One last message...
I’ve put together a website with instructions and resources for how to join and use Mastodon. Please follow the link in my bio. If you need help, reach out to
me. I genuinely hope to see you on the other side!
Be well.
As my final(?) post, I’ll share why I chose Mastodon and concerns I have about it. I’ll soon be launching a website to walk folks through Mastodon sign up, configuring account settings, best practices for posting, and share some accounts you might find interesting.
WHY DID I CHOOSE MASTODON?
1/ Least likely to follow the ownership and content path of existing social media
2/ I own the content I post and it can be moved to a new system
3/ Has more possibility of becoming unusual and exciting
4/ Easy to curate your feed and to create lists of posts organized by topic
5/ A little bit nerdy but feels more optimistic with topics trending away from politics
6/ Part of a much bigger ecosystem (apps that use the open ActivityPub protocol) that will continue to grow
7/ One login/account gives access to lots of services that do different things (Pixelfed → photo sharing, Element → private group chats, Loops → looping video stories, and more)
8/ Bluesky accounts can be followed and engaged through Mastodon and vice versa
WHAT CONCERNS ME?
1/ Is social media still a valid way to build community?
2/ Mastodon can’t be entirely free (someone has to pay for hosting costs, but you gain your privacy and ownership of data for that nominal fee)
3/ Is a community funded service sustainable?
4/ Although there are a lot of ways to customize your experience on Mastodon, it’s a little clumsy to use
5/ People are flocking to social media services that look and function like what they already use
Thank you for sticking around for this long farewell. I hope it has helped you appreciate the value in connection and community. I also hope we don’t lose touch. Wherever you land let me know.
You’ll find me at [email protected] and [email protected] ❤🐘🙏
Now that I’ve identified two platforms that better foster and support community,
let’s look at the pros and cons of Bluesky and Mastodon.
Bluesky
PROS
1/ large, broad community of users (and growing)
2/ Easy onboarding
3/ Highly customizable feeds
4/ Good content and user discovery
5/ More media companies, news outlets, and brands post to Bluesky
6/ Adaptive and effective moderation and safety tools
7/ System has regular and substantial improvement
CONS
1/ For profit and VC funded
2/ No private accounts
3/ Highly customizable feeds
4/ Although built on a federated protocol, no other systems currently use that
protocol
5/ You cannot export your content from Bluesky
Mastodon
PROS
1/ Large community of users
2/ Full set of privacy options including private accounts
3/ Content is moderated by humans based on stated guidelines
4/ Content can be viewed or used in other fediverse systems like Pixelfed
5/ You own, can export, and move your content
6/ Custom apps can be used to create/view content
7/ New type of platform that has room to experiment and expand
8/ Managed by a non-profit
CONS
1/ Onboarding is slightly unusual and can be confusing
2/ User base skews toward technology and very specific interests
3/ New content and user discovery is limited to search, hashtags, and groups
4/ Slow to make substantive changes to user experience and policy
5/ Fewer media companies, news outlets, and brands post to Mastodon
For those who want to make a move now, I have chosenMastodon (and Pixelfed). There is more info to share about why I made this choice and why I think you should, too. There are pros and cons to each of the services I shared in my previous post. Picking the right option for you is most important. �Stay tuned...
You’ll find me at @msanders_ !!re_email!!_mas.toIf you are new to Mastodon,I’ll be sharing soon info about how it works, how to join, and how to use it. It’s not hard to use, but a smidge quirky.
So where can we go that is safer and more fun? I’ve been researching and trying out platforms for a couple of years and I’d like to introduce some options.
I’ll note that there is no single place for all the types of social interaction. In the end you’ll likely use a mix.
1/ group chats
iMessage, Signal, Whatsapp, Snapchat... I somehow use them all. And while they are great for engaging a small group, it’s very hard to bridge communities across numerous chats. They also can’t provide discovery of new people besides those folks you already know.
2/ Bluesky
The are (currently) no ads on Bluesky. There is significant moderation and other tools to keep you safe. It has a thriving, growing community. It also is a privately-owned company and susceptible to the future whims of a Board and VC funding. Sound familiar?
3/ Mastodon (fediverse)
The are no ads on Mastodon. Community moderation and other tools keep you safe. The system is run on a series of different servers that communicate with each other, not unlike how email services allow you to send messages to any other email service.
4/ izzzzi.net
This one is a little odd. Users on izzzzi.net can compose a message all day that will be shared tomorrow. The messages from all the folks you follow are grouped together into a single post.There is no commenting and the group post is deleted after 24 hours.
But, let me start with my reasons for leaving IG and FB (and maybe reasons for you to do the same)…
1/ The majority of my feed in both apps is ads or other content the algorithm thinks I’ll like. I see shockingly little posts from the actual people I follow.
2/ IG and FB are owned and managed by giant tech companies that determine the rules of the platform and that generally means a better experience for them.
Not you or I.
3/ All the major social media services are owned by people that are hard to like.
4/ You do not own the info you put on IG or FB. You can not pack your bags and leave with all the moments and memories you put into these systems. And you can’t take your content and move it somewhere else.
5/ There are very limited mechanisms are in place to keep users safe and unharmed.
No one should be scared to speak their mind or to simply add a comment.
6/ I want to be distracted, learn something new, commiserate during the bad times, celebrate the good—with folks I know and like. I want comments to be plentiful, supportive, instructive even.
Conversations should happen.
Folks~
I am going to stop using
IG and FB very soon, and
I’d like to try to convince
you to do so, too. My 15 years (!!!) of posts
will remain, but I won’t be
adding new ones
or liking/commenting
regularly.
TBH, I love seeing and�hearing regularly from you all. For a while these sites were like a cup of tea after�a long day. Your holidays, anniversaries, catastrophes, and calming moments made me feel less alone�and reconnected.
Now I have to hunt through�suggested, sponsored,�reposted posts for updates from folks I actually follow. I hate it.
There has to be a better
way to connect socially�online.
There ARE better ways to
be social online.
