s room for both, on FB. But I’m less critical now of that other type of sharing there, which always seemed like pathological over-sharing. I’ve seen FB used to fight and escape bushfires, to administer a huge variety of community groups and activities. /4

It’s probably the social media platform now with the ‘stickiest’ link back to real life. I’m contemplating inviting the many people I got to know here, as FB friends, just to maintain connection with them if Twitter fails. /5

It would mean revealing my actual identity to those who don’t already know it, so there’s some risk. (I use a pseudonym here only because on a platform so decoupled from ordinary life, you can do damage to that ordinary life by opening it up to the wrong people.) /6

It’s a thought in process. It might also dramatically spice up FB, at least for me, having intelligent people who want to discuss things, rather than just share holiday snaps. /end