Swell needs to be more fucked up
I mean, I'm trying to do that, but this is just not much interaction going on to begin with. And that's fine. When you shit post, you should not be expecting any interaction. But everybody has to collectively agree to shit post about stuff. I mean, oh my God, the meme potential for Swell is so high. It is just mind boggling to think of the ideas that you could do with Swell in terms of just being goofy, but it's not there
And it also attracts the right audience for now to grow because those kind of people really like to discuss things and talk about things and that's what you need if you try to grow a platform and which fosters discussion. But I agree with your points that we all need to get a little bit weirder and I think we should try it all
But crab perfect. Tastes great. Butter, garlic. It's a bug. I'll eat you don't give me no crickets. Crickets are dusty and crunchy. I want fleshy bugs
I've definitely heard of that idea that everything will eventually turn into crabs. It's a good point. Someone should write, like, a science fiction story about an alien that visits Earth in the future and everything is just a crab. There's cowboy crabs, and, like, all the humans changed into crabs, the cats changed into crabs, the cows changed into crabs. It's just a planet full of crabs. And I don't know, there's probably a story somewhere
I get that everybody uses the platform for different reasons, but but I think it's tricky to bring behaviors that we are familiar with while also trying to establish new behaviors in order to create something culturally virtually different than what we've seen on other platforms. I think there's a lot of contributing factors that can cause things to go very well or not so much
I kind of feel like the curation that goes on right now and sort of way the whole platform's current vibe, the stuff that's floated to the top that's kind of on the front page and things like that. I think it definitely is sort of like the identity of the app and not just a way to stand out against the other social media sites. I think that Swell obviously at this point has kind of established what it is in some respects
Okay, let me tell you a secret from my observations. If you are, quote, unquote, new, and I'm using that word very relatively, let's say someone who's been on that platform for like a year, within a year, sometimes it goes a little longer, you're more likely to be featured. So if you create something that might be interesting or helpful, you're more likely to be curated
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Yeah. Regarding the first part of what you said about people who don't know how to have a conversation. Well, I mean, I guess that's relative, what your idea of a conversation is, but, like, one of the things I really love about Swell and I'm excited about is that in my experience, the vocal conversation that we have tends to bring out and expose Toxic City more than the traditional photo text format that most social media has
OOH interesting. My take used to be that Social Audio, regardless of the platform, really created opportunities for better connection because you could hear come here. You could hear the tone of voice and you could hear the pauses and so on. And so it was more you could empathize or connect with that person a little bit more. However, Social Audio has been now around for a number of years and well, Clubhouse has taken a big morph
It is a super problematic saying that I don't use very often for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, I don't think there's many other ways of phrasing it that are as direct or work as well. But one of the things that I think applies really well here is giving them enough rope. Like, that's what we're talking about, and that's the best way to express it
And also when listening, because usually when you read text, you can sort of skim through it, maybe you miss a few details, but with the voice you can really sort of get the feeling of what the person is trying to say and you have to take your time to listen to it and also when expressing yourself. So I guess it feels more personal in a way, which is really cool
I completely agree with you. There's this richness that I think happens with social audio over other forms of communication. I mean, text is clear that there's not a lot of nuance and complexity there. But I think even video can sometimes be distracting when we get hung up on the background, what's happening, what the person looks like, what they're wearing, what their hair is done, any other of these things that are meaningless instead of really hearing them and what they're talking about
But yes, in order to be popular. You're right. It certainly doesn't attract so many people. So, greetings from Switzerland, where the sun is shining and high temperatures are forecast for tomorrow, especially 34 degrees Celsius is forecast. The only day when I go down, further down, I mean, I'm at 1700 meters in altitude and I'm going down for a grill party at the lake at Lake Geneva, or Lake Le Ma, also called So. Greetings. Cheers
Jordan Tepper
@JordanTepper · 1:11
I like to have the banter back and forth. I yeah, I don't take it too seriously at all. I'm not really talking about social issues. I'm more talking about, like, if you were an ice cream, what type of ice cream would you be and why? Or talking about music. But yeah, man, I look forward to seeing some of your stuff with shit posted up
But I think we're still a little bit guarded, it seems, and a lot of the topics that are being posted are not allowing for a lot of depth or like you had suggested, humor. It's just kind of on the surface, it's a lot of do you like pancakes or waffles kind of thing still. And I'm hoping that as more people get on the platform, you're going to see more what I was hoping is more people that are really into their craft
To me, it's like whatever you bring to the table, if you come to it passionate enough, raw enough, willing to look stupid, be wrong, willing to try things that might not necessarily be guaranteed to have feedback, then I think that allows the individual to kind of curate their content to attract more listeners and everybody gets better. And then when everybody gets better, it allows for that deeper communication
And I think what's happening is you get a lot of people that almost sound as if they're reading from someone else's book or that it could be written by Chat GPT because it's very generic and that is going to be very hard, very hard to engage with. But I think that something can benefit the listener without being wrapped up in a kind of 1950s Leave It to Beaver sort of packaging that really is not it's not really it's just like it sounds very promotiony, right?
