There's no “content” on the Fediverse. There's stories, articles, greetings, friends, and humans. Contentification of human creativity is what algorithm-based platforms drove us to do. Content to distract, void of meaning or a soul, but filled with sponsorships and monetary incentive.
The Fediverse is unique as it has meaning first, medium second. We say things not for the sake of saying something to please some algorithm or audience, but because we think it's something someone needs to hear, or we simply wish to say. Once you've become accustomed to this way of digital interaction, liberalize your creativity from the shackles of corporate interests and marketability, there's no way back. The only thing I wish is to give people, our generation that knows no alternative, that same feeling.
@ErikUden
I rarely ever check my Facebook feed. I'm only on there because of groups I find valuable. I just now checked it randomly. Here's a description of the first ten items in my feed:
Post from a group I belong to
Reels suggested by FB
People FB suggests I follow
Org FB suggests I follow
Post from a group I belong to
Post from a person I follow
Meme from a person I follow
Post from a group I belong to
Org FB suggests I follow
Post from a person I follow
@ErikUden mainly the reasons why i came to the Fediverse, to engage/interact with people, talk about many different topics, having actual fun, understanding each other, etc
Corporate social media really does lacks a heart and void of a soul once you finally leave it for something more meaningful
@ErikUden
Help me understand - is there a reason that using the word "content" is wrong when talking about "stories, articles, greetings, …" ?
I think I'm missing some nuance here.
I do like having control over the content I see (to an extent, not 100%) by using mute, block, filters, etc. No unsolicited posts whether that means advertisements, posts that someone else liked, suggestions for people to follow, etc.
I'm not saying there are no problems here, but I think it's a good platform.
@ahimsa_pdx@ErikUden In the corporate world, "content" is widely used to treat works and communications as a commodity whose purpose is to fill a box and make money.
@ErikUden I utterly agree, obviously - but on the other hand, maybe we should find ways to reclaim words from commercial actors, platform owners & other exploiters?
I mean, today they've taken "content" - a perfectly normal, meaningful word - from us; tomorrow one of them is going to commoditize the word "fediverse" & then we can't use that anymore either...
@jwcph@ErikUden
I initially read the opening post in the German translation and didn't even understand it. In English I understand, what it means. Apparently the English word "content" is a kind of technical term too. But not in the German translation. Here it means "Inhalt" and that is always meaningful. I could imagine that it is the same in other languages.
It is therefore important to separate the technical term from the real meaning of the word "content" in English.
@werawelt@jwcph well, in both languages that issue exists. However, in the English space people more often discuss “content mills” or “content creators” etc. I have begun disliking that term, I think Tom Scott also mentioned it once.
I just... I don't know. If Shakespeare wrote a playwright and then was approached by World of Tanks in order to put an ad placement into his “content” he'd be insulted so much he'd die. Just the reduction of creative work down to a level where people simply do the work to make money, not because of passion, is something I deeply despise.
The word has morphed in order to have that meaning for me. You don't just make content, no, you make something you love. Technically speaking that is content, but I will not stand for the reduction of that work to something so basic. An AI makes content. You make content. A random number generator makes content. There's just no appreciation for the work inside of that word, to me it just means seeing that work as nothing. As something an AI could replicate, but no. Only one human could've done what you do, and whatever it is we're doing is not producing content, as that's just the result, not the goal.
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