My ex was right 😩

When I was dating and married to my ex-husband, social media was still in its baby golden era. Instagram was brand new. Facebook had just let you start posting pictures outside of a designated photo album. People were still using FourSquare to document their every. fucking. move.

And my ex HATED it. He was fine with me posting pictures of us on socials, with the caveat that I not tag him or the location where the picture was taken. Did I think he was being sketchy af? Yes. Did I tag him anyway? Also yes.

Fast forward 15 years, and I finally understand the WHY behind those requests 🫠

Maybe it's because he read more sci-fi than me (sci-fi has NEVER been my genre, sorry!), but he seemed to see the warning signs of a surveillance society long before I woke up to them.

My youngest and I sat down to watch Game 5 of the WPBL Championship and when I tell you that EVERY. SINGLE. COMMERCIAL. was for the new Meta Muse AI?? I wish I was exaggerating. It gave me a great opportunity to talk to my 8-year-old about the pros and cons of AI, about how using our brains keeps them sharp, and the mistakes AI can make without human intervention and oversight. But also like ... why is Meta pushing this so hard? Why are tech companies IN GENERAL pushing this so hard?

And furthermore, why does Muse AI look like a stuffed animal my 8-year-old would beg me to buy her from the toy section at Fred Meyer??

I have a deeply held conspiracy theory that is less "theory" and more just "conspiracy" at this point, but I firmly believe that tech oligarchs are committed to ensuring that they remain financially untouchable. That is their only motive. You know that old saying "money can't buy you happiness?" That's a fuckin' lie. Because what money CAN buy you is other people to deal with all your problems for you. And also SSRIs 🙃

Tech billionaires keep coming up with more and more products to sell us. from tiered business accounts on their platforms (see the updates below) to AI assistants that will make our lives easier. It's like I said — money can buy you people to deal with your problems for you. But in the modern era, sometimes those people are actually virtual AI assistants shaped like stuffed animals.

But this brings up a problem that is three-fold:

1. If you're using these AI features as assistants or thought partners, where does that data go? Who is seeing it on the back end, and how are they using it (and probably selling it) without your permission?
2. If you are outsourcing basic tasks, how are you keeping your brain sharp? Critical thinking and problem solving are muscles that need to be exercised. And while it's great not to have to schedule your own massage or sign your kids up for soccer (both real examples from the Meta Muse AI commercials), there is functional human element that gets lost when you outsource your tasks to tech.
3. If you are paying AI to do your work, what small businesses are you failing to support? I promise you that for every dollar Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman or Dario Amodei makes from you using their AI products to run your life, there is a small business out there that needs your support. You could be paying a real person to help you book that massage or order school supplies. You could be supporting a real small business owner who needs to make that month's rent. Tech billionaires and AI don't need your support and money — small business owners do.

I'll say it again: Tech oligarchs' only priority is to remain financially untouchable. They are doing this by stealing our data, dumbing us down, and eliminating small business competition ... all masked in the cute, approachable persona of Muse AI, your personal Surveillance Labubu.

This is your sign to push back. Personally, I will continue to manage my own socials and my clients' socials organically — without Meta One, and without Muse or other generative AI. I will continue hiring other small businesses to support me in my work, as I just did for my new website launch (🥳). And I will continue to think critically about my work and the role all of us can play in keeping our data, minds, and livelihoods safe from the grip of greedy billionaires.

I hope you'll join me 🧡

🤑 Meta has rolled out its Meta One pricing tiers, as well as new rules forbidding businesses from including links in their posts ... unless they pay. The lowest tier that includes links is $49.99 a month (!!), which, idk about your small business but ... that feels COST PROHIBITIVE. Links are also banned from comments, which means that you can't even provide customer service that directs people to your website for information or products. It all feels like a giant "fuck you" to small businesses, and I am NOT into it.

🧵 We're now allowed to add Threads profiles to Meta Business Suite. Just what I wanted — to spend more time in Meta Business Suite 🙃

👁️ Meta's Muse AI — which Threads users have justifiably dubbed a "Surveillance Labubu" — is growing its capabilities and platforms, now including Mac. Meta says that Muse AI can act as a personal assistant with users' explicit permission, but some users have reported that it's accessing things they didn't give it permissions for ... including personal text messages and DMs 👀

🎦 TikTok is expanding its child protection initiatives, and the statement they released includes the line "Keeping young people safe is at the core of everything we do." When I tell you I LITERALLY made this face ...

📱 I never report on X because fuck Elon Musk, but I do want to note that they just launched X Numbers which appears to be a competitor to WhatsApp (now owned by Meta) and Signal (still the only ethical encrypted chat platform, in my opinion).

📽️ In news I am actually EXCITED about, Edits now lets you import your own fonts into the app! Which means you don't have to rely on branding your videos with shit that looks vaguely like the fonts you use everywhere else — they will be your ACTUAL FONTS 🤩

Let's take the question mark out of "what to post" with a Content Lightning Round! These virtual sessions can be 30 or 60 minutes, and give us time to brainstorm tangible content ideas for your socials.

What you'll get:​
⚡ A list of actionable content ideas
⚡ A strategy on how to implement them
⚡ A recording of our session that you can come back to again and again

Plus: When you book a Content Lightning Round between now and the end of October, 10% of proceeds will go to No Hate in WA State, a campaign fighting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Washington state that will be on the ballot this November.

BOOK YOUR CONTENT LIGHTNING ROUND ⚡️

​
OTHER WAYS TO WORK WITH ME 👇🏻

🌼 For the small business owner who doesn't want to deal with socials AT ALL, my Super Bloom package is full-service done-for-you social media management that includes content strategy, creation, scheduling, and community engagement!

🌿 If you like personally responding to comments and DMs but don't have time for all the content creation and scheduling, my Big Bloom package offers social media support to take the content component off your plate!

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PICK YOUR PACKAGE

⚾ My Firebells did not win the WPBL Championship, unfortunately 😭 They lost to the Queens, who — despite being from LA (iykyk) — have undeniable swag and chemistry. My 8-year-old was THRILLED, since she is a Brittany Apgar superfan who converted to Queens fandom midseason.

🍋 The kids and I celebrated Sukkot at our synagogue's Fall Festival this past weekend. Y'all, they had PONY RIDES! As a former horse girl I remain extremely jealous that they didn't have any horses for me to hop on, but both my kids got to experience the joy of being in the saddle and now they are, again, begging for horseback riding lessons 🫠

📚 I'm in the middle of Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due and y'all, I think paranormal historical fiction might be the Venn diagram of all my favorite things. If you have recommendations for me in this very specific genre, PLEASE let me know!