Tag: twitter

Bluesky

Like many others, I’ve stopped cross-posting to X and have joined Bluesky.

I am @joannecorey.bsky.social there if you would like to follow me.

When I was on X, I had a small group of people that I followed and didn’t venture beyond their posts. Most of the main public policy experts and commentators that I followed there have flown over to Bluesky so I am able to still benefit from their content.

I’ve been on Bluesky for a couple of months now and am still getting the hang of it. I admit to being puzzled about why some people follow me, other than perhaps that they are also new and just trying to build up their lists. I’ve made a couple of errors in following back where some strange guy immediately starts to direct message me, so I’m learning to be more cautious.

On the other hand, I’m occasionally shocked when someone I follow because they are an expert in their field follows me back. Perhaps it doesn’t last long, but, at least, it makes me less insignificant for a moment.

I haven’t deleted my account on X yet because there are sometimes environmental Twitter storms (X storms?) that I might need to jump in on. There are still a lot of politicians on X. Other than that, I’m not visiting over there.

I’ve left a pinned post so people can find me on Bluesky, here at Top of JC’s Mind, on Instagram, and Facebook.

Of course, now there is the end of fact-checking at Facebook and Instagram to contend with…

It almost makes it sound as though I know what I’m doing on social media.

Almost.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/09/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-9th-2025/

JC’s Confessions #28

In the first few seasons of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert did a recurring skit, then a best-selling book, called Midnight Confessions, in which he “confesses” to his audience with the disclaimer that he isn’t sure these things are really sins but that he does “feel bad about them.” While Stephen and his writers are famously funny, I am not, so my JC’s Confessions will be somewhat more serious reflections, but they will be things that I feel bad about. Stephen’s audience always forgives him at the end of the segment; I’m not expecting that – and these aren’t really sins – but comments are always welcome.

I tend to stick with social media platforms, even when they do objectionable things.

I admire those who have stopped reading/posting on Facebook/Meta, X/twitter, Substack, etc. in a principled response to their behavior, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to follow suit.

Instead, I’ve carved out my own way to shelter myself from misinformation and vitriol. I use tools and filters so that I see posts from people I follow rather than a general feed. I manage to block most advertisements. I interact with some platforms, such as Substack, nearly exclusively through articles being sent to my email rather than going to their site. I try not to read comments on political, environmental, religious, or anything-even-vaguely-controversial posts, because things get nasty quickly. I’ve recently started limiting the comments on some of my posts on X to only people that I follow to avoid being attacked over believing in fossil-fuel-driven climate change.

Part of the reason I’ve maintained my presence on some platforms is that there are people with whom I’m connected only there. It’s also because I’m afraid to lose any contacts that I have for my blog and my poetry. I don’t have a large number of followers, so I’m loathe to cut any of them off.

This strategy has been working okay for me for now, but that could change. I’m hoping that my posts create tiny moments of sanity for those that do happen across them.

I also want to thank those that have left platforms for calling attention to problems with social media. I applaud your voices and your commitment.

Maybe, someday, I’ll manage to follow your example.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/01/22/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-22nd-2024/

9!

Today is my ninth blogaversary! Blogoversary? The spelling of made-up words seems a bit fluid…

This is my 1,682nd post. There have been 6,458 comments, 56,348 views, and 31,286 visitors from 126 countries and territories. There are 1,572 followers via WordPress with another couple hundred by email, twitter, and Facebook, with, I’m sure, a bit of overlap.

It seems like so many added up that way, but Top of JC’s Mind is still a small blog, averaging about 20 views a day. I remain grateful for all my visitors and followers. [Time for my usual disclaimer: I rarely look at my stats and don’t do much to actively gain views. In the crush of real life, I decided to devote my blogging time to writing posts and answering comments, so I don’t do the kinds of outreach needed to build up a large readership.]

I’m thankful to still be actively blogging at all. It seems that many bloggers start out but don’t continue for this many years or only post a few times a year.

Not that I post on a regular schedule but I’ve made it to 1,682 posts, so I do manage to say things!

I’ve been happy with my choice to be an eclectic blog. I know some of you visit for the poetry posts or for the family stories. Others might favor my political posts or pandemic posts or environmental posts. Some visit via Linda G. Hill‘s One-Liner Wednesdays or Stream of Consciousness Saturdays series. Some seem to arrive via searches of various sorts, which I find fascinating.

I know now that there are quite a few other eclectic blogs and I love knowing that there are so many of us rambling on about whatever is “top of mind” at the moment.

So, on to Year 10! Hope to see you checking in from time to time.

