One of my oldest friends, and someone I trust greatly, told me straight up today I ought to be back on Twitter for my effort to get selected for the EP list for the Grüne
In terms of audience reach he is right
But in terms of ethics he is not - I want nothing to do with the Musk-run place
It is our responsibility to make alternatives work, and to line up our ethics with our actions. So this campaign will not be tweeted, and I will make the very best of Mastodon (and Peertube, Bluesky) I can
@jon Thank you for making a good example!
I wonder, however, what you think about possible models of sustaining #mastodon , #peertube etc development? A lot is done by volunteers and this may not be scalable.
@volodymyr I know the problem. I don't know the answer. I think we can forget Threads/Meta doing anything useful as the answer. Mozilla making something in the fediverse perhaps? Although I suppose that the example of WordPress shows that if the community is large enough plenty of things are possible.
@jon Could there be some further regulations on fair and interoperable platforms disfavoring business model used by platforms like twitter, threads, etc?
@volodymyr Tricky. The EU would have the power to demand that, but... knowing how EU politic works, and how strongly at least Meta and Google lobby (Twitter was never much good at it), I'd fear the EU would mess up any effort to do that!
@jon I suspected so, but EU already had an effect in tech. Since social media is now so relevant in politics, politics should be serious about social media compatility with the politics of choice.
Are there political movements in the EU which take the problem seriously enough?
I work in #academia in several European projects, and recently interoperable and open (#FAIR) practices have been gaining traction, so at least there is a pool of experts who can support and develop this common good.
@jon@randahl Good decision, and not an easy one. And I believe that your message will come through more clearly here on Mastodon. And this thing is growing fast. Wait for the next major election: as attention for and coverage of the news goes up, Mastodon is going to get a big push.
@jon In my last IT role with Calderdale Council I was paid to promote social media as a benefit of being online as part of the UK GoOn / Broadband UK (BDUK) initiative. I used Twitter and Facebook extensively for this and advocated for both. I personally became hooked and was a prolific user. My decision to leave Twitter wasn't taken lightly but it's irrevocable; I shall never Tweet again. Principles aren't easy but I don't regret moving forward.
@jon I'm also a member of the green party and active on the local level.
For me I have decides, like you, that I don't want to contribute my Time to Musks and Zuckerbers company value. Even if politically it might be more promising to howl with the wolves.
I want to contribute to a free community like Mastodon.
@jon - Respect your principles, Jon, but I would see it differently:
Make Musk work for you, not vice versa. Turn a bad person into a useful vehicle.
Mit andren Worten: Keep strictly to notifications and updates, do not enter into interactive debates, dialogue or hobnobbing. It's incidentally what quite a few political accts do.
@pcsoblahdeehell That's the crux though: there is no way a Musk run Twitter is going to work for me. I am not paying him money. The algorithm is not in my favour.
@jon It's good to see someone taking this stance, John, well done!
I've had politicians and organisations here in Ireland tell me they can't leave Twitter because that's where they have the audience reach. And journalists saying they can't leave because that's where the politicians and organisations are.
Someone has to make the first move and I'm glad to see it coming from a Green. Best of luck with the EP selection!
Also I now know there will be a #CrossBorderRail event 1800-2000 on 4th Sept in central Dublin. Come along! @Ciarancuffe organising and I will be there.
@mkoek Yes, that I sort of semi understand. But even that is starting to shift a little I think. In the past couple of weeks both Guardian and Spiegel have had pieces about Twitter being less useful for journalism
@jon even in terms of audience reach, he's not right anymore. The new Xwitter algoritms favour tweets and reactions from extremist blue accounts, unlike messages from people with common sense and scientifically proven news. So you did the right thing. It is however a challenge to find new ways and means to reach the die hard Xwitter audience. Or are they a lost cause and shouldn't we even try?
@jon
IMO You are absolutely right. Maybe if you were a member of another party similar to British Torie, that might make some kind of sick sense. But, as a Green, people expect and need you to uphold a better set of standards and ethics
@jon I am glad to read about your conscientious choice. It reaffirms me in my decision to stop posting on TwitterX since last week (26 July). Did you also delete your old Twitter account?
@erikwesselius I have not yet deleted it, because I have used Twitter logins for a few services, like umap. I think I have now eliminated all of those. Once I have I can delete. (In other words: it's just for reasons of tech legacy I have not, not due to anything substantial)
@jon Good luck with your campaign! Had I lived in Germany I would actually consider voting for you (even though theoretically following "ideological family" lines it would have to be FDP - but I can't imagine voting for Lindner's SGP reform stance (and others)).
I do see the reach problem with leaving twitter, for politicians but also for thinktankers. I myself would lose a lot of valuable input for debate because many of the most interesting people I follow are still only there.
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