Thread by @interstar

Yes. The more I think of it, the more this point, the "not cumulative" nature of Quora (or any social media posting) is the crucial question. We are sharecroppers on these platforms if they don't give us the tools to build something bigger ... \1

https://twitter.com/no_defects/status/1361816771737583616

As way for our work to "add up" to something more than the fleeting attention that it buys us (and buys the platform)

That's what's "evil" about the attention farming platforms. Of course attention is always fleeting. But they could have been set up in a different way ... \2

I keep thinking of things like @threadreaderapp ... in their tiny way they a force for "good". They are helping us turn the fleeting tweets into a more permanent construction.

Obviously this is a tiny, tiny step ... but everyone building tools should think like this ... \3

We are addicted to flows and dynamic interactions on social media. And there is something valuable about the way that this dynamic social interaction stimulates us to write ...

But the tools MUST help us turn those flows into more valuable stocks. ... \4

If the tools don't do that ... if they just take advantage of our addiction to keep stringing us along reading and writing more ephemera ... they are vampires, draining us of our life blood ... \5

The tools must help us build the permanent / more coherent record, by helping us reconnect the tiny pieces.

And help us build something worthwhile for the writer. \end

@threadreaderapp unroll