With thanks,
Joanne

One-Liner Wednesday: one thing leads to another…

“You should know be now that I cannot introduce any topic without also introducing the history of the entire world.”
~~~ Dr. Melody Ross in this twitter thread, although I feel that, while I don’t know Dr. Ross, I do know other people who could say the same thing.
*****
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2022/02/09/one-liner-wednesday-the-stuff-you-make/

1602!

I was never much of a stats person with my blog and have become even less so in the last few years as I’ve been needing to spend a lot of brainpower on caregiving, but, every once in a while, I do notice my number of followers which, as I write this, is now 1602!

Thank you to all of you and to anyone who reads any of my posts, whether you choose to follow or not!

I appreciate your patience with my haphazard blogging approach, where I post without having any schedule whatsoever about whatever is at the top of my mind – or was at the top of my mind at some point but took a few days to make it out onto the page. I realize that some of you are only interested in poetry posts or political ones or family ones, so thank you for checking back in to find your favorites.

Next week, I am headed back to North Adams for a few days to work on my poetry collection. Usually, when I go back there, I blog every day, but I’m not putting that pressure on myself this time. Maybe posts will start sloshing around in my head and I’ll post to get them out and have a change of pace from poetry – or maybe not.

So, I should close with instructions on how to follow me, for those who may be new to such things. There are widgets here to follow if you have your own blog or if you want to follow by email. You can also follow the blog’s Facebook page and/or my twitter, both of which always have links appear when I post. I also usually send new blog posts via ello, if anyone has a presence there.

I’ll spare you my LinkedIn…

stats and followers

I am mostly oblivious when it comes to my blog stats. It’s another of those things that I am supposed to keep track of but don’t. It’s also something that I should be methodically trying to grow, but I haven’t been paying attention to for months and months. I honestly don’t know if I will ever pay proper attention, concentrating on my writing instead of the searching, reading, commenting, and promotion it takes to accelerate growth of followers.

I did just happen to go to my stats page, though, and found that at the top it says I have 1,000 followers, which is my WordPress.com followers plus my email followers.

On my blog itself, it lists 1,168 followers because it adds in my Facebook and twitter followers, some of whom overlap with other categories.

Thank you to all my followers and all my readers. I appreciate your stopping by, whether it is occasional or on a regular basis, whether you comment or keep your thoughts to yourself. It humbles me to know that you think what I have to say is worth reading.

~ JC

Calling people from around the world!

A few days ago, I re-blogged this post: https://ireadencyclopedias.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/reaching-out-to-the-world/
from Jay Dee of I Read Encyclopedias for Fun. He is trying to get comments from as many countries as possible. So far, people have responded from USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Ireland. Let’s help him expand the list!

Here’s how you can help:
1) If you are from another country – and I know I have regular visitors from India and Australia – please click on the link and leave a comment, telling Jay Dee where you are from.
2) If you have a blog, are on Facebook, tweet, or engage in any other social media, please consider sharing the link with your followers. There are handy sharing buttons at the end of the post or you can copy and post the link yourself.

Let’s see if we can get visitors from dozens of countries for Jay Dee! Thanks!

500(ish) followers!

The most popular topic among bloggers is blogging! I admit that, while I read a lot of posts on blogging, I don’t often write one, but today I will because I have reached 500 followers for Top of JC’s Mind!

Or at least, 500ish. The numbers are a bit squishy. The number following through WordPress is 389 with email, Facebook, and twitter followers pushing the number up to 500. That means that some people who follow me on more than one platform are double or triple counted, but….

Let’s just say 500! Yay!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all my followers, especially those who visit regularly. There are even a few who comment regularly; thank you for keeping me from feeling as though I am talking to myself.

I also want to thank all the blogs I follow – all 750 of them. Some I get daily or weekly digest emails and visit frequently; others I don’t get to very often. You have all helped me to learn about blogging and gifted me with beauty, humor, poetry, stories, travelogues, photos, thought, and heart.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and the Top of JC’s Mind,
Joanne

How many read your blog today?

I think that everyone should read Tric’s blog! You can tell her I sent you. 😉

tric's avatarMy thoughts on a page.

I was toying between that title or perhaps,  ‘How not to increase traffic to your blog’. I’ve been blogging over two years and for the most part have enjoyed every day of it. However in the last month, due to life, holidays, my children annoying me and my husband expecting me to feed him, I’ve had less time to write, to read and to post here on wordpress. This has naturally meant my usually high stats, (not!) have nose dived, leading me to wonder, and wondering is not always a good thing!

For as I wondered I grew envious (and bitter). Why do I not have a following of thousands reading my blog? Am I not interesting? At times funny? At times inspirational? Ok perhaps not.

This week I read a couple of posts from bloggers who had big stats. They were kindly telling me, and everyone else, but I…

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The Blog Post Share Project – Share the Love

Jay Dee is helping out other bloggers by encouraging us to share each other’s work through social media. Are you ready to help out in this way?

Jay Dee's avatarI Read Encyclopedias for Fun

I was thinking yesterday, I’m usually giving blog posts I like a comment and a like. I get plenty of those myself on this blog. But there are other ways to show your appreciation to blogs and bloggers.

So, how about this? Whenever you see a blog post you like, don’t just like it. Leave a comment if there’s something you want to say, of course. But why not use social media to help get the word out to others about that post? At the bottom of each post in a blog, there should be buttons you can click on for various social media. Twitter is great, if you use it. Why not pin it on Pinterest? Or how about share it with your friends on Facebook? Or even Google+? If you think the post is really, really good, you could even share it on Reddit.

So, this is what…

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