Long time subscribers to NVS some of whom initially found us via Twitter know we’ve a love/hate relationship with the platform. When we originally started the @fun50couple account back in 2015, the world was in a very different place to where it is today. Social media’s ‘a bit of fun’ and not perceived by many as anything remotely sinister. That remains the case to this day…people favor it’s handiness while choosing to ignore any ‘hidden agenda’. Very quickly we amassed thousands of Twitter followers; We were running neck and neck with other people who started the same time as us, joking with some of them, in friendly competition. Until we got to 3200 and then follows inexplicably dried up. Meanwhile the ‘others’ romped onward and upward, achieving as many as 70 or 80 thousand followers even.
One day we met with one of the couples and discussed why this might be. They’d heard rumours about something new (back then)…shadow banning. You’ll know what I’m talking about by now I’m sure; social media giants manipulating accounts they don’t like for whatever reason, in our case, prostitution. Never mind the fact we’re operating perfectly legally, as far as Twitter was concerned they were judge, jury and ultimately executioner over content we were posting, some of it NSFW, but most of it fairly vanilla. In time, EU courts passed judgment against platforms practising ‘shadow banning’. Since then the BigTech platforms have paid lip service only to the ruling, while resorting to more underhand & covert means of blocking, censoring & restricting accounts as they see fit.
Now some will say these people are entitled to choose who they want or don’t want on their platforms as they own them. That’s a fair point, & one I’ve always kind of respected. BUT. These platforms have morphed into something politicians increasingly refer to as ‘utilities’, essential services almost. Don’t laugh. Since when has social media been essential? If you’re asking the question, you’ve probably been under a rock the past 10 years. Yeah I know, you’re probably one of those guys who has no social media footprint, you don’t want people knowing any of your business, and you regard all social media as nothing more than NOISE made by empty vessels. And do you know what? I’m on your side. Years ago writing in NVS I predicted Social Media might hasten the end of civilisation as we know it. Neither you nor I have the time here and now to debate that, but suffice to say, ‘wokeness’ ‘control’ and ‘totalitarianism’ are all linked.
So, we’ve decided not to bother fighting Twitter’s algorithms anymore. Algorithms that dig deep into your beliefs and habits, even cross communicating with other accounts traced back to the same IP address. If you’re an NVS subscriber you’ll have got to know us quite well & you’ll know what kind of people we are….members of that increasingly rare breed of people who truly say what they mean and mean what they say. AKA ‘what you see is what you get’. That mojo is 100% at odds with today’s social media. We survive as escorts, in truth we do a bit better than that, & derive a reasonably good living from it. We get new business from ads, profiles and websites we’ve written ourselves which reflect us and our values 100%. People follow us sometimes for years before picking up the phone. They feel they know us, & though they may not agree with everything we say, they feel we’re consistent enough and honest enough to be able to TRUST us. And that’s what business used to be about…TRUST. Whether it was buying a second hand car, hiring a builder, or paying for a ‘companion’. Contrast that with a typical ‘successful’ social media portfolio. I’ve been looking closely at one such account today, while researching for this blogpost. A swinger couple with 30 thousand followers. Now please note, I’ve credited them with ‘success’ due to their sizable following. What is success? If it’s vanity then they’re winning by a country mile. Is it financial? Again hard to tell, though flicking through their page reveals jaunts to Australia, the Far East & other exotic places worldwide. I would say from reading between the lines they’re well heeled & in ‘high quality’ jobs as they call them these days. I doubt the money’s come from their Twitter activity. I well remember attending a conference for erotic writers a few years ago…the organiser was the ‘be all and end all’ of sex toy bloggers, boasting 130,000 followers on social. She could barely string 2 sentences together in her introductory speech; it was painful to watch, but my ears did prick up when she mentioned she was having trouble paying her mortgage so ‘contributions’ to her ‘online business’ as she called it would be most welcome. WTF! Back to the swingers though…..other photos on their page show them relaxing in luxury cars, with hardly a weekend passing without selfies of ‘cocktails’ and partying. Mr & Mrs Wonderful*. Always smiling, never phased or downbeat or angry about the ways of the world. Telling people on Twitter the things they want to hear, in order to constantly drive up subscribers, and taking care to airbrush away anything I was going to say ‘people don’t want to hear’ but what I should say is ‘anything Twitter doesn’t want to hear’. So, for example, you won’t hear anything about their thoughts on jabs, jobs, lockdowns, politics, poverty, inequality, money troubles, what have you. Why? Maybe they’re shallow, but I doubt that. It’s more likely because they’re carefully seducing their audience and the platform especially, not wanting to incur the wrath of the Twitter algorithm, in order to maintain their upward trajectory.
