Since leaving Twitter, I've been trying to figure out what my journalism-y socials look like. (Threads: A sad Potemkin village where I just share articles. Bluesky: A fun, bitchy hotel cafeteria that still seems ill-suited to news.) I've been trying to use Mastodon for more hard news stuff, but I'm having a hard time getting my feed to be both active and relevant.
So I'm trying a few experiments to see if I can rejig my good. If you've got good journalism follow suggestions, send em my way.
@justinling Apologies if you have already seen this but this post has a LOT of replies. This is a list of aggregators, so you might find 1 or more a that is a good source for the journalism you want. https://mstdn.social/@feditips/111251425130879948
If you are not already doing so, I suggest @feditips for regular Mastodon tips.
@justinling making the switch eh? (😃🍁) the feed can take time to develop but it's way better than Threads and co. The fediverse is always quality if you follow @Vittoria and @fulelo. Also, Africa's leading/best digital weekly newspaper @thecontinent is a gem and are here as well. You'll be set.
@thenarwhal
Our team of investigative journalists dives deep to tell stories about the natural world in Canada you can’t find anywhere else.
@thetyee
Independent BC-based journalism that swims against the current. Paywall-free since 2003.
@openDemocracy
Free thinking for the world We're an independent media organisation covering world affairs and ideas.
@mergerson
Assistant professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland » Interests include media, race, and democracy; journalism history; and journalism and social equity
@suswatibasu
Head of Audience / Dep. Editor @NationalWorld Ex-Dataminr, ITV and Channel 4 News journalist.
@w7voa
Voice of America chief national correspondent and former White House bureau chief; 2022-23
@JaeBern
Journalist covering climate change and other sciencey stuff @ CBC News.
@ScienceDesk
We curate the latest science news, including climate change, space exploration, health and more. All posts are written by Flipboard’s editorial team.
@coloradosun
Telling stories that matter for a dynamic, evolving state. Independent, journalist-owned news covering the entire state of Colorado.
@SFPublicPress
Noncommercial news and investigative reporting for San Francisco Bay Area — online, print and on air at KSFP 102.5 FM & SFPublicPress.org
@NewsDesk
We share stories, explainers and analysis to offer context for the top news of the day. All posts are created and curated by Flipboard’s editorial team. Not a bot.
@mongabay
Reader-supported news and inspiration from nature's frontline. Mongabay is a non-profit.
@AK_OK
Alaska statehouse reporter for the Alaska Beacon, formerly with the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
@Chron
Houston’s home for news, culture and conversation. Chron, a free digital news site, is Hearst owned and run independently from the Houston Chronicle.
@Toastie
Indigenous affairs reporter, High Country News
@jmcjmc451
Journalist with an eye for environmental stories, ranging from the effect of climate change on agriculture to investigations into groundwater pollution. Current Midwest Reporting Fellow at Grist.
@sarahstierch Journalist. I write about weather, wildfires and other subjects relevant to Mendocino County for the Mendocino Voice. I cover portions of Sonoma, Napa, and Marin on social media.
@ProPublica
The official Mastodon page for ProPublica.
Pursuing stories with moral force.
@justinling One thing I'd suggest, is you follow a lot more people (at least initially), interact, and see what people are talking about, rather than just following a very small list -- at least initially. One of the big mistakes I see over and over with journalists here is people treating it as a broadcast medium, not a social medium.
@ai6yr Yeah, thus far I've been following a small list — and it's just not been working. But the one thing I truly hate about Mastodon is its lack of discoverability. (It's part of the protocol, nothing to be done about it.)
There's also so many dormant accounts. I just imported a list of 1.5k journalists, only to remove about 1.2k of them because they haven't posted in months.
@justinling Actually, the discoverability is pretty high if people hashtag their posts, or if they have "search" turned on for their account. As of v4.2.0 you'll find if you turn on search you get a lot of traction on discoverability for your content.
@justinling The dormant accounts are the "I'll move my account if/when Twitter goes down, this is just a backup" people, which is unfortunate as that continues to decline and devolve every day.
