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WBUR decides to follow NPR and leave Twitter

One of Boston's NPR stations announced today it is leaving Twitter.

WBUR CEO Margaret Low writes it's because of Titter Ownerboi Elon Musk declaring NPR "state-affiliated media:"

NPR and WBUR believe recent actions by Musk seek to undermine the integrity of our news organizations. WBUR will stop tweeting from official WBUR accounts, effective April 12.

Will GBH follow suit? Unlike 'BUR, it already has an active presence on Mastodon.

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Comments

What's up with Center Plaza office? Rent paid yet?

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When I worked on Sunday mornings WBUR was a favorite station. "Car Talk" with Click and Clack (The Magliozzi brothers) used to crack me up and I don't even drive.

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As long as you don’t drive like my brother!

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But they did a good job on a friend’s old truck transmission.

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And we can all go back to interacting in person and being nice to our fellow humans.

I dropped Facebook three years ago and never looked back. One of the best decisions I’ve made.

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I left 3 years ago also, and do not regret it. The ONLY thing I miss are some of the specific groups. Those were nice, but most of it I could have, and have.. done without.

When I left, I put out my contact information. Out of the 4000 'friends' I had, you know who used that information after I left? People who had it long before Facebook, and very, VERY few people who I met on Facebook. (like maybe 5 people). So the whole "I connected with people" is a faulty excuse to keep using it, because a vast majority of those people wouldn't dare pick up the telephone, or even send you a text if Facebook didnt exist.

It just shows how bad this is for society. Along with everything else social media has morphed our society. Increased hate, misinformation, and the like. All just bad.

As someone who as lonely fat gay kid from the sticks who liked to play on the computer in 1993, I was excited for the internet. I could connect with people and get information.

Now? I'm looking to de-internet my life. The more the better. 30 years later I want to get away from technology. It's hurting us too much. It went from a 'tool' to a 'necessity', bordering on addiction. And that's the problem.

Everything will rear is ugly head soon enough, it always does.

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But because of Facebook I can interact with about half of the same group of friends I was in physical proximity to as a child and teenager.
Not possible now as we are all over the country and not all of us can afford travel.
Because of Facebook I have been able to meet up with some of these friends in person which never would have happened without Facebook because we reconnected via friends with whom neither of us had lost touch over the years. It’s possible to have group discussions like we did as youngsters. Not possible in real life.

Because of Facebook I am alerted to local cultural and activist events, exchange ideas and info with other likeminded people, keep up my written language skills, keep up with my friends in Europe when I can’t see them in person. We still write handwritten letters. But Facebook serves immediate needs and photo exchange much better, especially as groups.

This here comment section is also social media. I met one of my dearest and long time friends on a message board. Now it’s Facebook for keeping up the friendship and occasional phone calls or texts since he moved to CA and went on the road for a few years. Facebook works best because we find we sometimes like conversing with each other’s friends too.

It’s all about time management and self control. If you can’t get off Facebook for real life, you’re in trouble. Facebook enhances real life, if you have a real life.

Those of my friends who don’t do social media sometimes ask me what’s going on there. LOL!

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But because of Facebook I can interact with about half of the same group of friends I was in physical proximity to as a child and teenager.

Now get off Facebook and see how many of these 'friends' stay in contact without it. I'm going to guess that it'll be similar to my experience.. little to no contact.

As humans, I don't think we're meant to have 2000 friends we keep in contact with regularly. It's just not humanly possible. Facebook gives the false sense of reality that it is. Friendship is a revolving door. People change, people move, people go in different directions. And over time who your friends were 20 years are often not the same people you are friends with today. And this is 100% OK, we aren't designed to 'collect friends'.

The ones that matter, you'll always stay in contact with. I have several friends from school that I maintain off-social-media friendships with. Because they mean that much to me and I mean that much to them.

But to say "well facebook connected me to old friends and this how we communicate", I mean if they meant that much to you and those fun conversations meant that much to you, you would have kept in contact with them long before facebook was around.

We are at the point where we are the most connected society ever.. the telephone, texting, messaging apps, message boards, and on and on and on. But to say your 'friendship' will continue because of one website, and can't seem to bring it anywhere else. That should tell you how important these people are in your life. They aren't as important as you think they are.

Like I said facebook gives a very false sense of reality of what 'keeping up with friends' is really about. They've just made it easier keep up with old acquaintances. This word is intentional because thats what they really are 'acquaintances'. Your true friends will always be there for you, regardless of what website you are on.

And as far as everything else 'facebook' enhances, you can do anywhere else, and did long before facebook ever was around.

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Interaction with a group that happens best when facilitated by a certain tool is valuable. Dropping the tool and therefore eliminating the interaction, just reduces value. Imagine if the topic were telephones, rather than social media. Would you argue that the telephone should be dropped, because if the connection really matters, they will communicate by pen and paper?

There are many problems created by social media, the fact that some types of positive communication happen best within that medium, is not one of those problems.

Regarding the topic: Musk can piss off and die, for all I care, but Twitter still provides a certain level of value to me that I haven't yet found on any of the nascent alternatives.

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A sadly narrow minded one too. I’m genuinely sorry if your experiences with social media didn’t meet your expectations because you seem like a well meaning person. Mine have to my satisfaction. And a little beyond. I’m not an idealist or a cynic about any type of relationship.

