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 tried to answer your two core questions, "benefits" and "freedom", but really struggled to answer the questions as you posed them. I think the reason I got caught up on those answers is your use of the word "Platform". And when the general public think of "Platform", they immediately begin thinking of all those monolithic platforms out there.
Calling it "decentralized" doesn't really help. It's not a particularly precise term, nor do most people really understand the technical and social trade-offs that it implies. And "most people" includes a lot of people on Mastodon itself.
And we regularly see people who are disappointed when they get here, because they are expecting Twitter and they are getting something significantly different.
I think I can answer your two questions, next toot, but I think they need to be framed correctly first... /1
@gatesvp @JonChevreau @taylorlorenz good point. I'm tired of the geek-speak explanations, too. Talk aboit stuff the non-geek end user will enjoy and benefit from - in their language!
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@taylorlorenz
* it's easier to "find your tribe" of people sharing common interests or geography - broad by server, narrow by following hashtags.
* Can only speak personally, as a woman I''ve experienced by far the least harassment/spam on Mastodon of any platforms and any abusive accounts reported have been dealt with very promptly. Feels 'safer' than other platforms.@scottish @JonChevreau @taylorlorenz that's interesting: what if you framed your persuasion for female users? That's half the user base right there!
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@dannotdaniel @taylorlorenz my version is that it can't be bought by billionaires, and if a billionaire sweeps in and buys a large server we just fediblock that server.
See also Bluesky.
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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 @JonChevreau so many of the replies here are reactive: lists full of "no" and 'not' and "free from". It's like digging q big hole, with all the thrown-out descriptors littering the ground outside. It still leaves a hole, though; none of it actually describes the pleasure and value we *enjoy* on Fedi. That's harder to describe, but worth the time.
Describe how one *enjoys posts* in their feed. The pleasure of chitchat, discovery, new like-minded peers , slow thoughtful conversation
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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 When your instance gets taken over by a fascist, you can just change your instance and still be in the same network with mostly the same people. Bonus point the fascist instance gets blocked if your instance admins have any integrity.
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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)
@n_dimension @taylorlorenz @_elena what would have to happen , for a video like this one to be watchable in the sense, that it does not get interrupted every 1,5 seconds and doesn't need 10 min. to load in the first place?
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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
It's run by volunteers and rich perverts who want to rule the world don't get a dime from it.
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@philpetree @taylorlorenz Oh, they're still mining your data. They just use it to train AI instead of dictating what's in your feed.
@cholling @taylorlorenz That needs to be our next angle of attack: only allow the crawlers we approve onto our sites.
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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 every other attempt at social media out there is essentially "what it we tried capitalism again! It's *our brand* of capitalism, it'll be different", whereas decentralized social media is "let's try anarchist social media this time. It'll take work on our part, but it won't have the same systemic issues as that other stuff".
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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 decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon
It matters that you’re here now
The draw for me to get into social media is that I pay to read TheAtlantic, like my mother’s mother before me. So I keep an eye open for people who write well there. 21 of the 934 people I follow at Twitter follow you at Twitter. I don’t follow you yet, but long ago I learned to feel glad any time I hear from you
Now you’re here too. It’s your words I’m looking for. You and Karen Swallow Prior and Heather Cox Richardson and Derek Thompson and so on. Thinking well and writing well
I’m in mid life. I don’t make time to watch video or look through photos. I’ve paid zero dollars to Substack. But I want to read great texts. And you put some of yours here
Where will you lead us next?
Is this the core of your question? Taylor Swift’s I’ve found the problem and it is me, as with G K Chesterton before her?
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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 if you go through US immigration, they're not going to ask to see your Mastodon account.
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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 talk about the algorithm and advertising and how the whole experience, the whole incentive structure, changes so fundamentally when those aren’t the driving forces.
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@cholling @taylorlorenz That needs to be our next angle of attack: only allow the crawlers we approve onto our sites.
@philpetree @taylorlorenz Yes, because LLM crawlers famously respect robots.txt and only use known IP addresses.
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@philpetree @taylorlorenz Yes, because LLM crawlers famously respect robots.txt and only use known IP addresses.
@cholling @taylorlorenz There are other ways... like redirecting before serving the page.
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@n_dimension @taylorlorenz @_elena what would have to happen , for a video like this one to be watchable in the sense, that it does not get interrupted every 1,5 seconds and doesn't need 10 min. to load in the first place?
Sorry, shitty hosting, I'll get one from YouTube(!)
But only that's because I'm too sloppy to find other fediverse posts...... Thanks for the feedback though, C44 peertube is running on a bottom tier VPS, it's an experiment
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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 Not succinct, but I've documented a bunch of things great about ActivityPub/Fediverse/Mastodon here - https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/11/16/hark-threaders-the-fediverse-is-good-for-you
Notably though, Fedi offers two things you can't get with traditional centralized platforms.
- Deplatforming / censorship resistance (you can't still be blocked by instances or removed from an instance, but you can always stand up your own and connect with the rest of the network that hasn't blocked you)
- Portability of your following -
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 decentralised social media is just the online equivalent of how people socialised offline.
It's like chatting with friends without being constantly interrupted by a salesperson trying to sell you something.It's like being able to hang out a a party and choose who you spend time with, instead of the host constantly grabbing you by the arm, dragging you away from the person you were talking to and saying "here's a person you should be speaking to". And introducing you to some random person who immediately starts telling you everything that's wrong with your eating habits, your relationships, and your pets.
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@RowinSpeez @taylorlorenz @nikatjef no centrally pumped forced ads, but I'd legitimately want to know which server has tried this.
I did a cursory search and this was a top hit that barely answered the question
@krupo
I don't recall the names of the servers where I saw the advertisements, but IIRC, I only ever saw them in the local timelines.Please remember that there are three different timelines you can watch, by default: your home timeline (which is defined by your choices), the federated timeline (which is inter-server toots), and the local timeline (which is toots by people on your server)
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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
The Fediverse, and Mastodon in particular, showcases what social media can be when designed for democratic dialogue rather than profit.
It’s open source, so its rules and algorithms are transparent and accountable.
No single company owns it, so no billionaire can unilaterally shape speech.
It’s also interoperable, meaning people can move freely instead of being trapped in walled gardens.
Because it doesn't depend on outrage for ad revenue, it fosters healthier, more civil conversations.
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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
Mastodon etc. are like a bulletin board on campus, or at work,
or City Hall, or a public library, and you don't need permission from your employer, school administration, government etc. to post on it, and they can't take your posted stuff down. A friendly volunteer makes sure that there's not really nasty stuff posted. If you don't agree with what the volunteer might remove, you can always post your stuff to a different bulletin board.