Certainly I'm trying also to be fun in a way that is not necessarily about the dark stuff, more observational humor and things like that, but it's a lot trickier and also it's so much more ambient and people just kind of gloss over it versus personal humor. I think a lot of people are more connected to it and that's got to be raw. You know, that's got to be delivered with a certain amount of emotional passion and emotional authenticity
But I also think it's like how somebody would like, almost like how my kid would play act if her friends were over and they were playing like acting or up on stage. It's still coming across kind of surface. And of course, there's exceptions to the rule. Christine is one of them. I really like Dawan stuff that he puts out there and I really like some of the people that are putting content out over from India
But even if we look offline, we see the same kind of thing. There's this concern for many about status and reputation and hierarchies at all costs. No one wants to look silly or stupid from stumbling physically to stumbling over words or whatever, right? Because it's so pervasive offline and online. I don't know that we're ever going to see I can't say ever, but not in the near future, a significant change where that becomes the majority way of being
Yeah, I think I had was hoping that it would be more of a hybrid of professionalism and the individual bringing their own personality and personal experience into it. And so it would be because this is the thing about as much as I don't Facebook and Instagram and I don't and I don't even really like being on either platform anymore, but you can have a few ways to do well on those platforms, right? There are some people that are just posting pictures of their lifestyle or whatever
And what we've done is by creating all this social media that is about the hustle and about supplementing your full time job and becoming an influencer and things like that, we really have created an artificial version of ourselves in that sense that doesn't need to be that way
And I suspect there's also like to some of what Renee, you were talking about, there are these nuances to how to use these apps and so on. And so I think there's also nuances to what authenticity looks like, let alone in each person. Right? Because you're absolutely right in that there are some places that are more safe, in some places that are not
It has to be as much for me personally or I just don't see the point in being on this particular app if I just want to be out there broadcasting and put my stuff out there and have it sound perfect, not have any dissent, then why not just do a traditional podcast? Anyways, great discussion and I love that. It just keeps going
As far as moderation on this platform, I'm sure there probably is, but I have not seen it or felt it. I have seen or felt no censorship. Nobody trying to tell me, well, now you can't say that or you can't do this or any of that. It may be here, but I have not seen it like I have on Facebook. I've gotten kicked off Facebook several times
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 3:16
And I think the way the platform again, requires you to think about what you say or at least be more attuned to one thing at a time, you are more cognizant of that idea. Yeah, I think that's it. So you're less likely to throw out some silly shit out there and again, if you wanted to throw some silly shit out there for some silly ass reactions, you'd probably do it on a different platform. That's just my guess
And I know that the title made it sound like I was dissatisfied with Swell, but if you listen to the whole post, it's just a way for me to grab people's attention, which did the intended job. And that's not a bad thing because this is still a social media site and the idea is to get people to talk to you
Improv and sketch comedians, they cut their teeth at these schools and organizations where the whole goal is to put them in difficult situations and get them to come up with something funny in the moment, right? And that is to me, the kind of the appeal of Swell versus something like Twitter or Threads or even Instagram. I think you could definitely still do plenty of improv and things like that on this. And you could definitely do some shit posting, right? Like just audio stupidity, right
It is literally the best way that you could do comedy would be to use this app, and there's nobody's here. And guess why? It's because the community doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor, if I'm being honest
Kwa NateKo
@kwa · 1:44
I hate to use a technical term like this, like logistically, just the way the platform works, how that would actually play out given the whole, I think, tendency to self regulate because you hear yourself as you speak. For Comedian that would work a lot, I think, for a lot of people because you hear yourself talking because you know it can be replayed because you're working through your thoughts it's just a less tendency for your average person to kind of get off the wall with things
You. Well, let me tell you something, my friend. I write comedy for a living. I write other things, too, but I write comedy for stand up comics and shows, and I have not put my comedy on yet. I plan on doing so. However, are you have not explored Swell's platform adequately? Because there is, or maybe I should say there are comedians on here
But I don't even think that the idea of doing something funny would require that much forethought. I mean, earlier today, I kind of posted a gag about what was it? It's been a whirlwind of a day as far as Swell goes. But yeah, you're right. The appeal of it as an improvisational or looser or less self aware, less self conscious platform is definitely something that I am uniquely attuned
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:55
They'll be like, oh, Swell is so cool because you get to talk. It's not like Facebook where you blah blah blah. But they say the same shit they do on Facebook here. They just can do it in audio form. So to me, it's like you're halfway using your potential. You're still programming engineered to post Facebook shit
I'm not saying everyone should do that, of course use the app how you want to use it, but there's definitely seems to be a type of content that's being pushed to be featured, at least what I've noticed so far. And again, I'm really news to the platform. Perhaps I'm the wrong kind of person to be on this platform, but I should be allowed to look around and seek the things and people that interest me and have discussions with those people
J.L. Beasley
@Her_Sisu · 4:51
And you have 20 different people that have commented on their swell cast about the sun and they never even care to even come hear their perspective, thought contribution. And for me, this is a point of conversation. But again, if I'm challenging myself and I'm holding myself to be accountable, to be challenged, is it for the point of conversation? Maybe this is just for the point of getting their thought out there. It's similar to a Tweet or a thread now, right?
Jordan Tepper
@JordanTepper · 3:50
I've learned the hard way in that way. As for shit, posting my content, I try to just keep it light and fluffy. I do follow some people that are a little bit deeper, but also I like when they comment with their light heartedness on my content as well. I'm excited to see what you have to put up. And as for English as your second language, I think you're doing great
Joshua Sage
@jadamsage · 0:19
And what is this app anyways? I downloaded it, but now I'm not really sure what it is. And I'm trying to figure it out, but I'm not really sure
Hey. Hi. Welcome to swell. I wanted to answer your question by saying that the app is well, I don't know, actually, I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't and that is that it isn't fucked up enough. See what I'm saying?
You. Well, I didn't think I'd be back here to talk to you again, but I did want to invite you to my I think it was my last swell cast I did a day or two ago. Now, if you want something off the wall and a little bit different, I think you might enjoy it. If not, don't know what to tell you, but it's a little comedy skit that I put together