History

Does Anyone Have a List?

A few years ago, there was a great thread on Twitter (back when it was still called Twitter). Someone in the vibrant urbanism and transit community asked: “What transit and urbanism organizations do you recommended people follow?” There were dozens of replies with links to Twitter accounts, eventually over a hundred.

I looked at the thread and was impressed at just how many there were. And what hit me was how many I, and others in the thread, had never heard of.

As people started to follow all these organizations, I thought: “this thread is going to be lost and forgotten in a matter of weeks. Anyone who comes by next month is going to miss it.” And I wondered, was anyone writing all of these down?

From what I could tell, nobody was. I think I even asked, “is anyone keeping a list” and someone said “ohh that would be great!”

I Started a List

I started putting together a list. I found some other similar threads on Twitter, and on Reddit, and a handful of lists online, both new and old. And I started compiling all their names, websites and Twitter handles. Any time I heard of a new org, I put it on the list.

It took… longer than I thought. I got most of the way through the list, but it kept growing as I found more and more orgs. And now the thread was weeks old, and I didn’t have anywhere to post it that people would read it anyways. I didn’t have a website yet and hadn’t even conceptualized HowDoYou Guide.

Life happened, and I just kinda shelved the idea. Nobody was expecting me to do it, nobody seemed to need it. I landed a new day job, the world seemed kinda normal as Covid cleared up, and it seemed… low urgency.

Things Got Complicated

One day, Twitter got… complicated. Many people and organizations who used the platform as their primary interaction with the public suddenly wanted to leave.

People started looking to other platforms. Many scrambled to figure out which platform to move to. “Can we still find each other on Bluesky/Instagram/Mastodon? Who’s there? Who’s not there?”

The ecosystem remains fragmented. Many went to Bluesky, with its robust moderation features and ease of finding like-minded accounts. Many have an active Instagram presence. Some, especially institutional accounts, retain a presence on Twitter/X.

Fleshing Out the Directory

At this point, I saw the value of a directory, even for my own use. If a site, for whatever reason, becomes undesirable or unreliable, I want to be able to find organizations wherever they are. And I think other people would too.

I went back to properly vet and flesh out the list. The original list had websites and Twitter accounts only. With a new perspective of “presume nothing is forever,” I had a new priority: to create a directory of all of an organization’s online presence.

I went through the entire list, and with each organization I grabbed all their links: website, Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook, Threads, Mastodon, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more. I wanted to be sure that, if another platform should become undesirable, the community could bounce back.

And here we are. It took a lot more time than I expected, and I’m still churning through a few stragglers and finding new orgs. I aim to do a full refresh about once a year to make sure links are still active and pick up new accounts.

Benefits of a Directory

In today’s internet landscape, personalized social media algorithms and sites optimized for search engines, it’s easy for you to find the most popular things, and the ones fighting hardest for your attention. This can give you a skewed view of what’s out there.

A directory aims to counteract that.

Browsability

Search engines are great, but they have their limitations.

• To search, you have to know what you’re looking for.
• It can be difficult to find things when you’re just wondering what’s around.

Low Presence

The TransAlts and Streetsblogs and CicLAvias of the world are highly visible, but many organizations are not.

• Some organizations don’t spend a lot of time posting on social media.
• Some don’t optimize their site for search engines.
• Some are small or don’t meet often.
• Some do behind-the-scenes work that isn’t very visible.

Promoting yourself takes time and effort and skill, and many groups don’t have the resources.

These groups are still worth finding. Many of them do good work. Many could do better work if more people found them.

Resilience

Many organizations lean heavily on one platform. But nothing is certain, and nothing is forever. If a platform becomes undesirable, people still want to find each other.

• Whole platforms can go down.
• Organizations can lose their accounts on a platform.
• You might lose your account and need to rebuild from scratch.

Quality

With a curated list, someone has looked at all the organizations. And, ideally, someone periodically keeps it up to date.

• If a list is outdated, it’s not very useful.
• Some organizations have pretty names, but suspicious intentions.

Community

Seeing how much is out there gives people confidence.

Confidence to join or even start a group.