For all the people who say ”I had to select a server, it was so complicated to sign up to Mastodon. On Bluesky it was easy” - how are these two different logic-wise? I mean what the hell?
It’s incredibly dangerous how the richest man in the world — deluded by paranoia, narcissism, and far-right conspiracies — can get arms of the state to go after his perceived enemies instead of holding him to account as they should be doing.
NPR’s data shows that they lost nothing after being ostracized by the psychotic white billionaire. It counters the idea that leaving Twitter is a loss. Let’s dismiss the idea that we need to be held hostage on any platform.
A year can go by in a flash. And that’s certainly how I feel as @Flipboard marks the first birthday of our Mastodon editorial desks. We tentatively dipped our toes into the water, not sure what to expect. What we quickly discovered was a smart, engaged community of people truly curious about our world for all its virtues and faults.
We instantly observed far more replies, favorites and boosts than we ever saw on X (Twitter) even though we had many more followers there. By November, we abandoned X to focus on Mastodon and a few other platforms.
When we launched our Mastodon accounts, we had no idea that Flipboard itself would federate, which is a work in progress. In recent months, we’ve federated our editorial curation from the app, greatly expanding your options to follow the topics you’re most interested in, such as news, politics, sports, entertainment, etc. And we’re in the process of federating publisher Flipboard accounts so that you can follow their topical Magazines. Already, you can find accounts such as Smithsonian Magazine, Euronews, Frommers, CBS Sports and SPIN.
Thank you for all of your feedback and support. If you like our work, please boost this post and help us grow our audience.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri says pretty conclusively they don’t want Threads to be the new app for news and journalists. Makes sense given Meta is threatening to pull news in Canada and California.
Ultimately, Threads is a sanitized space for brands, grifters, and celebrities — all designed to sell you more shit.
#Twitter was one of the most important tech utilities for #reporters to break stories and deliver #real-time news, until Elon Musk bought the company. He not only killed the #SocialMedia platform, he destroyed one of our most vital #news outlets.
@andreagrimes on how the destruction of the bird app has impacted her and many other independent #journalists.
I won't go into details because they aren't mine to share, but a fash publication dropped dox (real name, location, years of internet history) on an antifascist member of the #fediverse today, based in large part on their activity on @kolektiva dot social and elsewhere on #Mastodon.
Just a reminder that the enemy is aware that we are gathered here and is watching us, and as we head into these dangerous times it's important to remember that. Think twice before posting anything here you wouldn't want linked to you in a court of law, for example. #SocialMedia#fascism#antifa#SecurityCulture#feditips
Embrace: Look, we've launched a shiny new Twitter clone!
It's not an empty new social platform, like Google Plus was. You can already access all the content on Mastodon and all the other ActivityPub-based platforms!
We've seen the light! We now embrace open networks!
And it's so simple!
All you people who wanted to switch to Mastodon, but freaked out when you read the word "server" and thought it was too complicated for you, no fear! We've done away with the confusing choice for you! It's a super simple UX!
Extend: Our shiny new Twitter clone now integrates seamlessly with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and more! You can even get notifications in Horizon Worlds!
Oh, we're not integrating our other platforms to ActivityPub. If you want one easy platform for Meta's social media platforms and ActivityPub, our Twitter clone is your only choice!
To advertisers and media, we'll let you boost posts too, for a tiny fee!
We'll feature you prominently on our new algorithmic feed.
So don't bother spinning up your own Masto instance, join us instead!
Extinguish: As of 1 July, we are depreciating support for ActivityPub.
Also, effective immediately, our privacy terms have been updated. You won't believe what we hid on page 76.
No, it did not. Tired of hearing this. According to who? In what?
I’ve seen platforms that ceased to exist over the years. I’ve seen social media companies getting acquired or going bankrupt. I’ve seen entire portals losing their users. The Fediverse keeps growing. How is this failing?
I’ve been bowled over by the warm welcome here at #Mastodon. Thanks so much! :) As an #artist who’s struggled with the algorithmic commodification of #socialmedia, it’s been heartening to find a place that (thus far) is more like Ye Internet of Old. As to #art : Here’s a recent #watercolor#painting of a great blue heron entitled, “A Tempered Blue as of Sky and Water Commingled.” #birding#birdart#portfolioday
It’s approximately one year since the peak of the enshittification of Twitter and the big Mastodon influx. Let’s ask again: What is your main microblogging platform? Boosts welcome.
Social media is social. On X it is pretty hard to be social when you have to pay for it (literally and figuratively).
On Mastodon everything you do is social. Likes have no meaning other than for good spirits, so people have a conversation mindset. Boosts have a large meaning, they are the only algorithm, so people are boosting with low bar.
On Bsky/Threads everything is mostly built on likes. People rarely re-share anything too ordinary, posts have to be EXCEPTIONAL to get shares or comments.
This is why I believe in open protocols over commercial war machines.
In #birdsite news, our Special Investigative Correspondent @stevanzetti has been suspended with no warning or explanation, along with numerous other #journalism accounts such as Ken Klippenstein, Rob Rousseau and others.
(edit: Steven and at least some others appear to have been reinstated.) #SocialMedia#ElonMusk
Latest comic on a certain pundit's infamous $78 airport meal
(For those outside the US, the commentator David Brooks has made a career out of piously trolling liberals for their supposed decadence and lack of morals.)
During my one year activity on the #Fediverse I've now seen at least four instance admins quitting from being an admin or shutting down their server. Half of these cases were admins being dickheads and the rest of them were mostly about users being dickheads leading admin getting burned out.
Both outcomes are unfortunate, but the latter makes me sad. Why do we have to harass and doxx an admin here for such pseudetical reasons like extensive open text search feature? I don't get humans sometimes.
I repeat: We are not free from toxicity on the Fediverse. Be kind. Make a chance.
If you have #SocialMedia and #marketting experience and are looking for #remote work, the #nonprofit I work for is looking for someone, contract to start. Preference given to someone #disabled in some way. I'd love to have someone take this that's familiar with Mastodon.
Can I please ask this amazing Mastodon community for your help? I’m doing my research studies on social media behaviors. If you have a few minutes, can you please complete 📝 this SURVEY or 🔃this toot ?
I’m from The University of Queensland 🇦🇺: , feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
THANK YOU in advance 🤩 #Mastodon#socialmedia#research#survey
To celebrate a one year anniversary of my blog post "A netizen’s guide to Mastodon and the fediverse" [1], I'd like to rerun one of the polls [2] from the article:
Have you ever made a donation to a fediverse server admin?