SMOF News, volume 2, issue 15

Twitter, currently used social media, and news in brief.

A Glance at Current Convention Social Media

A few weeks ago, this newsletter looked at a study on the migration of fan communities and noted that it implies that migration off of Twitter is likely to be very slow, even if things go rapidly downhill, as long as the site remains up and running.

A new report from Insider Intelligence backs up that point. As reported in Adweek (found via Twitter is Going Great!):

The research service is predicting a drop in worldwide Twitter users for the first time since it began tracking the social network in 2008, saying that after completing 2022 essentially flat, at 368.4 million monthly active users, that total will slide 3.9% in 2023 to 353.9 million and another 5.1% in 2024 to 335.7 million—down 32.7 million users in two years.

It also notes that the chaos has a short-term upside for Twitter:

Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said in a statement, “Twitter is a platform that thrives on news and controversy. The slight growth we expect for 2022 is a result of curious onlookers signing up for or using the platform more frequently to follow the Musk-Twitter saga. Their curiosity is already starting to fade, however, and decreased usage by those marginal users will exacerbate the monthly user decline in 2023.”

A sample of currently used social media

Looking at the convention listings for February 2023 currently queued up to run in this newsletter when the time comes, there are currently 61 events. One of those uses a Facebook page for its official site. Of the remaining 60, here are the counts of sites seen in their social media bars on their front pages:

• Facebook: 42

• Twitter: 30

• Instagram: 25

• YouTube: 10

• Discord: 6

• TikTok: 2

• Twitch: 2

• Reddit: 1

• LinkedIn: 1

• Tumblr: 1

• No social media links found: 16

Conventions coming up in February are presumably in an active state right now and paying attention to what’s going on with their social media. With Twitter still in second place and no appearances of any of the currently hot alternatives (Mastodon, Hive, Post, etc.) it does look like any migration will be slow.

Convention social media managers currently agonizing over decisions about which sites to use and which to drop may take some comfort from the fact that 27% of conventions are apparently able to survive without engaging with social media at all.

In Brief

• IndyStorm 2023 has been cancelled and no further events will be held. The team behind it is looking for alternative homes for the tournaments that had been scheduled for it.

• The Uncanny Experience (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, September 16-17) has added Michelle Waffle as a cosplay guest.

• The YouTube channel for Smofcon 38 (Montréal, the weekend before last) now has videos of the Q&A sessions that took place there with seated Worldcons, the upcoming NASFiC, and Worldcon, NASFiC, and Smofcon bids.

Event Calendar

Weekend of December 16-18

• Furcan 2022: Viva la Feria (anthropomorphic), Puebla, Mexico

• TwinConRPG (gaming), London, UK

• Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA

• Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

• Anime Winter Festa 2022, Kingston, Jamaica

• Comic Fiesta, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Supernatural Official Convention, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Weekend of December 23-25

• EOY J-Culture Festival 2022 (anime), Singapore

Weekend of December 30-January 1

• Furvester 4: Mission to Mars (anthropomorphic), Reutlingen, Germany

• Painted Desert Fur Con: The Island: Pirates! (anthropomorphic), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• New Year’s Furry Ball, Newark, Delaware, USA

• OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA

• Comic Market 101 (amateur comics), Tokyo, Japan

Weekend of January 6-8

• Shadowcon (relaxacon), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• GAFilk 2023 (music), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• Anthro Northwest 5 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA

• CanthroFur (anthropomorphic), Auvergne, France

• Spartacon XXXII (gaming), DeWitt, Michigan, USA

• Super MAGFest (gaming/videogame music), National Harbor, Maryland, USA

• OrcaCon 2023 (gaming), Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Animé Los Angeles 18, Long Beach, California, USA

• SacAnime, Sacramento, California, USA

• Columbia Anime & Video Game Expo, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Taiyou Con (anime), Mesa, Arizona, USA

• Anime-ZAP!, East Peoria, Illinois, USA

• Fan Expo New Orleans (media), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

• St. Pete Comic Con 2023, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

Weekend of January 13-15

• Chattacon XLVIII, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• Na Meji Nevidnega, Ljubljana, Slovenia

• GenghisCon, Wembley, Australia

• MarsCon 2023, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

• Further Confusion 2023: Millennium Edition (anthropomorphic), San Jose, California, USA

• MidWinterFrolic 2023 (anthropomorphic), Altura, Minnesota, USA

• SnowCon: Lucky 13 (gaming), Orono, Maine, USA

• HexaCon (gaming), Broomfield, Colorado, USA

• Midwinter Gaming Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• Geekway Mini: League of Meeples (gaming), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Congress of Gamers Winter Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• SCARAB 2023 (gaming), Columbia, South Carolina, USA

• Siege of Augusta XXXI (miniatures gaming), Augusta, Georgia, USA

• SaltCON Bryce (boardgames), Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA

• Ichibancon 13 (anime), Concord, North Carolina, USA

• Anime Impulse, Pomona, California, USA

• OtakuFest (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• Setsucon (anime), Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA

• Wildwood Comic Con, Wildwood, New Jersey, USA

Coda

• The sound of a Martian dust devil (Science News)

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