I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz Well, for me it's quite simple, really.
On other networks, I feel manipulated by algorythms that may or may not have hidden agendas (but somehow it seems to me they always end up having them, sooner or later).
Here, I don't.
And that's absolutely freeing.
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Depending on the audience you could also mention the ants? Or don't it's fine.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz Social media is too important to leave in the hands of one of the billionaire assholes that can shadowban or kick you off with a whim if you annoy them or go against one of their pet causes.
There's no black box algorithm that the billionaires can nudge to affect your thinking or mood (as Facebook admitted experimenting on us with)
You're not held hostage to network effects after enshittification.
They're not trying to monetize your outrage and misinformation.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz As an American it is safer for me, also I get to see more of the world than just U.S.
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@mastodonmigration @futurebird @benroyce @taylorlorenz Come visit Fedi, we have ants and grandmas!
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz I like the ability to community build. Like a mesh of relationships and connections I am a part of, as opposed to the influencer-follower paradigm of commercial social platforms.
Toots are little touches that connect, not commodities to be consumed. -
I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz
Algorithm-free chronological feeds.Ad-free.
Ability to follow hashtags and have those posts show in your Home feed which can foster communities.
(On many but not all Fediverse software)No billionaire data extraction or "features" just to please investors.
No single entity can decide to shut it all down. Even if specific servers end up closing, users can migrate.
It can be messy or have issues, but there are often community-driven fixes or alternatives created.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz its just like having your own website, except it’s your own social media.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz No censorship. No paranoia that comes with wondering whether your posts are being suppressed. No algorithm changes that limit your reach.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
Why not corporate #socialmedia?
1. Algorithm - pushes specific ideology, causes depression in young adults, distorts reality.
2. Owners propagandise their ideology (see above)
3. Certain voices are censored, just like in communist China. YouTube kicked off Aljazera news. TikTok US censors anti-#ICE sentiment, anti-genocide voices.
4. At election time, owners and the wealthy change the outcome of actual elections with social media.
If you haven't seen the outstanding #fediverse promo video by @_elena (4m)
Highly recommend it;
Introducing the Fediverse a New Era of Social Media
The Fediverse explained in 4 minutes: watch now to discover a whole new world of social media, where privacy is respected, users are empowered, and Big Tech has no say. An Italian film maker Elena ...
Channel 44 (peertube.c44.com.au)
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
Nobody owns Mastodon, and there is no algorithm. In this era of algorithmic information warfare amplifying and suppressing everything, it is great to find a place where you are not constantly being manipulated by billionaire owners.
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@mastodonmigration @futurebird @benroyce @taylorlorenz Come visit Fedi, we have ants and grandmas!
@lauerhahn @futurebird @benroyce @taylorlorenz
Don't tell then about all the cats. Let's keep that a surprise.
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@taylorlorenz No censorship. No paranoia that comes with wondering whether your posts are being suppressed. No algorithm changes that limit your reach.
@taylorlorenz Stability. When centralized services go offline, everyone goes offline. On the fediverse, only those on a downed instance suffer and they can make a backup account on a different server if necessary.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz I mean I, a random person, got to talk to a sitting US rep today, despite not even being his constituent, which is one of the things people love about social.
Works here to.
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@taylorlorenz Stability. When centralized services go offline, everyone goes offline. On the fediverse, only those on a downed instance suffer and they can make a backup account on a different server if necessary.
@taylorlorenz Identity and authority. If our public services or even brands were to set up their own instances on domains that they control then they are incredibly hard to spoof.
If a post comes from a handle at news.brandName.com or social.service.gov then you know it's official.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz I compare it to email: no one can force you to watch ads before reading your email. No one can buy emails.com and make it so everyone only gets Nazi emails. Why? Because email is just a protocol. No one owns email, and there are thousands and thousands of servers.
Mastodon is like email for social media.
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@taylorlorenz As an American it is safer for me, also I get to see more of the world than just U.S.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz I've found that smaller digital coops such as socialbc.ca and cosocial.ca give users opportunities to actually connect with real world people in their communities, and to have a collaborative process for making large decisions (e.g. de-federation, server policies, adding extra services like Pixelfed, etc)
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I get why they call it a "decentralized network" but that description was kind of a turn off for me before I came here because I thought you were trapped in a little server with a few dozen people and what's the point of that?
The power is decentralized but the communication need not be. You can talk to anyone from any community. You can have all of those fun instances of cross pollination when different communities intersect.
The more the fedi grows the better this gets.
offtopic @futurebird
Or most of us are at least muted by @taylorlorenz, or mastodon is broken, or on her page on mastodon.social only show up the replies by people she follows.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz No ads. My IG had become an insidious place just trying to sell me things and shuffle me through content. It wasn’t “social media” any more. Since coming here my screen time is down, my notifications are down, and my pick ups are down and yet I feel more connected to news, people, and myself. Funny how that works.
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