Writers are NOT your friends

A warning to writers: These internet literary communities are toxic. The people in them are not your friends. They do not have your best interest in mind. They are social climbers, sycophants and opportunists who will sell you down the river if it means they’ll make 1 extra dollar. Watch my full rant here:

 

The End Of Facebook? [Kevin Strange Joins Minds.com]


As mainstream social media continues its decent into censorship, open spying/data collection and blatant political bias, more and more people are jumping off of platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube/Google in droves.

Social media was always going to be a fad, but for a few years, it was a useful fad. As a creator or marketer, you could get your products and services in front of the eyes of millions for free.

In fact, I built my career partially from the free marketing platform provided by Myspace and Youtube in the early 00s. But as these corporations moved away from grant funding toward profit models, it was those creators and marketers who have suffered the most.

It is well known by now that Facebook, Twitter and Youtube throttle down organic reach, stifling the opportunity for rich, interesting content to go viral naturally. Only with large sums of money can a creator hope to put their content in front of the very people who have chosen to follow them.

Even more recently, these social media platforms have begun rolling out blatant censorship tools under the guise of fighting “fake news.” Fake news of course being any information deemed harmful to the political parties with which the owners of the platforms most closely identify.

Matt Drudge from the Drudge Report, the most influential right wing political website on the internet has called for the public to return to website by website surfing, thereby eliminating the middle-man social media platforms that have become a barrier between users and the information they choose to see.

I took that advice to heart in 2016, shifting 100% of my focus away from social media, parking all of my content here on my website. To say that I’ve seen a DRAMATIC increase in web traffic because of that decision would be a gross understatement.

I learned quickly that directing an audience away from facebook is relatively easy to do. All you need is an easy to navigate website and interesting content that they cannot get from social media alone. It’s really that simple.

But what about those people who are looking for a fix somewhere in the middle between the data mining, left wing social media, and simply bookmarking websites? Those users who still wish to be social online, but without the blatant bias and open spying/data collecting?

I’ve noticed a lot of the liberty movement content creators from youtube moving to a new social media platform called Minds.com. I like Minds because of its focus on privacy and freedom of speech. The website does not take censorship lightly and must be compelled by real evidence of harassment or harm to delete content.

It also has a monetization feature that allows the users themselves to control how viral their content becomes not by being throttled on their followers’ timelines, but by boosting their content to even more users beyond their circles. And simply by interacting on the site, users receive “points” that can be converted into boosted views.

It’s very intuitive and allows for the Minds creators to be a profitable business without having to resort to data mining and content throttling. I have created an account there and will post content that I deem too trivial for this site, but that will give fans the intimate social aspect that they’ve come to enjoy by interacting with their favorite creators on social media.

You can find my Minds account at Minds.om/KevinStrange. I hope to see you there.

RTS 04: Why Kevin Strange Quit Social Media

READING TO STRANGERS is BACK with a new episode that’s sure to ruffle the feathers of the regressive left, as usual. This time, our fearless hosts Kevin and Jeremy serenade your pink pussy hats with the FINAL part of Kevin’s weird monster novelette, THE HUMANS UNDER THE BED.

After the break, Kevin goes on a classic rant about why Myspace was infinitely better than Facebook and why he’s finally peaced out from social media altogether. And it wouldn’t be an episode of RTS without Kevin flipping out about social media writing cliques.

After he catches his breath The Strange One previews next week’s show, “On H.P. Lovecraft’s Racism” and the theme for February: H.P. Lovecraft. After that they end the show by previewing next month’s serialized story: MCHUMANS.

If you like what you hear on READING TO STRANGERS please consider becoming a Patron of the Strange by pledging as little as 1 dollar per month to Patreon.com/KevinTheStrange.

And remember, gang. Keep reading!