Discussion
RE: https://hci.social/@tod/117582407452600383
Video hosted on youtube, personal/brand website behind Cloudflare, mastodon presence hosted by Princeton.
How's that unplug going Tod?
When U.S. President Donald Trump hit Canada with tariffs, Tod Maffin turned to social media. In conversation with The National’s Ian Hanomansing, the former broadcaster and culture commentator talks about becoming an unlikely patriotic influencer and why he thinks it’s time to unplug from American tech.
@chris It's even more disingenuous when this is what his company does:
"Since 2007, we've been the secret voice behind dozens of brands.When their customers DM them, or comment on social media, or review them… it's actually our team that replies."
He runs a reply-farm for social engagement. That's the entire business model. If/when you engage with Tod online, is it him, or his reply-farm? Check with a stopwatch, I suppose - " Our median first-reply time is an industry-leading 3 minutes."
@chris Don't worry - he doesn't even use social media: https://engageq.notion.site/comments
"I don’t actually spend much time on social media. Content of mine you see there is cross-posted by software."
That site, notion.site, is _another_ US company.
And the choice quote on their front page? "We shape out tools, and thereafter our tools shape us" from Marshall McLuhan....indeed Tod, indeed. Your tools reveal your message, and it's all marketing.
@scott @tod ya there is a little irony here. Also, the media reporting on themselves is always a little weird. Thousands of Canadians have been trying to unplug for years, many very successfully, but the CBC only kind of notices when an ex-CBC guy talks about it? I don’t mean to sound mean because I like Todd and I like his style and he has done really good work. It is more of a comment on the editorial policy of the media.