- Sorry, but I can’t get Carly Simon’s hit ‘You’re So Vain’ out of my head, here it is (not quite as you know it) Enjoy!
Our local Mayor’s the same. An expert when it comes to PR aka smoke & mirrors, with a highly professional social media team spinning 24/7. Never mind photo shoots a few weeks before an election. Remember local newspapers taking pictures of parliamentary candidates kissing babies back in the day? Not him. He and his team of Millenial wizz kids are pushing positive social media spin relentlessly, 24/7, talking up the most modest achievements & forecasts, while burying deep anything remotely negative. He’s electioneering NOW for 2023, while other PPC’s haven’t even begun to think about organising their campaigns properly. That’s why he’s winning elections. Plastic people though, the Mayor and the swinger couple both. You only get to see what they want you to see. BigTech social media giants won’t tolerate any discussion or questioning of Covid policies. If you want to maintain & grow your Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/etc account, you do well to understand that, and make damn sure you follow the fold. It’s what’s wrong with the World IMAO, and it’s inline with what I forecast all those years ago. Facebook’s chief executive, I can’t bring myself to even type his name….encapsulates everything that’s evil & unsettling about this state of affairs. A few months ago he was secretly recorded saying ‘we just don’t know what the long-term effects of the vaccines will be’. At the same time his organisation was (& still is) cancelling accounts that dare to question the ‘vaccine’ narrative, accusing them of spreading misinformation. Free Speech is DEAD.
We never have and never will follow the fold, however painful that alternative path may become. We’re us, and what you see and read and discover via our blogs or by meeting in person is REALLY US, warts and all. Back us or sack us. No longer are we prepared to be manipulated by these BigTech monopolies. How will people find us? By careful SEO to encourage organic SERPS of our own independent websites, that’s how. They already rank well and we’ll build on that foundation. And if the likes of Google block those sites? There are other Search engines, try Brave for one. (it’s refreshingly different and SIMPLE to use) And there’s always printed media. I’ve dropped their names into previous missives: Remember ‘New Direction’ and ‘Forum’? Little a5 size contact mags you found on the top shelves of corner shops/newsagents. The good thing about them was? Total discretion. No online footprint, no browser history & no intrusive technology; You read it, you called a number, you threw it away or you hid it somewhere ready for next time you were horny. I walked into a sex shop 2 years ago and quizzed the owner over the likelihood of their re-appearance. He laughed at me and said I was out of touch. Recently we’ve subscribed to a quality online BDSM publication. It’s called Darkside Magazine and they’ve just won a major adult industry award. I’ve spoken to their editor. He shares many of our values & observations. Interestingly, they run a hard copy print version alongside their online offering. Hedging their bets maybe? They have thousands who buy the mag. NEWS VIEWS & SCREWS has hundreds of subscribers too, mainly sex positive mature men and M/F couples who want to explore privately, who are not into the ‘swinger lifestyle’. Rest assured, we’ll continue to bring you more TRUE tales about our exploits, as well as our take on current affairs and trends. Don’t expect to see us tweeting much on @ScrewsViews though, we’ve better things to do, concentrating instead on quality over quantity. Stay tuned. Luv, Minx & Geeze 🙂