In a recent comparison of engagement around a Leave
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In a recent comparison of engagement around a Leave.X campaign post,[1] someone pointed out that a female journalist who is active in the feminist movement and critical of Big Tech had a very different experience than others.
The Mastodon post was shared twice, while the Bluesky version was shared over 200 times and received significantly more interactions. This raises questions about tech-savvy spaces like Mastodon and how they reflect broader societal issues.
For women on Mastodon:
Do you feel that the patriarchal dynamics and male behavior in this space, which is still largely dominated by white men, make it harder for women to participate?
#Mastodon #Diversity #Fediversity #Fediverse #Feminism #BlueSky #Inclusion
I don't know what to think about it. Although I've never experienced any prejudice for being a woman here, I get the impression that most people think I'm a man because some used the wrong pronouns by default. Perhaps it's because of the subjects I write about, or my avatar and foreign pseudonym.
But I've realised that I'm often scared to show my face because I feel I'll never be taken seriously again - people might think that I'm too 'girly' to talk about tech, open source, self-hosting, and so on. I guess it's a residual effect of having worked as a web developer, being the only female developer in open spaces and experiencing condescending behaviour for years. If I can forget that I have a gender, at least online, then I guess I prefer it. Maybe that says a lot about the state of things? -
@everton137 my theory is that Mastodon/Fediverse rewards follower numbers way more than Bluesky. A Mastodon account with lots of followers like LeaveX gets its posts shared massively, while a Mastodon account with few followers gets its posts shared rarely at all. Bluesky is way more balanced in the middle for most accounts in my experience.
@nitrml @everton137
I think that is a huge, if not the biggest, factor. Mastodon solely relies on your interaction with visibility through hastags and followers. And also the instance you are on. Mine is heavily moderated to create a safe space for certain people, so a lot of people are on mute or blocked. But even if they weren't, I think it depends on how much you understand to get engagement. -
@elfi I agree. Still, I think it can be valuable to discuss this topic and listen to the perspective of women and queer communities in this social space. A more qualified sociological research would be interesting.
@everton137 Oh yeah, no doubt. It's worth having this conversation because it's got so many things going on in it, and it'd be neat to see what kind of research could go into it as long as it's not just looking at one point on the network when even dot social's been defederated by multiple servers as a moderation headache
Plus I will say on the queer fedi side that there's definitely a whiteness problem still, even if not male-dominated
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@everton137 I don#t have much of a problem with the men on the platform. But I miss feminism. Feminist discussions are underrepresented.Some of the men are feminist, but that's not what I mean. i am wondering where all the feminists are. The women. But as I don't care for algorithms, I guess I'm gonna wait for them to arrive here. And talk to the few feminists I found here in the
meantime@Tamtam @everton137
I struggle with that as well. I came here for art, but I do like to sometimes discuss politics of all kinds, but have the feeling most people either don't care that much or have no idea what to say
Or maybe I still don't understand posting that well.
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In a recent comparison of engagement around a Leave.X campaign post,[1] someone pointed out that a female journalist who is active in the feminist movement and critical of Big Tech had a very different experience than others.
The Mastodon post was shared twice, while the Bluesky version was shared over 200 times and received significantly more interactions. This raises questions about tech-savvy spaces like Mastodon and how they reflect broader societal issues.
For women on Mastodon:
Do you feel that the patriarchal dynamics and male behavior in this space, which is still largely dominated by white men, make it harder for women to participate?
#Mastodon #Diversity #Fediversity #Fediverse #Feminism #BlueSky #Inclusion
@everton137 I'm a bit doubtful about the results of this poll. It would be more useful to see a breakdown by gender group (eg. male vs non-male). Plus, people who have been driven away, some of them very publicly, are not going to be counted here.
But definitely great to see the conversations in the replies!
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In a recent comparison of engagement around a Leave.X campaign post,[1] someone pointed out that a female journalist who is active in the feminist movement and critical of Big Tech had a very different experience than others.
The Mastodon post was shared twice, while the Bluesky version was shared over 200 times and received significantly more interactions. This raises questions about tech-savvy spaces like Mastodon and how they reflect broader societal issues.
