I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
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@benroyce
I'm only here for the cat pictures. And for the pindakaas.
@vfrmedia @rk @futurebird @taylorlorenz@Eetschrijver @vfrmedia @rk @futurebird @taylorlorenz
One of us, one of us!
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz Here's my best shot: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/11/03/Time-to-Migrate from which
1/2 ”Have you noticed that social-media products, in the long term, can’t seem to manage to stay fun and safe and useful? I have. But there’s one huge exception, a tool that’s been serving billions of us for decades, and works about as well as it ever did. I’m talking about email.
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@taylorlorenz Here's my best shot: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/11/03/Time-to-Migrate from which
1/2 ”Have you noticed that social-media products, in the long term, can’t seem to manage to stay fun and safe and useful? I have. But there’s one huge exception, a tool that’s been serving billions of us for decades, and works about as well as it ever did. I’m talking about email.
2/3 Why does email stay reasonably healthy? Because nobody owns it. Anyone on any server can communicate with anyone else on any other and it Just Works. Nobody can buy it and make it a vehicle for their politics. Nobody can crank up the ad density or make things worse to improve their profit margin.
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2/3 Why does email stay reasonably healthy? Because nobody owns it. Anyone on any server can communicate with anyone else on any other and it Just Works. Nobody can buy it and make it a vehicle for their politics. Nobody can crank up the ad density or make things worse to improve their profit margin.
@taylorlorenz
3/3 Mastodon’s like email that way. Plus it does all the Post and Repost and Quote and Follow and Reply and Like and Block stuff that you’re used to, and there are thousands of servers and anyone can run one and nobody can own the whole thing. It doesn’t have ads and it won’t. It’s dead easy to use and it’s fun and you should give it a try. -
I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz it's not owned by billionairs, it's not owned by anyone. if more time, get to the community of communities thing, how orgs can own their content on it and not depend on others, and still be part of the network, as anyone else.
i think people focus too much on the added complexity, not enough on what this complexity buys us.
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@taylorlorenz
3/3 Mastodon’s like email that way. Plus it does all the Post and Repost and Quote and Follow and Reply and Like and Block stuff that you’re used to, and there are thousands of servers and anyone can run one and nobody can own the whole thing. It doesn’t have ads and it won’t. It’s dead easy to use and it’s fun and you should give it a try.@timbray @taylorlorenz Plus one on the email analogy. Email is about as complicated as Mastodon. Email has its problems just like mastodon but it’s still a remarkably useful and resilient tool that no one company controls. I can email anyone from any email provider. I can’t say the same for social media.
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I get why they call it a "decentralized network" but that description was kind of a turn off for me before I came here because I thought you were trapped in a little server with a few dozen people and what's the point of that?
The power is decentralized but the communication need not be. You can talk to anyone from any community. You can have all of those fun instances of cross pollination when different communities intersect.
The more the fedi grows the better this gets.
Apparently the mastodon team at FOSDEM had a really killer slogan for promoting the Fediverse : "My friends are not for sale".
Mic drop, really - what more is there to say ?(though, depending on the audience, "Seize the memes of production, join the fediverse !" can land well too)
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
- no ads.
- no ad tracking!
- no billionaire owner.
- no "responsibility" towards shareholders (read: line must go up)
- the different platforms interact!! You can follow someone's photo sharing account (say, pixelfed - "Instagram", kinda) from your Friendica ("Facebook," kinda) account. #interop is cool -
I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz federated means, it's enshittification-proof!
Companies will always eventually treat their customers as badly as they think they can get away with. With centralized social media, the bigger it gets, the more are its users holding each other hostage, and the worse ads, moderation and general climate will become.
Being a network of communicating servers means, if moderation on your current one isn't to your liking, you can move to a different server while keeping your social graph intact.Rehashed ideas taken from https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/14/fire-exits/
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I get why they call it a "decentralized network" but that description was kind of a turn off for me before I came here because I thought you were trapped in a little server with a few dozen people and what's the point of that?
The power is decentralized but the communication need not be. You can talk to anyone from any community. You can have all of those fun instances of cross pollination when different communities intersect.
The more the fedi grows the better this gets.
@futurebird @taylorlorenz
"federated network" has some nice flavors (currently the word "federal" notwithstanding), and sets folks up for this fine fediverse of ours. -
There are no ads.
There are no bots*
There is no secret algorithm controlled by strange billionaires and/or creeps trying to push agendas**
It's really fun and interactive and you meet great people, real individual people.*Ya'll are such nerds you are going to bring up the good bots that we made and like, but you know exactly what I mean by this.
**ant propaganda doesn't count I'm not that rich either@futurebird @taylorlorenz This nerd was going to mention @scream, but it won't.
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@futurebird @taylorlorenz This nerd was going to mention @scream, but it won't.
