Social Course Correction

In order to, maybe, reach a wider audience, I’ve decided to change my position on social media.

I recently ran into an X profile which declared itself “write only”. My plan is to create social profiles that do the same, auto-posting words and clips from this blog.

l-w-------

I’ve chosen four networks: X, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. These are all primarily text-based platforms, which suits my blogging style.

I’ve chosen to avoid Instagram and Facebook. Instagram because my goal is to drive traffic to this site, and Insta doesn’t contain any clickable links. Facebook because organic reach is extremely weak, unless you’re on there actively engaging with the communities (which you couldn’t pay me to do).

I tried out a few “Audiogram” products, and even an open-source project, for sharing a more visually engaging post. Ultimately, though, it was more trouble than its worth.

I’ve been experimenting with workflow.

After looking into Buffer, Later, Crowdfire, Dlvr.it, Social Champ, and a whole heap more, I decided to roll my own. I don’t want any monthly fees, thank you very much.

First, I created a new Safari profile called Social, which I keep logged into the four services I’m posting to (I’ll stay signed out on my default profile).

Then, I created an Applescript which opens a new Safari window using the Social profile. It continues by opening four new tabs with the URLs for the “compose” screen on each network. The text is pre-filled, using the title, URL, and description from my RSS feed.

The only manual step is to simply click through each tab, make any slight adjustments to the wording on each platform, and press “Post”.

I figure that this is a way to have my cake and eat it, too. I’m unlikely to gain traction on these networks, but who knows? At the very least, if one of these networks are part of your regular check-in, following me there is an easy way to stay up-to-date on my latest posts.

There are now five ways to stay up to date with Digging for Fire: RSS, Podcast, Email, Social Media, or a plain old browser bookmark.