Rebelle = Love In Action

(aka How to Make Decisions When it Comes to Tech)

The Internet is exploding, the doors have busted wide open. Thanks to the Makers, the Thinkers, the Creators, and good ol’ Donald Trump, people are awakening to the New Internet. Which resembles greatly, for those of us who were lucky enough to witness the early days, the Old Internet.

If a friend called me last year and asked, “How do I make a website for my sewing/band/freelance writing career, as quickly and cheaply as possible?” I would have replied with the canned response: “Weebly or Wix. Squarespace if you have a little cash to spare, and more time.”

Fast forward to 2020, and those 3 services don’t even come up anymore. People who mention Wordpress to me? I have to hold back the laughter. (I have nothing but respect for the people who developed Wordpress, but nothing but frustration for the plugins, processes… the un-user-friendliness of it all.) But for those of you who don’t live in tech world, do you remember Netscape? AOL? Wordpress is quickly becoming that… a dinosaur. For some perspective, just remember how Tumblr was the hot new thing –x– years ago. Anyone remember Pinterest?

The truth is, technology has moved light years ahead in the past few years. Very quietly, very lightly, without fanfare. Big Media doesn’t want you to know about it.

The Maker generation is coming. And it will be a tidal wave.

But, I digress! This post is a note-to-self.

How do you choose, between Landen / Universe / Webflow / Micro.Blog / Substack /etc etc? By the time you read this, some of these platforms may have swept away already. These are FAST MOVING WATERS.

My answers:

1) Go with your gut. In my experience, it’s rarely wrong. And your gut-brain is smarter than we think. (If you don’t know how to tap into your gut, I can show you how to do that here: –z– .)

2) Go with your ethics. Who do you want to support? What aligns best, with your beliefs? And most importantly, who aligns best, with your beliefs?

I myself have been caught in the decision quicksand of “which platform??” for months, perhaps years. It’s like the blue jean shopping experience described by –x– . The truth is, almost every solution will cost you between $5 and $20 a month. The truth is, almost every solution can work. The truth is, I probably don’t need the diamond-studded embroidery down the seams and the hidden tag. Or the 10 hours of “storytelling” marketing campaigns about how cool the company is, or how the founders met.

I just need a good pair of blue jeans. Or in this case, a simple, low-noise platform to get my ideas out.

For me? I’m going with Micro.blog. Because of its ethics. Because of how it came to be. And most importantly, because in this rapidly expanding universe of the interwebs, I keep coming back to Manton Reece, who is a real human being, trying to solve his own problems, and generous enough to share his solutions. I’m choosing to stand in his corner. Can’t wait for his new book to come out!