I still remember when https://www.phpbb.com/ was one option. We had the freedom either to join a website hosted by someone else, or setup our own. Wordpress, Mastodon et al are the same thing but several iterations later. The web, for a long time was about people downloading solutions for their projects. It's from 2006-2020 or so that social media took over. I'm happy to see a movement back towards self-hosting, or community based hosting, rather than social media giants. It's nice to see the re-democratisation of online forums and discussions.
@Mrfunkedude at the end of the day, the other platforms I use and Meta gets rich off of serve me in a different way.
From my perspective all social media platforms are like a casino house. This one just seems slightly less usery than the others.
Maybe I’ve been around the block to many times. I figure I’m getting screwed with my pants on all over the net. And my choice is which flavor I want when.
@Shepherdess The point that I was trying to make was one of intention. I was trying (in under 500 characters) to make the distinction between corporate social media, who's intention is to turn you into a commodity, and The Fediverse where the intention is to provide a service. This is why I asked at the end "Where do you think your time is best served?" In other words, as a "commodity" or as a "user"? What do you want the future of social media to look like?
@Mrfunkedude BlueSky, like the fediverse, is an open platform, run by a sort-of institution. During its incubation, the fediverse people participated for a time.
I don’t know if they’ll become a net-good, but smooshing them between tiktok and facebook seems a bit dishonest, its a bit of a smear.
And the fediverse doesn’t need that.
What it does need is a little competition.
@Mrfunkedude There is something to be said about utility, though. FB lets me see photos of my cousin's kids. Twitter (used to) give me insights into multiple zeitgeists. (Black Twitter, Weird Twitter, Blue Wave Twitter, MAGA Twitter, Journalist Twitter, SF/Fantasy Author Twitter, Tech Twitter.... ) TikTok gives me amazing low carb vegan recipe ideas. I'm not sure what the Fediverse/Mastodon lets me do. If it's just another platform for void yelling....?
@djohngo I understand utility. I still use Youtube, TikTok, etc. But I put the majority of my energy into the Fediverse and services like Mastodon because THAT'S what I want to see grow. Decentralized and federated social media, that is controlled by the user and is offered as a service and not as bait to turn me into a commodity.
@Mrfunkedude how is Bluesky all that different from Mastodon in this case? I know it’s still early for Bluesky, but you’ll soon be able to run your own instance, just like with Mastodon.
@ThePaulMcBride Allow me to answer that with a few questions. How do you think Bluesky will pay for their service? Do you think they will consider you a user, or a commodity?
@Mrfunkedude as far as I understand I won’t need to use their services. I can stand a server up myself and I should be good to go. Or more likely, a kind server admin will and I’ll make a monthly donation to them.
I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s planned to work, but I could very well be wrong.
@ThePaulMcBride Honestly I find it hard to trust the intentions of the guy who created Twitter and then thought it was a good idea to sell it to Musk.
Investors need to be paid back. Even if you set up your own server to run their protocol, I don't trust that their main target wont always be to make you and I a commodity.
@Mrfunkedude Unfortunately, for most people, what it comes down to is where their friends are. Most of mine stubbornly refuse to move from Facebook. So if I want to talk to many people I know, I need a Facebook.
@SkellySoft To me this is more of a reason to support the Fediverse and services like Mastodon. The very reason you feel like you have to go to another service is because they aren't decentralized and federated. You HAVE to join your friends service. You are essentially propping up the very thing that you might wish you didn't have to do.
@Mrfunkedude I just don't want to have to be cut off from talking to - and therefore organising seeing them and socialising with - my friends. It took me a long time to make the friends I do have, I'm not very good at it. They don't really use anything but Facebook or Whatsapp so if I don't use those, we just lose touch. :(
@SkellySoft I understand what you're saying, that it feels like you don't have a choice, but do you understand that's EXACTLY the position these services want you to be in? Unless you and others like you find a way to break the cycle of dependency on a platform to stay in touch with a group, you are ALWAYS going to have this problem.
I don't know what that solution is for you and others in similar situations, but I think recognizing the issue is important as well.
@Mrfunkedude I'm willing to - I use text messages, other apps, and even phone calls. My friends, though... don't really like to pick up the phone and rarely reply to texts. I don't access Facebook very much anymore (maybe twice a week?), but I've become incredibly isolated as a result. :/
@Mrfunkedude I do totally get and support what you're saying, however. Meta is awful, Musk is a fascist and a desperate idiot, and in general, I'm becoming more skeptical of commercially run social media services by the day.
@Mrfunkedude
I disagree. There are more important considerations than who owns a platform.
Facebook, Twitter, and others have a business model built around violating data privacy, and using that data to allow marketers to influence users. This means those platforms will remain a threat to democracy no matter who owns them.
The fact that both platforms also have inadequate moderation should also alarm more people than it does.
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