Hashtags are the best way, but regular interaction and conversation between articles will help too. The feedback loop of conversation and engagement is ESSENTIAL in a non algorithm environment as you have to with those dopamine receptors directly.
@justinling@ai6yr I feel ya on the hashtags, but they absolutely do work for getting your toots out beyond your immediate follows on Mastodon.
Re discoverability, yeah.
To fill my timeline I followed a ton of people and hashtags. It’s different from the Twitter heavy one to many model, but I have discovered a ton of delightful low intensity accounts that way. It’s definitely more setup work though.
@dr2chase@justinling LOL "heck, I'll just let the AI loose and have it post everything in my tone of voice... wait... is the AI using my account to sell timeshares in the Bahamas now?! What's happening?!" 😂
I have this problem too, because I never liked Twitter. But because hashtags are so much more important to discovery here, I also find people usually tag more insightfully. That is, the hashtags actually have relevant content, unlike on some socials.
@justinling@ai6yr For discoverability, follow some hashtags, then when you see something interesting, click through to the profile and see if their profile (or toots) seem interesting….
It’s a little more effort than you’re probably accustomed to, but it works - slow and steady wins the race.
@justinling@ai6yr I have noticed many dormant accounts as well. Some of which are leaders in climate change that I miss after I deleted my acct at the bird site.
@ai6yr@justinling if you have a pinned post with a bio that includes hashtags then people you interact with can regularly boost it, especially on #followfriday
Searches don’t find hashtags in profiles only on posts so a pinned introduction with hashtags about a #journalists fields of interest really helps discoverability
@justinling@ai6yr
An ENORMOUS number of journalists only put a placeholder here, probably as a backup in November 2023. I have built scrupulously curated lists for myself since then but still often rely on harvesting news from two or three other platforms. (And we can't share lists here)
Yes. More annoying than accounts that are here but inactive are the 3rd-party bots. Accounts that mirror twitter posts and such. Most of them are also inactive but they make it a pain to be sure you have a real person or news outlet.
We usually post a list of real outlets on #FollowFriday but have been too busy to put one together this week. I'll post here some of our recent lists.
@ai6yr@justinling This definitely, people are less likely to follow folks who only want to perform in front of an audience.
it’s very sex-segregated here, too, which I personally find frustrating. If I scroll down someone’s timeline and they’re only in discussions with other men, I tend to not follow them. If they don’t boost other people at least occasionally, I don’t follow them. If they’re only boosting men, I don’t follow them.
@justinling As someone else said, you need to use hashtags to easily reach people who follow them. As to filling your feed, there’s no secret: you need to follow people! Follow people whom people you follow follow. Follow extensively and unfollow if you decided it’s not the content you wanted after all.
I also get the impression people don’t enjoy straight-up link-dropping. Add a little meat to that bone. Get a conversation started. A little interaction goes a long way!
@justinling Every Friday a list of independent news sources is posted. I think they use #FollowFriday, but will double check. I'm sure I have one bookmarked....somewhere...
You may want to follow me. I pay attention. You will find others. See my pinned posts. I am not bullshitting you. It takes time. But we (collective we) can make this work. We must do so.
@justinling I haven’t gone “all in” on Mastodon yet but my biggest suggestion is be very judicious in who you follow, because you can’t rely on an Algorithm to surface the most “important” content (based on previous likes/interactions). Do NOT succumb to the principle of reciprocity and knee-jerk follow back, or your timeline will end up a crowded & chaotic mess and you’ll miss things you wish you hadn’t. Two other tips: 1) if there are accounts you absolutely want to see everything from, turn on the notification bell (see pic, use judiciously); 2) you can also follow or bookmark hashtags (I don’t think they’ve shown up in my timeline but I have a set of bookmarks I periodically hit to check for new posts with those hashtags)
@justinling
You might have joined on an instance that isn't news heavy.
One new instance is https://newsie.social
Perhaps try creating an account there, see what happens. There are more news instances, look for them.
Some larger outlets, like BBC, have their own servers. I doubt they take independents or other affiliations.
It’s taken months of reading and careful follows, but I’m feeling closer to where I was in terms of getting news and commentary on twitter before it got rabies. Which is to say, keep at it, the rewards do come.
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