Join me on MeWe!

Okay, y’all. So y’all know I deleted all my social media accounts. Facebook (other than my author page)…it’s all gone. All I kept was Goodreads since I’m a writer and voracious reader and Pinterest since I have too many yummy recipes pinned on there. Lol.

I moved over here to become more active on my blog. I needed a slower pace. I wanted to pursue other interests instead of getting so caught up in the senseless scrolling. I said I wasn’t going back to social media.

That was before I found MeWe.

Granted, I don’t plan on spending tons of time there, but I thought this would be a good space to connect with readers and friends on a user-friendly, social media-type platform without getting so bogged down with the ads and chaos rampant on the bigger platforms.

My thoughts so far?

Pros

1. Doesn’t filter your news feed. This is a huge plus for me, which is why it’s at the top of my list. That was one of the main things I’d come to hate about Facebook. Facebook had actually gotten kind of ridiculous for me. I had 4,000+ friends and only saw about 10–20 of those friends in my news feed. Oftentimes, I’d have to navigate directly to a friend’s page to see their posts. Although Facebook allows you to mark some pages as favorites so you’ll see them first, they put a cap on how many you can mark as such, which means if you have a lot of friends, you’ll have to make sacrifices on whose stuff you see.

MeWe isn’t like that. You can choose to see all news posts first, and you can also choose to see posts by new comments first. I really like that. It makes it so some friends don’t get lost in crazy algorithms. It’s also really easy to filter your feed to see only contacts’ posts, pages’ posts or group posts.

2. Photostream. MeWe has this really cool feature called the Photostream. This is a stream of all the photos posted by your contacts. It kind of gives you an easy glimpse of all the photos posted out there without you having to scroll down the news feed or visit individual pages.

3. No ads. So far, I haven’t seen any ads on MeWe. None. (Other than what people choose to post on their own pages or in groups, that is. There are no ads from the platform itself.) That’s a huge deal too. You know how when you’re scrolling through Facebook, your feed is constantly broken up with sponsored posts? You don’t have any of that on MeWe. Definitely a refreshing change.

4. Not as much censoring/moderation. Depending on how you look at this, this could be a pro or a con. This isn’t to say there’s no moderation on MeWe because there is. They’re definitely not anything goes, but they also don’t censor posts with the aggression Facebook and Twitter do.

Cons

1. Paid features. You have to pay for some features on the site, like a dark theme. I’d kind of gotten used to the dark theme on Facebook, so I’m not as used to the default white theme of MeWe yet. Granted, the extra features aren’t that expensive (I think dark theme is $1.99), but I have a hard time paying for a feature. You can also buy some special emoji packs and journals. I haven’t explored any of those features and doubt I will since I’m more of a freebie user. I might—might—end up springing for the dark theme if I stick around and use MeWe long enough.

However, I guess that’s the trade-off for not having a site that’s flooded with ads. They have to fund themselves somehow, I suppose.

2. Not as easy to make new connections. It isn’t as easy to make new connections on MeWe as it is Facebook. Facebook gives you a list of suggested friends, but MeWe doesn’t do that.

However, it’s easier to search for people based on similar interests. For instance, if you like reading, you can type “reading” into the MeWe search bar, and if someone has reading listed as an interest on their profile, they could pop up in the search results.

So, there you have it! That’s my MeWe experience so far. Are you on MeWe? What are your thoughts about it? Connect with me, and we can explore the site more together. You can find me at mewe.com/i/kaylalowe.

God’s Word Will Stand Forever

I’m sitting here drinking some Passion TAZO tea after a long day of editing. I finally cleared the last order from my queue (for now—I could get more work assigned before the night’s over with).

I find myself reflecting on God’s goodness. How things come and go, but His word stands forever.

I remember back in my college days, MySpace was the big thing. Now, it’s Facebook, Twitter and Intsagram. I just left all the sites, and who knows? Something bigger could phase them out one day too. (They’ve already lost their appeal to me, so I’ve retreated here into my own world with all of you.)

I’m only 32 years old, but I’ve already seen so much come and go. I remember cassette tapes, VHS tapes, boomboxes, the BIG stereos and CDs.

But no matter what comes and goes, God’s word shall stand forever.

This tea is seriously super yummy! How many of y’all are tea drinkers? This has a robust flavor. It can be a bit tart, but I add a bit of honey to mine, and it sweetens it right up.

Truly Humbled

I was surprised and truly humbled by just how many friends reached out to get my email address and follow me on here when I made the announcement that I was leaving all social media platforms.

You may say this is still a form of social media. Maybe it is. WordPress is more of a blog format, though. More like a diary or journal, if you will. I feel calmer expressing myself here.

I’m not bashing social media at all. I met many wonderful people through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It’s just that my journey with those platforms has come to an end.

There is so much negativity and toxicity on those sites, and after much prayer and reflection, I felt like this was the best decision for me.

Nothing in particular happened. In fact, I’ve been debating doing this for months. It was only my dear readers and friends who kept me on as long as I was.

I haven’t been active on this blog much lately. However, now this will become my new safe haven from the drama and angst of social media.

Of course, I’ll have my traditional blog-type posts, but I’m also starting this category entitled A Day in the Life.

A day in the life of what, you might say? A day in the life of me…a day in the life of a humble Christian…author…editor…friend. One who still wants to share a piece of herself with the world without being dragged down with the hustle and bustle of big social media.

Here, in this category, is where I’ll occasionally share pics, random thoughts and pieces of my life.

If you’re also looking for a peaceful reprieve from what’s become the new norm in the frantic world of social media, feel free to join me here. Comment, message me—even if just for a simple chat.

If we aren’t already acquainted, feel free to reach out and introduce yourself. Follow me, and I’ll follow you back. Let’s communicate in peace and love. 💗