I’ve been asked on TV hits and interviews lately to explain why decentralized social media is better, especially re: Mastodon.

[scream@bots.robots.rodeo]

@StumpyTheMutt AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

[davey_cakes@mastodon.ie]

@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.

[aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au]

@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.

[gatesvp@mstdn.ca]

@taylorlorenz

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

[mike_vlasman@cosocial.ca]

@taylorlorenz - On the fediverse, you're not the product. The sucker product.

[hi_cial@donphan.social]

@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!

[gatesvp@mstdn.ca]

@taylorlorenz

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. //

[hi_cial@donphan.social]

@taylorlorenz oh also you can turn OFF displaying numeric data on your profile and posts. never fixate on your follower digits unhealthily again!

[utopiarte@tupambae.org]

@taylorlorenz

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.

[tchambers@indieweb.social]

@taylorlorenz The open social web brings the same benefit the open web once did: nobody owns it, so nobody can take it away. On centralized platforms, your speech exists at the pleasure of a private entity's business model — they can change the rules, throttle your reach, or shut you down overnight. The fediverse puts that power back in your hands: you own your presence, you choose and build your own community with no intermediaries, and no single entity can pull the plug on you, or them.

[janeishly@beige.party]

@taylorlorenz Billionaires don't own it, and they never can.

[diekehrseite@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz the fediverse feels like the neighborhood of better days. When you ask for help, you get it. When you need support, you get it. You can share and discuss your thoughts, learn and improve. This is media becoming social. This is how it should be.
Community not business. This is the real thing.

[ehay2k@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz

It takes more work on Mastodon to find what you want, but it's not actually hard. You just don't spoon fed similar things once you view a category of content.

And once you get going, you will get the information you want in your feed, and are always free to explore to find (and instantly add) new content/interests.

But NO SINGLE ENTITY controls your content.

[mmol@mastodon.social]

@Ehay2k @taylorlorenz

Mirrors exactly my experience!

[dincargi@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz
No American (or other) CEOs, nor algorithms, to tell you what to think !

[scottish@datasci.social]

@taylorlorenz
* it's easier to "find your tribe" of people sharing common interests or geography - broad by server, narrow by following hashtags.
* Can only speak personally, as a woman I''ve experienced by far the least harassment/spam on Mastodon of any platforms and any abusive accounts reported have been dealt with very promptly. Feels 'safer' than other platforms.

[jorgecandeias@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz Well, for me it's quite simple, really.

On other networks, I feel manipulated by algorythms that may or may not have hidden agendas (but somehow it seems to me they always end up having them, sooner or later).

Here, I don't.

And that's absolutely freeing.

[mastodonmigration@mastodon.online]

@futurebird @benroyce @taylorlorenz

Ants are a big selling point.

Don't forget ants .

[robotbrain@uwu.social]

@taylorlorenz Social media is too important to leave in the hands of one of the billionaire assholes that can shadowban or kick you off with a whim if you annoy them or go against one of their pet causes.

There's no black box algorithm that the billionaires can nudge to affect your thinking or mood (as Facebook admitted experimenting on us with)

You're not held hostage to network effects after enshittification.

They're not trying to monetize your outrage and misinformation.

[ncw413@mastodon.social]

@taylorlorenz As an American it is safer for me, also I get to see more of the world than just U.S.