@StumpyTheMutt AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz some points
You aren't being manipulated by the platform or coerced into impulsive behaviour, although you can still trap yourself into it.
It's often a bit of a mess but it's "our mess", the sense of ownership has some legitimacy.
It only dies when people don't want it any more, not when investors want their payday.
The "low virality" means anyone is as big a deal as anyone else.
It's slower, but it's also more relaxed.
Being bad for marketing has its upside.
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Apparently the mastodon team at FOSDEM had a really killer slogan for promoting the Fediverse : "My friends are not for sale".
Mic drop, really - what more is there to say ?(though, depending on the audience, "Seize the memes of production, join the fediverse !" can land well too)
@futurebird @taylorlorenz @lienrag I'd separate out what the benefits of the Fediverse are from what it is. Because they're not necessarily the same thing.
The benefit of the Fediverse is there's no paid ads, and no boosted posts.
A benefit of the Fedi is there's very little corporate spam.
A benefit is the lack of AI slop.
A benefit is that you are more likely to be reading and responding to actual people.
A benefit is that it's community owned, rather than owned by a big tech conglomerate.
A benefit is that it exists primarily as s space to facilitate discussions, rather than sell advertising.
A benefit is that there's no algorithm that's highlighting the most controversial and hateful content in a bid to maximise viewership.
All of those /benefits/ flow from what the Fediverse is.
And what it is, is a network of self-moderated online communities. What you post on one community is visible on all the others.
Now what that means is there's no single individual or corporation that owns it. -
I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
I tried to answer your two core questions, "benefits" and "freedom", but really struggled to answer the questions as you posed them. I think the reason I got caught up on those answers is your use of the word "Platform". And when the general public think of "Platform", they immediately begin thinking of all those monolithic platforms out there.
Calling it "decentralized" doesn't really help. It's not a particularly precise term, nor do most people really understand the technical and social trade-offs that it implies. And "most people" includes a lot of people on Mastodon itself.
And we regularly see people who are disappointed when they get here, because they are expecting Twitter and they are getting something significantly different.
I think I can answer your two questions, next toot, but I think they need to be framed correctly first... /1
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz - On the fediverse, you're not the product. The sucker product.
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
@taylorlorenz you really have total control over what you see from others as well as what others see from you. and if a server is closing, or you just arent loving it there, you can literally import your follows blocks etc to a different one.
also theres a lot of academics and audhd folk on here so the knowledge base is deep and passionate on any random subject. clam science! pinball repair! mutual aid! cooperatives!
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I tried to answer your two core questions, "benefits" and "freedom", but really struggled to answer the questions as you posed them. I think the reason I got caught up on those answers is your use of the word "Platform". And when the general public think of "Platform", they immediately begin thinking of all those monolithic platforms out there.
Calling it "decentralized" doesn't really help. It's not a particularly precise term, nor do most people really understand the technical and social trade-offs that it implies. And "most people" includes a lot of people on Mastodon itself.
And we regularly see people who are disappointed when they get here, because they are expecting Twitter and they are getting something significantly different.
I think I can answer your two questions, next toot, but I think they need to be framed correctly first... /1
What is Mastodon?
Mastodon is a miniature version of Twitter that anyone can host for themselves. You can host a copy for your friends, or a group of people get together and host a copy for their city or interest group or community.
What's special about Mastodon is that each of these miniature Twitters can talk to each other. So you can talk to people in other places from anywhere.
Benefits
When you sign up for an account, you are now a member of that community. You are not a User being fed an algorithm, you are a Member who gets to decide what you read and who you connect with.
Freedom
Because this is just software being run on your behalf, you are not beholden to the whims of some giant corporation. You and your community members are free to make your own community rules, to decide who you talk to. If you, personally, don't like some rule change, you can move to another community, or even start your own. You control big decisions. //
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@taylorlorenz you really have total control over what you see from others as well as what others see from you. and if a server is closing, or you just arent loving it there, you can literally import your follows blocks etc to a different one.
also theres a lot of academics and audhd folk on here so the knowledge base is deep and passionate on any random subject. clam science! pinball repair! mutual aid! cooperatives!
@taylorlorenz oh also you can turn OFF displaying numeric data on your profile and posts. never fixate on your follower digits unhealthily again!
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I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.
How would you explain the benefits of a platform like Mastodon and the fediverse to someone in just a few sentences? How would you make the argument that platforms like Mastodon allow for more free expression than big tech controlled apps?
Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Trying to make my arguments most effective
Decentralized free open source guarenties censorship resistance and prevents #enshitification by design. That's what the internet was about in the first place.
If you only focus on #mastodon you miss the bigger picture. What happened and happens on twitter is just the tip of the iceberg.
The fediVerse puts people back into the drivers seat.
