Matt Lichtenwalner

Mobile mapper for Ushr - roaming the US and Canada constantly. Maybe a bit of art and/or writing here and there to spice things up.

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20190402 Google Plus is No More Matt Lichtenwalner 4/2 '19

I know - most of you probably left that particular platform a long time ago. I was still poking my head in pretty regularly, and as it happens, I was on it today. I was checking out the pluthera of goodbye posts from others who were swearing that they would remain until Google kicked them out and barred the doors.

Then I hit refresh on my browser and got the screen above.

Well, it had plenty of problems, but I am genuinely sorry to see it go. I did pull all of my posts and upload them to MeWe, but it's not the same. What's more, some of the content (some images, etc) didn't translate over. So I'm cleaning up old posts that don't make sense anymore.

But with that said, I was a little surprised to see that I was on Google Plus for 8 years, and that ain't nuthin.

For any who are curious: mewe.com/i/mattlichtenwalner

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4/2 '19 4 Comments
It was, by an order of magnitude, my favorite social media platform, especially when it was still joined at the hip to Google Hangouts.
Brandes Stoddard
Yeah. There was definitely something about it. I’d no idea I had been on it for so long. I am also finding (as I look back through my posts there) that I posted there in a more diverse fashion than I do on most other sites. Just... interesting.
Matt Lichtenwalner
What does posting in a diverse fashion mean?
Anne Mollo
Variety of topics and even styles of post. Some of them were short 'this is how I'm feeling'. Some were longer and more in depth on some topic or other. (Though in honesty, those were pretty infrequent.) And some were just "here's the art I'm working on" stuff. Oh - and a LOT of cross posting and sharing stuff friends were working on either for fun or profit or both.

Mostly, these days, I do all of that on Twitter (sans the in depth stuff - just links to it) but I guess I'm just intriqued by the idea that Plus was kinda a "whatever I'm feeling" platform.

Partly, I think that was because it was very easy to break down who could see what on the site. OPW is pretty good about that, but with Plus being Google based, anyone with a GMail could see a post specific to them. That was... convenient.
Matt Lichtenwalner
 

Concerned that I've Stopped Reading Your Facebook Posts? I Probably Have. Matt Lichtenwalner 9/23 '16

That sounds a bit more dickish than I mean it, of course. Here's the thing though - I've realized that I'm spending way too much time on social media. Again. 

So it's time for a revamp of how I interact with social media, and FB in particular since it's the worst offender. This may seem like self centered ranting, but I decided to post about this because I think many folks might benefit from using my 'process'.

My process for checking Facebook is pretty straight forward: 1. I look through / click on the notifications I've received since I last checked in. 2. Once I'm through those, I might read my wall/stream/wtf they're calling it these days.

But I noticed that there's only a handful of types of posts folks are making on Facebook, and they are:

  • Political posts: Okay, I get it. You have strong feelings about one or both of the candidates. That actually makes me happy because it means you're invested. Most of the folks who read this post? I probably agree with your mindset. Those who I don't agree with? As much as I would like to think myself a 'bigger man', you're not likely to sway me with your vitriol towards my candidate. End result? I'm not reading political posts.
  • Charity posts: There are a ton of really worthwhile charities out there who deserve our resources - be that time, money, or effort. Chances are pretty good that I'm already familiar with the charity you're doing your 'awareness' post on though. I can't easily put in time helping with the run/event that is coming up because I'm not going to be around for it. I genuinely wish I could, but.... And lastly, I already put what moneys I can into a handful of charities that I've picked out. End result? I'm not reading charity posts.
  • Pet photos/videos: Look, I'm a sucker for cats and especially dogs. If you know me at all, you know this to be true. But holy hell are there a shit ton of pet videos on the intarwebs. If it's not the cat/dog/other of one of my friends? I just don't have the time/bandwidth to spend with it. Which kinda brings me to the close of this post:

tl;dr - I now look through those same notifications, and when I'm deciding whether or not to click, there's one simple question I ask: did the post originate with my friend? Yes? Click. No? Move along - nothing to see here.

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9/23 '16 14 Comments
So when are you in town next? Two young men with an arsenal of Nerf weapons want to know ...
Shelle Klein Houser
Looking like Thanksgiving. I would very much like to have those men give a test run of those weapons. :)

(And maybe hang out with their parents for a bit too. ;) )
Matt Lichtenwalner
I want to be less involved with Facebook. Your analysis is spot on.
Lindsay Harris Friel
I find the process I use works really well. If it's content originating from my friends, I read it. It's pretty much that simple. And really? At the end of the day? That's what I give a shit about - stuff my friends make. Not so much the stuff my friends think is neat.
Matt Lichtenwalner
BUT WHAT ABOUT 3 FIKTISHUS KARACTERZ DAT ARE ME? Look, I'm a sitcom girl, a crime guy and a Muppet!
Lindsay Harris Friel
Heh. And I finally succumbed to that very meme. :P
Matt Lichtenwalner
Archer's version is perfect.
Shelle Klein Houser
Going to have to go find that, I think.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Also I love the illustration.
Lindsay Harris Friel
Aww - thanks. It suffers from that "I thought it worked when I uploaded it, but now that I've gone away and come back I fucking hate it." thing, but I'm glad you like it. That means the effort wasn't wasted.
Matt Lichtenwalner

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Annnd I'm a yutz. Accepted. *headsmack*
Matt Lichtenwalner

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:)
Matt Lichtenwalner