You seem to have missed all my points. The commenter above beat me to a well said rebuttal.

Even the experiences I learned needed lessons from were worth it. We aren’t all the same.

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“But to say "well facebook connected me to old friends and this how we communicate", I mean if they meant that much to you “

Looks like you are attributing this to me.
Don’t do that.

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@cybah - many of us use FB quite differently from the way it seems you did. I'm only FB friends w/people I want to be in contact with - <300. There are many of us who want to know what's going on in each other's lives even if there are reasons we aren't in contact by phone (not enough time for everyone, time zone differences especially with friends overseas, etc.) I have a few dear friends I've met online, some of whom I'll likely never meet in person (like the ones in Malaysia and Australia). I also enjoy seeing some friends' travelogues, nature photography, pictures of kids and grandkids - stuff that isn't doable by phone.

There have been times in my life where being able to set up a small private group for support has been invaluable - when my kid studying abroad had a medical crisis and I had to make an emergency trip overseas, when I was going through cancer treatment - or where I've been part of a similar small group for another friend. It provides an easy, quick way to create an urgently needed support network.

What I don't do, for the most part, are FB groups. Main exception is Mary Ellen's Boston Nature Group, which gives me wonderful pictures to start my day.

tl;dr - FB can be horrible or wonderful or somewhere in between. It's all a matter of how you use it, as is true with any other tool.

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Signed, Mark Zuckerberg

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Ill gotten gains.
I’m all for the USPS taking over Facebook.
You can call me Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Saunders or Satan for that, anon.

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This comment section is social media

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Part of their charm.

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I left Facebook also long ago. For me the problem wasn't Facebook, it was my friends and family. Facebook could serve a positive purpose as a window into the lives of people you care about personally. I don't need to know what you think about the president, for example. Anything other than my experiences, my friends or maybe friends of friends should be off limits.

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There really are quite a few people whose options are to interact mostly via computers, or not interact at all, for health and/or geographic reasons. If I give up all social media , I won't suddenly be able to interact with those people in person, because most of them live too far away, and casual in-person socializing risks covid, and is out of reach for some of my friends for other health reasons.

I don't use Facebook either, but many of my fellow humans are nice to me and each other online, and nasty people won't all become kind and friendly if you take away their keyboards.

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You could call your friends. Facetime/Duo for more visual interactions. Cybah’s responses above nailed the points on why social media gives people the feeling that they need it, when in reality it provides nothing outside of stroking egos.

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… at them. Seriously. They usually smell good, by the way. Or have nice smelling food to share.

I also don’t like my field of vision determined by someone else. Video calls are draining. Everyone interrupting or long empty pauses. Regular conversation doesn’t need much structure. It usually takes off naturally on its own. How do you hug hello and goodby on those?

Disembodied voices on phones have always disturbed me since I was a non phone addicted teenager and later when I had jobs that required use of a phone. My hearing is better in the real world. People mumble, breathe heavy, eat and drink and sometimes act like they are in a screened confessional on the phone. Worst of all they butt into real conversations or disrupt concentration by making your phone ring.

Just never ever call me, robo, from your (let’s hope) hands free phone. Just roll down your window. I’m right there passing by you in traffic on my bike. Toss me one of those donuts.

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I have disabilities, as do many of my friends. Some are hearing impaired. Some have language difficulties that mean they do much better interacting with time to formulate their responses rather than instantaneously. Some live enough time zones away that it's very difficult to find a time that works for both of us. Multiply the problem when wanting a group visit. Some have disabilities that limit our energy or make everything take more time & energy than it does for most people, so that by the time we're done with jobs and necessary non-job work we have no time or energy left for long calls with friends.

When I was single parenting and most of my friends also had kids, finding uninterrupted free time when both of us were able to talk was next to impossible. Back in the day, I was part of a few parenting email lists and made some lifelong friendships with people scattered all over the world.

Just because something doesn't work for you doesn't make it bad. Just because something works for you doesn't mean it can work for everyone.

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What would it take for the Gnomes to throw up their hands and leave the bird site?

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Twitter is dead. Once useful news source it has become a gross nest full of anonymous pathetic stooges who have no life. RIP little bird.

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Thanks for the hearty giggle Adam!

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They do get funding from tax money so in a way, they are? I don't really use Twitter more than once a week but that's all social media for me now. It's just not good for anyone's mental health and that's more important to me.

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They do get funding from tax money so in a way, they are?

Indeed, they get about 1% of their funding from tax money. How much of T(w)itter's bottom line comes from tax money, credits, refunds, giveaways and other forms of corporate welfare?

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Depend on government funds?
Or SpaceX?

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Honest question Adam, you’re in the media space. Do you find it worthwhile to continue a Twitter presence?

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you are a government affiliated media company.

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If a company receives a special tax break or a government subsidy, are they are also a government affiliated corporation?

If so, every large oil and agricultural company should get the warning attached. ADM, Exxon, Montsanto, etc -- they all cash huge checks from the feds and states.

What about all the huge contractors that basically only work for the government -- General Dynamics, Raytheon, etc. Are they also government affiliated?

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twitter is a saudi government affiliated company and should brand as such

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