I tried out Hive Social. I don’t think I like it much yet.
What is Hive Social? It’s like a mashup of Twitter and Instagram, with a dash of MySpace. It offers the simplicity of Twitter before it went down the drain, puts a bit more emphasis on images like Instagram (or at least before video), and you can even add music to your profile. It’s interesting and certainly a bit easier to use than Mastodon.
Simplicity is good — it has a simple chronological timeline, none of that algorithmic crap that just gets in the way. That “dash of MySpace” isn’t appealing at all, nor is the melding with Instagram and emphasis on images. Mastodon is really easy to use, I’ve never understood how people can complain about its difficulty.
But here’s the deeply off-putting part, for me. You get on, and it’s just a wall of images. Not text, not words, none of the stuff I’d prefer. What I immediately see is selfie culture, picture after picture of attractive young twenty-somethings showing off their makeup and posing game, and I don’t want to click further. I mean, that’s all fine, I think it’s fabulous for the younglings to thrive and have fun on social media, it’s just not for me, and we grizzled old people don’t belong at that party.
If I were to join in and felt obligated to flaunt my beauty, it would be nothing but spider photos, and it would be another place where I don’t fit in at all.
All you beautiful people would be less uncomfortable than I’d be, so try it out. It’s mobile only, so you’ll have to rummage around on your phone to find it. I’ll just lurk for now, as is appropriate for a homely old person, I guess. Maybe it will grow on me.
There is an opening right now for a true Twitter alternative, not a Twitter+, and it’s a little shocking how it’s not being filled.
The one thing I’d add to a Twitter alternative is being able to choose between an algorithm and a chronological timeline. Apparently according to a former Twitter employee as much as people say otherwise a lot of them do prefer an algorithm curating what they see.
It also just feels a bit odd for all these people to be leaving the Twitter walled garden to join…a different walled garden with a somewhat shadowy ownership/development group.
I’m hopeful that Tumblr promising to implement the same protocol that Mastodon uses for interoperability will drive other places to adopt it as well. Different apps for different purposes seems like a fine idea as long as they can talk to each other.
Allegedly Hive is owned by a MAGA Trumpist, too.
For what it’s worth, it doesn’t have to be a wall of images. I think on first run, it takes you to the Search tab, which does present as a wall of images of “Trending”, “For You” (which I assume will be random junk until one gets the algorithm trained), etc. because on first run, you aren’t following anyone yet.
Like the other social media apps, start following people and your timeline (the beehive icon in the bottom left) will fill up and look a lot like Twitter.
Still, the app is in it’s early stages, is being developed by three people (it was 2, but I think they’ve brought on a third), so it is really rough around the edges. But I find I quite like the vibe of it, and so far it is the closest I’ve felt something has come to Twitter as a potential WSOGMM delivery system that fits my vibe. I’m kind of rooting for it and hope it succeeds, especially as the Chief Twat over at Twitter seems determined to turn the place into “All fascists, all nazis, all bigots, all bros, all the time.”
Mastodon doesn’t do it for me, because I have yet to find a server that fits my particular range of interests, and I don’t know which server will tolerate me most. Like, if I’m on a science focused server, are users going to get annoyed with me posting a bunch of stuff about video games? If I’m on a gaming focused server, are users going to get annoyed with me posting about politics or social justice? If I’m on a larger general server am I going to get tone policed left and right for posting about anti-racism or just plain old swearing a lot? Etc. I don’t have the means, nor the real desire, to set up my own instance.
Anyway, as far as all of these new (and some old, like tumblr) social media apps go, I’m mainly just setting up backups for if/when Twitter finally dies, but I’ll keep using Twitter until even my very curated timeline gets either too toxic or too boring. Then I’ll go wherever the most people seem to be, likely whichever platforms the likes of Gail Simone and Mark Hamill end up using the most. ;)
If that’s true, I’m done with it.
Another possibility:
Ex-Waze CEO trying to replicate early Twitter and social media vibes with ‘Post’
I have not tried this myself, and therefore cannot recommend it. I am only informing about its existence.
As someone has pointed out, Tw#tter is not really a technology company. Their software isn’t particularly amazing. People type in text and images. Some calculations are made as to who sees that content.
Rather, it is a social company. It relies on social acceptance for its success. Any site that hopes to replace Tw#tter should not forget that. Sure, it should be easy to use and do what people want it to do, but content moderation and other social factors are what will make it succeed, or not. I do not want to share a site with nazis, and respectable corporations do not wish ads for their wares to appear with nazi content.
Aside: using ans asterisk in text apparently signals italics. Really?
Test o asterisks
content and more content
It looked Italic in preview, and the asterisks did not show up. Weird stuff.
LOL.
It’s only been like two weeks since Musk started working his magic on Twitter (this is sarcasm).
The modern world moves fast but not that fast.
Twitter has huge advantages in brand recognition, incumbency, and critical mass with 400 million or so users globally.
It might not have been worth Musk’s $44 billion but it was worth a lot, maybe half of that.
The best scenario going forward is for Musk to destroy Twitter and end up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Then someone with a clue buys it and revives a website called, TOT, The Original Twitter.
There may be some confusion between Hive Social and Hive, a company using AI for moderation services. Hive was founded by Kevin Guo and Dmitriy Karpman, and is reputed to have provided moderation services to Chump’s Lies Social. Hive Social was founded by a student named Raluca Pop (aka Kassandra Pop).
I don’t think Hive Social likes me. I tried to sign up and it crashed my phone.
I think I’ll wait until Twitter actually dies before worrying about where to go after. Probably will see where the bulk of my friends go and then go there, wherever there might be.
I actually enjoy Twitter and would hate to see it go under. I generally use it to socialize with friends abroad and keep my clicks fairly clean so my feed is relatively hate free.
As a grizzled old fart myself, I think I’ll pass.
I’m finding it difficult, no, impossible, to find my way and get established in the tangled web that is Mastodon.
I think Hive must be a Star Wars reference.
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy
I signed on to Mastodon when you recommended it ages ago, but only started logging in daily after the Twitter nonsense started. It works for me; I jumped over here from there today.
I’m staying with Twitter until it finally crashes, mostly to make sure I find out where the people I follow are going. Been through this before; so many good sites eventually go bad and there’s nothing to do but to move on.