Ever since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, plainly the once-favorite social media web site has simply been happening in flames. It’s a tragic sight to see — pretend information and misinformation operating rampant from paid “verified” accounts, restoration of previously banned accounts (they had been banned for good motive), and a lot different stuff that I simply can’t sustain anymore. With all of those modifications, there’s been an increase in alternate options to Twitter, just like the extremely common Mastodon.
I choose one thing easier, like the brand new Hive Social that has lately made waves. Consider Twitter and Instagram, and what you’ll find yourself with when you mixed the 2. There’s additionally a bit sprint of Myspace in there, as you may even add some music to your profile web page. I’ve been poking round on Hive Social since I joined per week in the past, and whereas I’ve been having fun with my time there, I additionally observed a couple of issues alongside the way in which.
Hive jogs my memory of the early days of Twitter
Hive Social is completely different than Mastodon and jogs my memory of the early days of Twitter (I’ve been on Twitter since 2007, loopy proper?). When you get your Hive account arrange and observe some individuals, the house feed is an easy mixture of textual content and pictures. To date, from the individuals I’m following, my residence feed has given me a window into the random musings of my buddies, some industry-related posts, questions and solutions, and images of meals, pets, and different enjoyable stuff.
Although my feed has been a bit sluggish recently, I preserve coming again to Hive, even when there isn’t a lot occurring generally. It’s been paying homage to the early days of Twitter for me, the place individuals posted random ideas, what they had been as much as in the mean time, and footage of what they had been having for lunch. To date, there’s no drama, no politics, and so on. — it’s simply been “good vibes solely” for me up to now, and that’s simply what I want.
Creating a brand new publish is simple sufficient too. Posts on Hive can have an infinite quantity of textual content, and you may even connect quite a few images and video clips. GIFs are welcome, and you may also ballot your followers. Already from the get-go, you may choose who can remark in your publish, which is one thing that took years for Twitter to implement.
Once more, the early days of Twitter had been fairly tough — bear in mind the Fail Whale? Proper now, Hive may be very paying homage to that outdated expertise, and I’m hoping to see it get improved with time, identical to Twitter did. Solely with out horribly crumbling to the bottom.
Simplicity is Hive’s greatest draw
When Mastodon got here out a couple of years in the past, I created an account as a result of it was the “sizzling new factor.” However with the entire Twitter nonsense, plainly everybody has been flocking over to Mastodon. I gave it one other shot, however I simply can’t recover from how complicated it’s as a complete. The servers/cases bit makes it laborious for me to seek out my outdated Twitter buddies if I don’t know which server they signed up on, and I truthfully hate how usernames look once you @ somebody who isn’t on the identical occasion as you. It’s messy, and the truth that each particular person server or occasion can have its personal set of emojis and different little “perks” simply makes it really feel like Reddit or Discord. That’s not what I would like in my Twitter various.
That’s why I’m having fun with Hive a lot greater than Mastodon — it’s simple.
In contrast to Mastodon, Hive is straightforward — it’s one place for everybody to collect, identical to Twitter. You create your account and have a username, after which individuals can discover you, so long as they’ve your username. Since most individuals today use the identical username on-line, it’s not tremendous laborious to seek out your folks or favourite influencers. There’s no further nonsense like servers — simply seek for somebody’s username, and in the event that they’re on Hive, they’ll present up. Simple peasy.
I do know that there are people who find themselves drawn to Mastodon as a result of it’s decentralized, and for some individuals, that’s precisely what they need. However not me. I simply need one place the place all my buddies are hanging out, and I can observe them. Having separate servers and whatnot makes it really feel very disjointed. That’s why I’m having fun with Hive a lot greater than Mastodon — it’s simple.
There’s nonetheless a lot of room for enchancment
Plainly Hive continues to be simply getting began, and that’s okay. Hive has been round since 2019 and is managed by solely two individuals. However with the entire Twitter drama, it has had an explosive variety of new person signups — about 1,000,000 in per week.
I’ve observed each time I open up the Hive app on my iPhone 14 Professional, it takes at the very least 10 seconds for my residence feed to load up. That is assuming it doesn’t simply choose up from the place I left off from the final use. I’d think about that it’s because Hive’s servers weren’t anticipating this many new customers so rapidly, so issues are a bit sluggish due to it — and that’s completely comprehensible. However I nonetheless hope that the builders behind Hive add extra servers to deal with capability sooner reasonably than later.
I additionally observed that search is just about ineffective proper now, and someway, usernames aren’t distinctive (there are a number of individuals with the identical deal with). NSFW posts additionally need to be manually tagged each time, so if a person doesn’t do that, then NSFW content material can present up within the Uncover part, no matter whether or not or not you selected to permit it in your account. Content material moderation must be one thing that’s significantly thought of on the Hive platform as a result of, proper now, it’s apparent that it’s nonexistent.
The app itself might additionally use enchancment. There are inconsistent contact zones when searching profiles, and you may’t simply faucet wherever on the display screen to easily shut out of a contextual menu. On an iPhone, you may’t faucet the system standing bar to return to the highest (professional tip: faucet the house feed tab to do that). The Android model of the Hive app is someway worse, and also you want workarounds to do little issues like including a profile image with an current picture in your system. Yeah, it’s undoubtedly tough, to say the least.
And the most important concern that lots of people are having with Hive is the truth that it’s presently a cellular app solely. There’s no web site and no desktop app. Every part involving Hive Social is in your iPhone or Android telephone. For Hive to succeed, it must be out there on units apart from telephones and tablets. I sincerely hope that the builders are engaged on this as a result of I do know a couple of individuals who merely gained’t contemplate it due to this reality.
I simply need pre-Elon Twitter again
I do know lots of people have all the time disliked Twitter, however for me, Twitter was greater than only a sizzling mess all these years. I acquired began in my profession due to Twitter, and I’ve met so many wonderful those who I contemplate buddies by means of Twitter — even assembly a few of them in particular person. It’s additionally how I share my work with individuals who might even be remotely , and it’s how I discover out about breaking information.
It’s laborious to begin over and be in contact with the individuals you care about when everyone seems to be splitting up and going to smaller locations.
I’m attempting all of those “alternate options” to Twitter as a result of so a lot of these cool individuals I’ve met have left for one thing else. I’ll go the place the individuals go, however I’ve been on Twitter for 15 years, build up a small following. It’s laborious to begin over and be in contact with the individuals you care about when everyone seems to be splitting up and going to smaller locations, reasonably than one huge “public city sq..”
To date, Hive is the one various that I’ve truly loved utilizing, but it surely undoubtedly has an extended street forward of it. I’ll preserve at it for now, and hopefully, extra individuals hop on board as soon as it makes some much-needed additions.
At the least, you recognize, till the subsequent huge social community possibility pops up.
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