Prism & Pen and I Are Live on Mastodon. Join Us!
Cuz Twitter is blowing harder and harder every damn day
Who says an old pachyderm can’t learn new tricks?
I’ve been blasting my Medium articles out on Twitter for five years, often getting a good engagement rate plus very significant clicks and reads. When Elon Musk took over, I watched Twitter tolerate more overt racism, homophobia, and transphobia — but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I’m not on Twitter to have fun; I’m there to engage and advocate. I can take mudslinging. Besides, let’s face it: things were already pretty terrible before Musk took over.
Starting about a week ago, however, my Twitter engagements crashed, and lots of others are observing the same thing. It looks like Musk is cracking down hard on links that lead off Twitter. If that’s true, the platform is no longer very valuable for me or for Prism & Pen, the LGBTQ storytelling publication most of my stories appear in.
P&P editor Esther Spurrill-Jones blazed a trail over to Twitter-alternative Mastodon recently, setting up a Prism & Pen account. She chose a pretty cool, progressive server. George Takei posts there regularly, and I’d say that’s a nice endorsement. I’m setting myself up (er, learning new tricks) right now — Literally right now, in a different window. 🤣
For those of you who value short-form social media and want to see stories in your feeds from Prism & Pen and me, why not join us? Medium recently endorsed Mastodon, and from what I can see, the platform shows a hell of a lot of promise. Clay Rivers and Our Human Family have taken the plunge. Allison Wiltz and some of the fine folks from WEOC Editors are also exploring.
Mastodon is a bit more complicated to use than Twitter, but not a LOT more complicated. If I can figure it out, anybody can.
Ready, set, go!
If you’d like to take the plunge, please follow my invite link below. If you don’t already have an account on a Mastodon server, my link will let you easily set one up on the same server Prism & Pen and George Takei use.
If you already have an account on a different server, my link will just take you to my Mastodon profile, where you can follow me if you want to. Or, follow Prism & Pen right here with this underlined link.
Ready? Here we go. Can’t get any easier than this:
Tagging P&P writers to make sure you see this:
Esther Spurrill-Jones, Fred Shirley, neil chapman, David Wade Chambers, Artemis Shishir, alto, Gabriela Penelope, b.henriques, Carl Rebeiro 🏳️🌈, Rodney, Simon, Carl, Brian, Deneishia Jacobpito, Chris Hedges, Kathy Lee Tolleth, David Wade, Lois Shearing, Valentine, b.henriques, Simon Z., Cassie Brighter, James, Brigid Maloney, Gabriela, Presley Thomas, Evan McCoy, Loren Olson, Ken Wilson, Chandler, Arabelle J., Liam Heitmann-Ryce, Prickly Pam, Dawn McGrath, Jonathan | sex & theology, Tabitha Lowndes, Emma Nwosisi, Melissa Speed, Till, Dave Smurthwaite, Ellie Rebecca, Edris Quinn C., Dennett, Michael Constable, Jim Martens, Stephen Foster, Kravitz M. Kristen Nadel, William Kuhn, Denisa, Tre L. Loadholt, theoaknotes, Rachel Brindell, Elle Fredine, Jess Darnell, Emma, Gabe Evaristo, Joshua Mackey, Steve Alexander, Stevie Wilkinson, Andy Killoran, Nick, Bradley Wester, Stella Luna (they/she?), Chuy G. Gonzalez, MS, Zada Kent, Tima Loku, The Transgender Therapist, Sean Bennett, Ty Bo Yule, Alessia Autumn, Allen R. Marquez, Spencer James, Mary-Ellen Maynard, Gaby Spadaro, Elena Joy Thurston, Jason Masters, Jeff Harvey, Laurence Best, Don Stouder, Fiona Feng, Sarah McManus MSc, Annabelle Rose, Laura Silverstein, LCSW, Kyla Sawyer, Ellen Caminiti, rowen maeve, Punch Drunk Cola, Jeff Poole, Mrs. Capricious, Justine L, Patsy Fergusson, John Westphalen, Curtis Harding, Phoenix Huber, Val Servino, Jadon-Maurice Forbes, Molly Martin, Henry Lee Butler, Grey Alexander Crawford, Les Campbell, Casira Copes, Niki Madore, Shachee Swadia, Chevanne Scordinsky, Reis Asher, Jahleel Wasser, Jaimie Brickey, Doody Richards, Patrick Paul, Alexander Petrovnia, Elaine D Walsh, ƒ Michael Wells, Jack Herlocker, Lindsay Soberano-Wilson, Don Orr Martin, Jackson Banks, Martin Friend, Coby Bronze, Cate Talley, Emilly Olivares, Sogen Ohata, David Arias, Kayla Vokolek, G. L. Balend, Anthony Eichy Eichberger, Shanker Mahadev, Jenna McRae, Kevin M. Casin, Linda Caroll, Unzip It, Judy McCord, Eric Beach, Dr Jeff Livingston, Topher Bigelow, Christopher Kelly, Joseph Coco, Jordan Michael Becker, Eilís O’Keeffe, Meghan McKie, Rand Bishop, Jacob Green, JULIAN GRACIANO NUNEZ, Marcus Davensky, Rebecca Herz, Alexander Tan, X.S., Ken Scout, Kitty Whitemore, Ellison O., Ed Guzzo, KP_the_writer, Judah Leblang, Arthur Keith, Jess Whitehall, Takoda Leighton-Patterson, S. Armstrong, Elena, Dunollie, Rita Malone, Amanda Laughtland, Stephanie Moga, Tyler Albertario, Na.tasha Tr.oop, Suzanna Alastair, Lorelei Weldon, Victoria Stagg Elliott, Staten Blogging, Jaimie Hileman, Roo Benjamin, I. J., Helianthos, Brynn Tannehill, Lari, Amelia Harlow, Mary DeVries, Alyssa Ferguson, Anna, Casey Lawrence, Meagon Nolasco, spoorti, Antoni(a) Ceballos, A. T. Steel, Logan Silkwood, E. Katherine Kottaras, Eugene Pierson, David Moreton, Joanna Miles, Fay Wylde, Mila Bea, Elliott Jacob, Gerald Sturgill, Kim Barrett, Jenny Starr✨, Alex Mell-Taylor, Jonny Masters, Collin McGuinness, Ryan J. Mills, Kyle Palmer, Teresa Wymore, Dan Thomas, Lisa B-L, Lex Laursmith, Skye Mo’ipulelehua Kahoali’i, Mona S Gable, Josie Quinn, Aris Jace, David Milley, Kitty Williams, Josep Ferrer, June Thomas, Steve K, Jennifer Roth-Burnette, Amae, Danni Michaeli, Kai Stowers, Sieran Lane, Michelle Marie Warner, John A. Giurin, Michael Horvich, aleXander hirka, Tyger Songbird, Michelle Paquette, Karyn Marie, Grayson Bell, Laura Albrecht, Simon May, Antonia Ceballos, Tris Harkness, Amber Poe, Tiffany Gibson, Alison Luke, Jamila Johnson, Damian Pak, Jennifer Thompson, Tucker Douglass (He/Him), Demeter V Delune, Vanessa Brown, Amethysta, RileyA, Stephanie Parry, Kaylin Hamilton, Ph.D, Laura Halls, Steve Daniels, James Patrick Nelson, Remy J. Alan 🏳️🌈✒️, MaryClare StFrancis, M.A., Harrie Wren, Dee.O, Kathryn J Redman, Joan Rittberg,
