I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.

[softproof@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz By proving to them that crowdsourcing can still beat AI-fluff, perhaps? And you're well on your way

[yourshadowdani@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz

On decentralized social media (like Mastodon) there's no Algorithm making sure you see the optimal toxic engagement bait.

All you get for posts is do people like it recently?

Its like the good old days before big tech had their Algorithms dialed in to make you as addicted as possible.

[giorgiopasqualini@mastodon.social]

@Mastodon @taylorlorenz I think it is mostly used by european escaping from US tech, maybe like in reddit have posts be shown in the user language no matter what, like in reddit.

[foxylad@mastodon.nz]

@taylorlorenz I compare it to email, with how people or organizations control their own servers. Then ask what they think email would be like if one company controlled all of it. And how much they would charge.

[smartmanapps@dotnet.social]

@taylorlorenz
- Community-driven, not profit-driven
- chose instance with rules that suit you
- the "for you" feed (list), that is actually made by you
- follow many other services/blogs from the one account (Pixelfed, Lemmy, etc.)

[movie2468@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz

To answer this, we should first understand why people don’t think it makes sense. Someone I know that dislikes big business, and uses X said: “I struggle to understand the basics of a decentralized social network, it seems oxymoronic except for extreme nerds”.

Take that as you will, but hopefully it is useful feedback.

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@taylorlorenz

The most concise way I describe the difference between commercial algorithm based platforms versus the fediverse.

In the former, you are presented with the illusion of a town square, it propagates content based on spectacle and “engagement”

In the latter, people are the algorithm as members of distinct communities, moderated by real people.

1/2

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@taylorlorenz

Centralized, commercial and algorithm based platforms are centralized command and control platforms.

The fediverse is a constellation of everything from individually hosted servers to the larger instances like mastodon dot social, and everything in between.

I would ask people to consider where do you think the greater liberty resides?

We have seen the kind of censorship that emerges on all of the large commercial platforms. It’s not possible in the fediverse.

2/2

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@Movie2468 @taylorlorenz

I would like to suggest then that they struggled to understand a market based economy or democracy

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

RE: https://masto.ai/@GhostOnTheHalfShell/110697014050821679

@taylorlorenz

Sometimes an image is worth 1000 words

[robotdeathsquad@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz Monopolies are bad and there's no reason why "posts" need to be owned by a monopoly. Fediverse is good for the same reason why email is good.

[lawyersgunsnmoney@mstdn.social]

@taylorlorenz You control what you see in your feed and you control what you post. No propaganda, censorship, games, surveillance or trolls. How is that not better in every way?

[jackyan@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz Number one for me is, 'You are not making some rich **** even richer.' Secondly, you have better, more meaningful conversations.

[movie2468@mastodon.social]

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @taylorlorenz

I would agree. That’s why I left the snippet about big business and the use of X. Makes no sense.

[garretpolk@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@taylorlorenz No ads
No algorithms
Just people talking to each other

[jameslundblad@mstdn.social]

@taylorlorenz It's like the public radio of social networks, user supported social network.

[phil_tanner@mastodon.philtanner.com]

@taylorlorenz @jackyan this. And thirdly, you're speech isn't limited by the rich ****s.

You can say that JK Rowling is a massive TERF.

And you can block US politicians. Your eyeballs are not directly funding ICE publicity campaigns via advertising.

[jackyan@mastodon.social]

@Phil_Tanner @taylorlorenz Excellent points, Phil!

[classwario@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz How would you? When your bluesky is 1000% more active

[happytobe@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz You formulate your own algorithm using hash tags. Nothing is suggested to you. There are no ads. Thus, on your feed, you see only what you want to see and connect only with the people and businesses you want to be connected with. Yet, you can still scroll and snoop around the entire space if you want to.