Author: Fitz Thiar

• 2026-05-29

  Categories: Technology

  Tags: Blogging, Meta, Social Media

  Meta charging for social could be the best thing for the open web

  Not content with printing money by selling your data and targeting you with ads – Meta now expects you to pay for the privilege. Yes, Snapchat and X/Twitter have had paid tiers for a while, but this is different. Not content with having businesses and pages pay for reach, Meta is shifting from a “forever free” model for regular users, where they monetize your data and attention, to charging you for you’re ability to express yourself. They’re moving from being the “town square” to Time Square advertising where you have to pay for space. You have to pay to be…

  ›

  Read More: Meta charging for social could be the best thing for the open web
• 2026-05-20

  Categories: Social Posts

  Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Quote

  The software manager believed that the goal of using AI for management was

  The software manager believed that the goal of using AI for management was not to make employee’s lives easier. “‘Easier’ was a euphemism for less people doing more work,” he says. “It’s not that we are trying to let people go home and relax.” Time.

  ›

  Read More: The software manager believed that the goal of using AI for management was
• 2026-05-15

  Categories: Social Posts

  Tags: Bluesky, Mastodon, Social Media

  Anybody have the DAU or MAU numbers for X/TWitter, Mastodon and Bluesky?

  Anybody have the DAU or MAU numbers for X/TWitter, Mastodon and Bluesky? I saw Matt Navarra mention a report that had Bluesky’s US DAU’s down 96% since Jan 2025. Is that just a US trend or is it also down drastically globally?

  ›

  Read More: Anybody have the DAU or MAU numbers for X/TWitter, Mastodon and Bluesky?
• 2026-05-14

  Categories: Social Posts

  Tags: Blogging, Design, WordPress

  WordPress Premium plan now allows me to upload themes so I’ve been poking around places like Envato Market

  My WordPress Premium plan now allows me to upload themes so I’ve been poking around places like Envato Market to see what’s out there. Why do the designers of almost every “personal blog” theme feel the need to make it “magazine” styled. I just want to write…

  ›

  Read More: WordPress Premium plan now allows me to upload themes so I’ve been poking around places like Envato Market
• 2026-05-12

  Categories: Social Posts

  Tags: Shopify, User Experience

  The UX for this dialogue when launching the Shopify app “SEOLab – SEO Optimizer” is awful

  The UX for this dialogue when launching the Shopify app “SEOLab – SEO Optimizer” is awful. No way to skip it. Binary choice. No option for “Haven’t evaluated yet” and a 30 second timer before I can skip it. So, guess what I’m clicking?

  ›

  Read More: The UX for this dialogue when launching the Shopify app “SEOLab – SEO Optimizer” is awful
• 2026-05-08

  Categories: Technology

  Tags: Automation, RSS, Social Media, WordPress

  Project: WordPress Native Social Posts

  I’ve been toying with the notion of having WordPress act as the default authority for all of my social media posts, and thought it might be nice to roll my own version. The goal is simple. Post to a category called Social Posts, and have those updates appear on Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon as native social updates. Not as posts that link back to my blog. I tested sending the RSS feed for that category only to IFTTT and Zapier, and having those platforms post either directly or via Buffer, depending on their integrations. This wasn’t something I wanted to…

  ›

  Read More: Project: WordPress Native Social Posts
• 2026-05-05

  Categories: Technology

  Tags: Social Media, WordPress

  WordPress Social? I don’t get it!

  I’m all for exciting new social networks, but after spending a handful of minutes playing around with WordPress.com/Social, I simply don’t get it. If you’ve been thinking about starting your own small, private social network with friends or family, or you want a space to post thoughts freely, or to import your historical posts from Twitter, Mastodon, or Bluesky without handing your words over to someone else’s platform, this one’s for you. Ostensibly a theme with short-form updates, threaded replies and the kind of barebones functionality you expect from an early Twitter clone, it’s far, far less underneath. Posting is…

  ›

  Read More: WordPress Social? I don’t get it!
• 2026-05-01

  Categories: Opinion, Technology

  Tags: Plugin, Shopify, Small Business

  Shopify’s App Store Problem

  Shopify has a strong developer ecosystem, but it isn’t an excuse for a lack of basic functionality. I get that Shopify attempts to be the one-stop shop for well, online shops, by providing the storefront, payment processing, blogging, newsletter, and pretty much most aspects of your marketing. It’s a big ask to cover all of that from one platform, but as I’ve been working with clients who use the platform for their storefronts, I’ve been shocked by how much basic functionality is missing. A very simple example is social share buttons for product pages. There simply isn’t an option to…

  ›

  Read More: Shopify’s App Store Problem
• 2026-04-30

  Categories: Technology

  Tags: Alphabet, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Search

  Google search queries are at an all-time high. Ironic.

  There’s a disgusting irony in Google announcement that search queries on their platform hit an “all time high” in the first quarter of 2026. Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all time high, and 19% revenue growth. Part of me wants to scream, “Of course it did, Sundar”! It wouldn’t be a stretch to say people are searching more because the AI returned results are, at best, shit of questionable quality and, at a minimum, cannot be trusted. Therefore, you’re getting more search queries because users have to work harder to get a…

  ›

  Read More: Google search queries are at an all-time high. Ironic.