I Gave Buffer a Shot: I Have Thoughts

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A while back, I put up a post about Bluesky announcing their partnership with cross-posting company, “Buffer” (Yes, I’m aware that it’s starting to look like I have multiple topics that are an ongoing series on this website). I also detailed how this was a bad move, because Buffer is using OpenAI tech in their backend, and even though they say it’s just an option you can utilize with writing posts … based on how OpenAI has been conducting themselves, I don’t fully trust any company that thinks it’s a good idea to use their tech. Regardless, since I run a lot of different social media accounts, and I thought it could make things easier for me, like when I write blog posts, or have new music, I decided to give it a whirl!

Here are my thoughts.

The website itself is very well organized, you can connect your socials, and it even has a calendar that displays … everything you’ve ever posted on your connected accounts, chronologically by time and date (which … is actually pretty worrying if you don’t think they’re using that OpenAI tech ethically), and you can do a few other things. Such as, you can create a “start” page, which is just a rip of Link-tree. The downside, is that creating a Buffer version of Link-tree takes up one of your social connections.

But, how many are you allowed to connect on a free account?

Three.

Or, if you want a page with all your links provided by Buffer, essentially, you can connect two accounts.

So, basically, if you’re using the free Buffer plan, you may as well not even be there. If you can’t manage two accounts without the help of some software … geez, dude.

Okay, but how much does it cost to upgrade to have more connections.

Short answer: Way to goddang much.

Long answer:

You can actually opt to start paying them fifteen dollars a month for the three accounts you’ve already connected, and have a few added features. Or, you can connect four accounts for twenty dollars, or five accounts for twenty-five dollars, or … a whopping fifty dollars for ten accounts! For a frame of reference, I have around eleven or twelve accounts I use across different networks, some alts, some not-so-much. They say, on the subscription page, that this is all “the most value for an individual creator …”

An individual creator? Paying, fifty dollars a month for ten accounts, as long as you’re paying on a yearly basis.

Bro …

Okay, so obviously this has gotta be some kind of marketing that’s specifically targeting creators who are already making money from what they do online. For fifty dollars a month, if paid yearly, or sixty dollars on a monthly basis, for ten accounts, you could, instead, subscribe to Apple+ and Netflix, and have some entertainment instead. And then just manage your accounts yourself. All with the added benefit of not potentially feeding everything you’ve ever posted into some OpenAI crap.

Which, take a look at this: Are mentioned multiple times on the publishing and scheduling box.

“Use AI assistant!” Also, did you want help publishing with the “AI Assistant?”

Because everyone on social media knows that using AI to generate your words totally doesn’t make you look like a completely fake tool-bag.

So, instead of using Buffer, I’ve opted to just manage the couple of accounts I use the most … myself. No, you guys aren’t getting fifteen, or twenty, or fifty dollars out of me.

But, I did really like their “start page” link aggregator. And, since they’re so hyper-vigilant about AI generated plagairism, I’m sure they won’t mind if I just … rip out the code of their link page, delete all the link trackers, place the CSS into its own file (because why the hell do you have it on the same page as the content?), rename all the modules to something humorous, enlarge the profile picture, increase the vertical size of the banner gif, change all of the colors, replace their icons with Phosphor icons, and replace their crappy static “update” section that doesn’t even serve clickable links, with … A live feed of my blog’s RSS (courtesy of Brenton Fletcher’s rss.bloople.net)

See it, here: CMDR Nova’s Linkgarden.

Buffer version on the left, my version on the right.

But here’s the thing, if you really want, or need a page of all of your links that you can easily just hand to someone like a business card, you can build one yourself, or, if you really don’t have the time, or want to learn HTML and CSS, I can just make it for you. I’m actually going to put together some examples of what a “linkgarden” could look like if I made one, and gave it to someone, and provide information on free hosting. Or, hey, maybe I could set that up for people too?

I don’t know.

What I do know, is that you don’t have to pay companies continuously for something that can be made for you in a couple of hours, or that you can make yourself in a couple of hours, and then have full control over. And if you really need automated control of all of your accounts at once, I’m sure there’s a better way to do it, than paying some company that’s gone all-in on AI, six hundred dollars a mother-frikken year.