When people say they don’t want “news” on Micro.blog, what exactly are they saying they don’t want? A new drug discovery is news. Reporting on natural disasters is news. Apple announcing its latest gadget is news. If it’s something more specific, let’s make it clear.
@numericcitizen You do a lot of Apple news reporting, right? I mean, it’s great but is it something people don’t want here?
@pratik I do news commenting, yes, in the form of linkposts about Apple, etc. I’m an individual, not a journalist or curator. If people don’t want that type of posts, they just don’t follow me. I guess?
@pratik yeah, not that this is what you are saying, but I was a bit surprised at the reaction to Manton’s news idea. I think there’s a cool way to do it focused on certain areas like science, technology, culture, sports, etc. that aims to be informative and keep people in the loop. Basically what I do with my linkblog (although I get a little political at times 😝).
@pcora @pratik This seems right to me. My prior on this is that most folks commenting do not want the Twitter experience which caused them to flee. I would likely welcome a news section because microblog would implement it non-algorithmically, which combined with the absence of bots would create a different experience. But I understand the sentiment others have.
@pratik I don’t want people not to post about news. I just don’t want a News feature. I’ll try to think about how to articulate my distinction better.
@humdrum I’m trying to stay away from the News discussion 😀 But do want to know what exactly people don’t want to be informed on or want to stay in the loop on. Totally understandable if Micro.blog is not for that. Heck, Micro.blog can even say, write more about what you do, read, watch, say, create, or consume and less about the world in general. That would be the core of personal blogging, unlike topical blogging, whatever topic that may be (science, technology, culture, sports, politics, etc.) I’m not sure where your opinion about a topic stands. But then as soon as you start defining what people can or cannot blog, that raises another set of issues.
@pcora I thought as much, too. But if Micro.blog wants to be a source for news, then I don’t think it’s within its scope. It’s a lot more complex and needs a lot of resources. But if the question is whether Micro.blog wants to highlight news that people blog about, then it’s a different thing. Hence, I asked, how do we define “news”?
@KimberlyHirsh I know exactly what you mean. Once again, it’s the blogging platform or curated community space conundrum that Micro.blog finds itself in. Time to decide/define what it is first.
> I don’t want people not to post about news. I just don’t want a News feature.
spot on
@KimberlyHirsh This is kind of how I think about it too. I’m fine with organic invocations of news, but when things start getting amplified by the platform…that’s one of the worst things for my emotional well-being.
@JohnPhilpin Yup, I mean, it’s not an easy task. Heck, Buzz Feed couldn’t keep at it with millions of dollars at their disposal. Huffington Post was the original blogging news service.
@pratik @pcora Echoing this, and giving a specific example: my life is currently being personally affected by US politics on a regular basis due to my identity as a transgender woman. If I blog about my life, and I mention that, is that “News?” This is just one of many examples I could point to.
@pratik I like it when people share the news they’re interested in and want to circulate with others. Individuals sharing news is cool and I learn things and am exposed to info/ideas from people I’ve chosen to follow.
I don’t want an official news feed/list/selection from a company / “the platform” itself.
@mercymorbid @clorgie @JohnPhilpin @humdrum @bix @KimberlyHirsh @lukemperez @pcora @numericcitizen
@Annie A lot of people have been saying this and I tend to agree. Less curation (outside of necessary moderation for safety’s sake) and more discoverability go a long way, imho.
@Annie Yup. That’s exactly how I think too. The platform can though let people search for the news they want. By category, topic, etc.
@pratik Yes. I’d love to see robust functional search for discovering news (when you want to) on topics you care about. I’ve tried (like @denny mentioned in another thread) searching for various topics without success, because in many cases I would like to see what news/sources/thoughts would be shared by other community members here, since I’ve found them to be mostly thoughtful intelligent people who care about what’s happening in the world.
@JohnPhilpin @KimberlyHirsh I agree, but also, I personally would rather seek out the news at my own, when I want to, and would like to be able to mute it if it is a new thing we are doing here on Micro.Blog. @manton
@pratik I s’pose I don’t want another app, particularly this one, to tell me what is or isn’t news. It’s one of the places where I specifically go to escape from curation.
