Podcast: Using Social Media for Good (and Other Fun Research Ideas)

Hot take: social media is not entirely terrible. When you ask people to be creative rather than angry, they can actually be pretty amazing. Christy and I talk about how I used social media to crowdsource worldbuilding details for the Systemic universe — from dystopian job titles to mushroom-based vaccines to fictional diseases — and how those contributions made the world feel more real than anything I could have invented alone. We also get into Christy’s deep dive into Nutcracker research and some other things that technically qualify as “research.”

Topics Covered

• Using social media for creative input instead of doom-scrolling
• Crowdsourcing worldbuilding details (job names, mushroom vaccines, diseases)
• Christy’s Nutcracker research rabbit hole
• Things that technically qualify as research but feel suspiciously fun

Shout Outs

• Amy Lodwig — for creative contributions to the Systemic universe
• Yogaesh Ramasundaram — same, and appreciated
• Mark Hill — for pitching in with worldbuilding ideas
• Shannon O’Meara Hamilton — for helping make the world richer

Listen

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• iHeart Radio