Hey all,I've been debating whether to change who hosts this newsletter. I run it through a service called Revue which is owned by Twitter. When Elon Musk first took over Twitter several folks asked if I was going to move, either because they disliked Musk, or because they were worried he would shut down Revue. The latter is a valid concern. My take had been to worry about that when the time came, since even if it shut down I could export the list and take it to a new platform. I'd rather not do that since I really like some of the formatting options Revue offers. And I think people usually overreact to these things. Valuable products more often get sold than shut down. But it's not obvious how valuable Revue is. And Musk has showed that he isn't running Twitter in a predictable way for good or ill. It's not as unlikely to me now that Twitter might just shut down Revue one day with little warning. I still think it's unlikely.But maybe it's not worth the hassle. Should I move the platform to Substack or something else? Let me know what you think. This affects you as much as me. The newsletter would certainly look different if we moved it. About TwitterSpeaking of Twitter, I've also had a lot of folks ask me what I think about it. My guess is that it's too big to be "destroyed" easily, and that Elon Musk is not the cartoon character that some folks are depicting him as. Despite the fact that he posts on Twitter like a cartoon character. People often make the mistake of confusing Twitter with reality. It's one of its charms. So I'm actually less worried about Twitter itself than I am about Revue. It will change. It has already. And as I talked about on DTNS this week, I think the emotions around it have provided an excellent opportunity for smaller platforms to gain critical mass. But rather than "replace" Twitter I think we'll just see some new platforms. Tumblr will probably gain the most since it was already stronger than a lot of people realized, under Matt Mullenweg. Mastodon is obviously being put to the test and will come out hardened and ready to be something on its won. But in the end all the young people will be in Roblox anyway. Twitter will become my generation's Readers Digest. Which by the way is also still around. MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONDo you want a modern sounding album with hip hop and R&B flavor that's great music to listen to while working? I highly recommend Indigo by RM. It just came out. He collabs with Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak and more. It's gorgeous. Just give it a spin. That's what I'm listening to while I write this. And I usually can't listen to anything with words while I write. It's that good. OK, I'm off to the weekend. I have to take Rey the dog to her usual vet appointment tomorrow morning and record East meets We3st with Roger on Sunday. We're getting some rain too which is helping bring in the fescue I planted in the back yard. Hope you have the best of weekends.Cheers,Tom
Tom Merritt Isn't Sure What to Think
Tom Merritt Isn't Sure What to Think
Tom Merritt Isn't Sure What to Think
Hey all,I've been debating whether to change who hosts this newsletter. I run it through a service called Revue which is owned by Twitter. When Elon Musk first took over Twitter several folks asked if I was going to move, either because they disliked Musk, or because they were worried he would shut down Revue. The latter is a valid concern. My take had been to worry about that when the time came, since even if it shut down I could export the list and take it to a new platform. I'd rather not do that since I really like some of the formatting options Revue offers. And I think people usually overreact to these things. Valuable products more often get sold than shut down. But it's not obvious how valuable Revue is. And Musk has showed that he isn't running Twitter in a predictable way for good or ill. It's not as unlikely to me now that Twitter might just shut down Revue one day with little warning. I still think it's unlikely.But maybe it's not worth the hassle. Should I move the platform to Substack or something else? Let me know what you think. This affects you as much as me. The newsletter would certainly look different if we moved it. About TwitterSpeaking of Twitter, I've also had a lot of folks ask me what I think about it. My guess is that it's too big to be "destroyed" easily, and that Elon Musk is not the cartoon character that some folks are depicting him as. Despite the fact that he posts on Twitter like a cartoon character. People often make the mistake of confusing Twitter with reality. It's one of its charms. So I'm actually less worried about Twitter itself than I am about Revue. It will change. It has already. And as I talked about on DTNS this week, I think the emotions around it have provided an excellent opportunity for smaller platforms to gain critical mass. But rather than "replace" Twitter I think we'll just see some new platforms. Tumblr will probably gain the most since it was already stronger than a lot of people realized, under Matt Mullenweg. Mastodon is obviously being put to the test and will come out hardened and ready to be something on its won. But in the end all the young people will be in Roblox anyway. Twitter will become my generation's Readers Digest. Which by the way is also still around. MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONDo you want a modern sounding album with hip hop and R&B flavor that's great music to listen to while working? I highly recommend Indigo by RM. It just came out. He collabs with Erykah Badu, Anderson .Paak and more. It's gorgeous. Just give it a spin. That's what I'm listening to while I write this. And I usually can't listen to anything with words while I write. It's that good. OK, I'm off to the weekend. I have to take Rey the dog to her usual vet appointment tomorrow morning and record East meets We3st with Roger on Sunday. We're getting some rain too which is helping bring in the fescue I planted in the back yard. Hope you have the best of weekends.Cheers,Tom