Considering social media

Hi, all. It's been an eventful few weeks since the last time I sent out this newsletter. A lot has happened with social media and I wanted to pause to think about it.

I've relied on social media for my career. In fact, in recent years, I've coasted on it. Twitter has given me a visibility that has mostly allowed me to sit back and wait for opportunities to come to me. While I certainly am good at putting myself out there, I've become a little complacent about just letting my visibility do some of the work for me. (That's not to say I don't work incredibly hard, of course).

Now I've had to rethink a lot of my career strategy with what's going on with Twitter, and the way it has just imploded over the past few weeks. Part of that is diversifying (I'm using Mastodon very regularly, you can find me @[email protected]). I'm on post.news (though some of the TOS stuff makes me wary). 

But it's more than just using more social networks. (I don't have time to use the million replacements that are popping up, no one does!) All of this has made me realize I need to be more deliberate and precise about what I do with my career and what opportunities I pursue. And I need to have some sort of a goal or plan.

But that's stuff to worry about in 2023. For now, if you're taking any kind of end-of-year holiday, enjoy!

Swapna

Your weekly space image and this week's news

The Bubble Nebula as observed by Hubble, located about 8,000 light years away.

Why NASA doesn't put wipers on Mars lander/rover solar panels / RIP Mars InSight

I understand the question, but there are actually some good reasons as to why NASA doesn't do this!

As a bonus, you get to see the follow-up video to this (that I only posted on TikTok) in which I update followers that Mars InSight has gone quiet and cry and it's gone embarrassingly viral.

Yet another photo of the Pillars of Creation (which might be my fave yet!)

It's a composite of the MIRI and NIRCam images and it's stunning.

The Soyuz capsule attached to the ISS is leaking

Not really a problem you want to have! No one's in danger, but it's unclear if the capsule is still fit to carry passengers.

A near-infrared view of the Carina Nebula

Scientists were able to find new stars!

Picking a game of the year is ridiculous

There are too many good games, but my favorites of 2023 were Horizon Forbidden West and Pentiment. Just don't ask me to choose between them.

Closing out season one of Star Trek: Prodigy

This show is genuinely fantastic. If you've slept on it, spend the end of the year catching up.

What I like

Like everyone else, we finished watching Wednesday and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it (though there is some very weird race stuff, just as an FYI to go in with that in mind).

I'm also watching the new National Treasure show, and as an avid fan of the first film, I'm really enjoying it (there have been complaints that Nick Cage isn't in it, but really replacing him with an undocumented immigrant? I'm here for it).