There was a time I looked forward to blogging, to getting my thoughts and ideas out there and seeing the interactions with people. I looked forward to the chance to share and read what others shared. That was not so long ago, on Google Plus.
I've shared my thoughts on Google and its problems before. Other than its troubling political leanings (at least in my opinion) Google made a very curious decision to cancel its sharing platform. Google Plus was a great way to find communities, but now that's long gone, and I find it much harder to find equal thoughts and footing. I have ebbed onto other things, such as MeWe, and stayed away from certain things such as Tumblr simply because of its reputation. Facebook gets hacked every other day with no consequence. The list of viable alternatives is very limited.
For me writing is as much about the anticipation of reaction as much as the action of writing itself. I can spin a world of ruin or creation with just a few lines. Google caused other problems in the past too, nixing a blog of mine with a false flag of spam because of a mistake and of course, Google had no way to contact and appeal my concern. Sound's a lot like what I hear about youtube ... oh wait, its owned by the same company.
A friend of mine called this new era the start of the true Corporate overculture. You can see this sort of idea in Blade Runner's envisioned future with huge and faceless corporations overseeing the consumer masses even as they grow more poor and desperate. Meanwhile, the overlords get richer and more disassociated from humanity. Of course, I also realize the irony of this statement and making it on a Google Platform Blog.
I realize I use Google pathways to search, and Google email for work and other things. There's a simplicity in the easiest and largest way to do a thing. I can decry what they've done wrong, and yet I can also long for one thing they got right. For a chance to reach out, have a community, a chance to interact, react and grow. Maybe something will develop in the future, improving my opinion again.
