jonbell

Last week I gave a talk in Sydney. Someone invited me to a party happening one week later. I laughed, because I live in another country. I returned home to Wellington and joked to my wife that we can’t go, of course. She said “why not?” So yeah, we flew back to Sydney just to attend a party.

Oh and while we're talking about the future of social media and gardens, here's my big epiphany that led to a whole new product. Check out this article: jonbell.medium.com/hey-creators... I'm basically saying that creators should have a single place to put all the cool stuff they're up to. (cont)

If you're following me because of my thoughts on social media, especially because of my @webdirections.bsky.social talk, a few things you gotta do: 1) Follow @erlend.sh 2) Read what his team is up to at bsky.app/profile/erle... 3) Check out @spritelyinst.bsky.social and spritely.institute

there are also more gardens than I've ever seen before. Even if the internet is 99% corporate and 1% weird, 2024's internet is bigger so the 1% is bigger. Now is way more creator-friendly, way more networked, way easier to accept payment or find your tribe than ever. (cont)

If you're following me because of my thoughts on social media, especially because of my @webdirections.bsky.social talk, a few things you gotta do: 1) Follow @erlend.sh 2) Read what his team is up to at bsky.app/profile/erle... 3) Check out @spritelyinst.bsky.social and spritely.institute

A story about joining Microsoft 10-15 years ago and why people thought my name was Joe. I joined the Windows Phone design team, and I was used to working in big business. I know things are slow. I know it can be frustrating. Heck, I grew up in DC, with my friends' parents working in the government.

Did I want my very first order of business to fight for a new email address? Putting me out of commission for five days? Should I go for quality and long term thinking if it meant a short term loss to my team? And that's why I stuck with jobell@microsoft.com.

A story about joining Microsoft 10-15 years ago and why people thought my name was Joe. I joined the Windows Phone design team, and I was used to working in big business. I know things are slow. I know it can be frustrating. Heck, I grew up in DC, with my friends' parents working in the government.

So I understand slow. I went in reminding myself "don't make waves, don't think you're in a nimble design agency." So I was in my first meeting with leadership on my first day and my manager told me my email address: jobell@microsoft.com. Logically, it makes sense. First two chars, last name.

Exciting news from my Vessel Spotting project, where I draw little pixel art of ships I spot in Wellington and track where they go in the world. See the ship at the top? That's a car carrier with a really unique look, returning home to Japan, the furthest I've seen a ship go.

I’ve been preparing for this talk for a long time. Now that it’s done, two songs keep running through my head: Kendrick: “sometimes you gotta pop out and show [people]” — I love the stage, and it’s been five years since my last new material. Pleased it went well.

@bwood.me I just woke up in Sydney and I’m procrastinating so I’ll add a low-hanging design crit notes: A) Logo cropping on the top on my standard latest iPhone B) P in app password form could be lowercase to match cases C) Add the same spacing between the note and the button that use use between

Hello from my first time in Sydney! I’m attending @webdirections.bsky.social and will soon be in a workshop with long time internet hero Josh Clark. Then tomorrow I do my talk in this unique looking Gehry building: Also this açai place is playing How Soon Is Now which I find fitting.

I find it disappointing but entirely expected that on Mastodon everyone is cheerleading their thing, on Threads, they’re cheerleading their thing, and Threads is cheerleading their thing. Fediverse or Atproto, I’m just excited that decentralised is exploding in popularity.

Give been thinking about social media a lot, again. When I worked at Twitter, our data showed it took years for someone to become a consistent user. It was too hard to find people to follow, some people post too much, others post too little, it was hard to keep up. And posting is scary and lonely.

But I still wonder about the scary/lonely angle. The vast majority of people aren’t looking to post things publicly. And people who do are easily frustrated when they get no engagement.

Give been thinking about social media a lot, again. When I worked at Twitter, our data showed it took years for someone to become a consistent user. It was too hard to find people to follow, some people post too much, others post too little, it was hard to keep up. And posting is scary and lonely.

I am rooting for decentralized, I am rooting against X, and I love Bluesky. I put together some stats to compare how things are going across apps, protocols, and centralized vs decentralized. Some disclaimers: * Solid numbers are hard to come by * It's likely I messed up some numbers * I love bsky

In a few days, I’ll be speaking at @webdirections.bsky.social in Sydney about a topic near and dear to my heart. I don’t believe in blind optimism. I’m too pragmatic and realistic for that. So this talk is jam-packed with tangible examples of things (some already shipping) that will be a big deal.