YAY! That's great news! I think when we look back on this, I don't think it'll have been as devastating as many think it could be. This type of upset is more common in the tech world than a lot of us realize...

You know I feel you on that one, Jenny. Those of us who live surrounded by it tend to have more strict limitations on what we do for ourselves!

I recently DID find that online fun space, and you've seen how dramatically I've been rearranging my life so that I can indulge. LOL

Healthy, fun spaces are precious.

There are so many new platforms. Those are great for creating those smaller ponds, however I do want to wait a bit and see which ones "stick". Mastadon is looking interesting. Stimulus.com amuses me (no endorsement yet, but a nice twist to the "we're all here for a reason" algorithm transparency...). There are some others that I see that are more complicated to sign up for, so I'm watching those because they may filter out non-technical users. There are also interest-centric new ones popping up, so reader-centered ones (think Goodreads, but less controlled) may show up. I'm sure people could make some good suggestions here of their favorites! (BookBub is building something, for example)

https://www.lifewire.com/great-book-social-networks-3486556

I know there are some newer ones that I can't remember right now off the top of my head. Hopefully some others will chime in with them.

There are SO MANY new social media platforms in development! I think there is fascinating energy in this space right now and it is worth keeping an eye on.

Keep your super-fans close (on your email list) and then you can explore and find (or build) new spaces! Which is not to say that I think the big platforms are totally going to fold. I do think they need to re-invent themselves.

This upset reminds me of the road construction going on in a local small town. They're ripping up huge sections of the main thoroughfare. Eventually, there will be roundabouts there. But now, there's just detours and a mess.

Hopefully, the end result in these social media platforms will be long-overdue improvements. Change is hard, but I've watched how some of these have developed, and real life usage has caused huge challenges the developers didn't anticipate. Fixing those issues takes a big restructuring, and is taking far too long for them to do. So upending everything and rebuilding may be the fastest way to something even better.

We'll see!

And yes: that golden rule of being relentlessly helpful (thanks to Tim Grahl for that) is critical to success.

I received some great advice. "Be as helpful as you can."

Give and take is a good thing. Your secret #3 is an awesome one. People want to hang out with happy folks, in person as well as online. So true.

I'm wondering about some of the alternatives, like Mastodon.

Thanks, Tiffany!

Thank you, Lisa, for that encouragement!!

That's fantastic, Kris! Those playful interactions can work wonders to fuel creativity!