Is social media a net benefit for society? Probably not in its current incarnations of algorithmic advertising. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been a proponent of Mastodon<\/a> and related fediverse<\/a> apps since Twitter banned third-party apps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why does this matter? Is social media just inherently trash? Shouldn\u2019t you just spend your time away from your phone or computer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point of the internet, the point we\u2019ve lost our way on is connection<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The early days of the internet were optimistic. We weren\u2019t locked into a platform. Social media made sharing open to friends and family alike without being subscribed to a mailing list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What if I told you could follow people regardless of what platform they chose, using an application of your choice? Just like email or podcasts1<\/a><\/sup>. Not driven by advertising or the whims of venture capital? That\u2019s the promise of the Fediverse. Open protocols2<\/a><\/sup> not in control by a large corporation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The only thing it needs is you. The more people who join the Fediverse the better. Some large companies have pledged support the Fediverse such as Threads from Facebook3<\/a><\/sup>. But understanding what it is important, and giving it support, is what\u2019s required. That requires you. We can take back a small part of the Internet with your help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mastodon offers a timeline, non-algorithmic experience similar to early Twitter. Many tech\/security focused people were already here, or moved here after the API to Twitter was closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, I\u2019ve truly enjoyed the experience. I don\u2019t see accounts from those I don\u2019t follow and some have even found my account and replied in fun ways (such as talking about my love of the Game Boy Camera).<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the big complaints is moderation control, so I imagine if you are famous and have a large following, the ability to quell or parse out junk is still a problem. Coupled with discoverability, the Fediverse is still young. But, these were difficulties back when I was user #683<\/a> on Twitter in 20064<\/a><\/sup>. I\u2019m just here to inform you that there is another world out there, of which you should at least be familiar with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, if you\u2019re still reading this and want to dip your toes, I run my OWN<\/strong> Mastodon server. That\u2019s right, you can join my server and start using it right now for free if you\u2019re interested. Just get in touch with me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The open web, one free from big corporations is alive. You just have to try it, support it, read about it. I know… reading in 2024… ugh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[119,12],"tags":[747,746,20,680,681,715,109],"post_format":[],"class_list":["post-5442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","category-web-services","tag-747","tag-activitypub","tag-facebook","tag-mastodon","tag-open-web","tag-social-media","tag-twitter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pexels-photo-941572.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1253&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdZ9O-1pM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5445,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5442\/revisions\/5445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5442"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyomingjarbo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_format?post=5442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}My Experience With Mastodon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What Mastodon lacks is discoverability and the many celebrities, journalists, and sports accounts people like to follow outside their friends. But, since Threads has been turning on support for federation, it\u2019s possible now to follow those accounts ad free, if they\u2019ve opted in for federation on their accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I understand not wanting to join another<\/em> social network. But it\u2019s unlike what social networks are today and within your full control to see what you want to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n