Many moons ago, I used Twitter for news. Five, ten years ago, it was a communication tool where people in Yemen, Egypt and other places could use it to get their voices heard. I would learn about protests and injustices from places other media outlets didn’t necessarily report on. Once the people on social media made enough noise, bigger news outlets would pick it up.
So, while looking at a piece on Ukraine, I began to wonder what was happening in Yemen. Did you know Oman may lead the way to a cease-fire? I didn’t.
I find now Twitter isn’t serving the news purpose (one of the varied reasons I am on the social media platform). I used to get all kinds of information from around the world. I see the people I follow, but not as many news cites, even though I still follow them. I also don’t see the people who would tweet about these stories either.
Am I going to leave Twitter? Probably not. As an aspiring writer, one who is querying a novel, there are just too many agents, agencies, publishing companies and professionals on there who still tweet about their #mswl. I’ve seen tweets about random wishes, as well as helpful suggestions for writers. That’s why I stay. I’ve even created [an incomplete] list of agents and agencies that I follow.
That’s what Twitter is for now. That, and checking my local school board to see if the busses are canceled in the winter.
What is my solution to learning about what’s going on around the world and within marginalized populations? I’m making my own feed. I’m using Feedly. I used to use it to follow writing and publishing sites, and blogs. Today it hit me (sometimes I’m slow), I could find all the different news sources I follow on Twitter and then subscribe to their feeds on Feedly.
Question: Are Feedly and Substack competitors?
I do still follow writing and publishing professionals on Feedly. I just have a “news” section too.
Do I look at the news feed every day? No. I tune into a local morning show to get in touch with the general state of the world daily. I wonder if I’ll stick with it or find a new method.