Last week I had a bit of a rant about how we respond to hate comments on LGBTQ+-related content, so it was nice to see this post by Sarah Bingley at Mansfield District Council about their response to similar trolling on Facebook.

We shouldn’t post something if we aren’t going to defend it—*the problem is when people internally have different opinions on what an organisation stands for. A content team might happily post about a topic or in support of a community, but it’s only when a backlash shitshow hits the fan that everyone is forced to confront what ‘values’ means in practice.

In Mansfield District Council’s case, everyone was on the same page. And that requires a leadership that treats values not as a pdf on a Sharepoint site but something that is lived and breathed.

*yes I used an em dash but in this house we don’t use chatGPT

Content of this week

I’m doing a talk at the MA conference later this year about museum shitposting, so to whet your appetite I’ve dug a little into public sector shitposting this week.

Essentially: Social media is its own context.

People don't expect to see the same adverts they see on TV. The algorithm actively punishes you if your content doesn't hook people in and entertain them. If you persist in creating content that sticks rigidly to a tone and style designed for other contexts, then you'll never break out of your own niche audience.

Also: TRAINS

The bullet point bit

• I don’t know how you can use it but this trend of speeding up IG Reels tickles my brain. That patter patter of the nice man’s feet.

• This has been out for a while but Ash Mann did an interesting study on digital failure. I can see a lot of my own experience in this, like assuming success happens first time, battling against internal sceptisism, and frustration at the pace of culture change. The root causes are “unclear goals or unrealistic expectations followed by a lack of leadership buy-in, and poor technology choices or implementation issues.” Read the report for what you can do about it.

• The best piece of digital storytelling I’ve seen this week, maybe this year, has been the tiny chef learning its Nickleodeon show had been cancelled. It’s the way he tries to go back to what he was doing at the end, but drops the duster and has to go cry on their bed. Pitch this to your boss when you lose your next funding application.

• You now need a wanking licence.

• Reddit overtook Twitter/X in terms of users in the UK recently, and it’s threads like these that make me think heritage and museum sites could be making more of a killing. I’d never have found out about this cool cross without it.

• If you’re ever in Waterloo and want to pay TWO POUNDS EIGHTY for a sausage sandwich and also play Pool, I recommend the Bus Cafe.

Personal stuff I do for me and you can just skip this if you like

🎮 what I’m playing

Europa Universalis V is coming, so to scratch my grand strategy itch I’ve been playing Imperator: Rome. My passion for history started with Age of Empire II and Rome: Total War but this game does a much better job of making the ancient world feel alive, and lay out what kind of social structures and pressures motivated different cultures to conquer, trade, innovate and create. It’s obviously not 100% accurate, and never could be, but it’s the best in class imo.

🙃 what I’m doing on my first fucking week off since Christmas

That’s kind of a lie as I’ve had the odd day off here and there, but I haven’t had a full week off. That’s not a humble brag, it’s just I’ve been covering a role at the Young Vic that was meant to end in April but ended up stretching until this week. The experience made me feel like an average american worker, and I while it’s kind of tolerable it’s also like being a frog slowly being boiled alive. It may sort of feel fine but the mental break always comes, and you just need a week to play videogames, clean the house, walk the dog down the canal, play with the baby and write a stupid newsletter.

🐕 Keith

he got a seed in his leg so they put a cone on him and he’s never been so pathetic