For women on Mastodon:
Do you feel that the patriarchal dynamics and male behavior in this space, which is still largely dominated by white men, make it harder for women to participate?
#Mastodon #Diversity #Fediversity #Fediverse #Feminism #BlueSky #Inclusion
@everton137 Feminist, journalist, woman here. I'm used to be in male-dominated spaces (I was one of the first women at a newspaper). Mastodon was such a space but it got better. The big problems here: it's very much tech people. It's difficult and takes efforts to build/find communities for other topics (mine was nature). Here's more mansplaining, reply guys, people who explain you your profession only because you are a woman. You have to be tough. And yes, we have a big problem with moderation
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@Tamtam @_elena Brazil had some leadership on open source matters several years ago. It faded away somehow.
I left the country ten years ago, but it would be interesting to understand why the Fediverse use is so weak.
Lots of people from my non profit bubble in Brazil preferred to migrate to BlueSky.
As an example, in my field, open government data, the Open Government Partnership started in Brazil.
Tagging, in case some Brazilian living there could have a more sound opinion: #Brazil #Fediverse #Mastodon #SoftwareLivre #Brasil
Ideas, @josemurilo ?
In my view, there are some aspects to mention:
1) By the time of Dilma's coup in 2016, we had a significant migration from Twitter, specially among digital culture activists. I've managed a Mastodon instance (ecodigital.social), and many colleagues and friends were invited to participate, but we were not ready to understand what was at stake at the time. I believe many who had that experience think Mastodon has already failed, and don't deserve another chance, then Bluesky.
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In my view, there are some aspects to mention:
1) By the time of Dilma's coup in 2016, we had a significant migration from Twitter, specially among digital culture activists. I've managed a Mastodon instance (ecodigital.social), and many colleagues and friends were invited to participate, but we were not ready to understand what was at stake at the time. I believe many who had that experience think Mastodon has already failed, and don't deserve another chance, then Bluesky.
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@josemurilo how did mastodon fail them?
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@ultrazool @okfn I think you read misread it. It's written @okbr
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@Tamtam @everton137
I struggle with that as well. I came here for art, but I do like to sometimes discuss politics of all kinds, but have the feeling most people either don't care that much or have no idea what to say
Or maybe I still don't understand posting that well.@t_robinart Hashtags can help very much or fedigroups! It was the way I found people for my interests. Help: https://fedi.tips
For politics e.g. you take the letters for a country with "pol" like USPol or you look for politics. -
@nitrml @everton137
I think that is a huge, if not the biggest, factor. Mastodon solely relies on your interaction with visibility through hastags and followers. And also the instance you are on. Mine is heavily moderated to create a safe space for certain people, so a lot of people are on mute or blocked. But even if they weren't, I think it depends on how much you understand to get engagement. -
@t_robinart Hashtags can help very much or fedigroups! It was the way I found people for my interests. Help: https://fedi.tips
For politics e.g. you take the letters for a country with "pol" like USPol or you look for politics.@NatureMC
I keep forgetting about groups. :'D Thanks for the reminder! -
@josemurilo how did mastodon fail them?
I don't think Mastodon failed them. We came in 2016 trying to emulate the twitter experience we were addicted to at the time, and that was not available without the centralized algorithm.
I can say that, "among the crowd" (which is to say the relatively small group of digital activists) from the 00's in Brazil, Mastodon then became a symbol of failure (in becoming a Twitter substitute).
But as we all know now, the Fediverse is something different, for good.
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In a recent comparison of engagement around a Leave.X campaign post,[1] someone pointed out that a female journalist who is active in the feminist movement and critical of Big Tech had a very different experience than others.
The Mastodon post was shared twice, while the Bluesky version was shared over 200 times and received significantly more interactions. This raises questions about tech-savvy spaces like Mastodon and how they reflect broader societal issues.
For women on Mastodon:
Do you feel that the patriarchal dynamics and male behavior in this space, which is still largely dominated by white men, make it harder for women to participate?
#Mastodon #Diversity #Fediversity #Fediverse #Feminism #BlueSky #Inclusion
@everton137 On Mastodon we ignore idiots.
