How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one?
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin not sure which app you're using on your mobile device or desktop, but there are visibility settings where you can keep things locked down to your liking. I know it may not look like the same kind of setup that you're used to, but a lot of people do make use of these settings.
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin There are options you can set in your preferences to make a profile effectively private:
Opt-out of search engine indexingPosting privacy = Followers Only
⌧ Automatically accept new followers
⌧ Feature profile and posts in discovery algorithms
Opt-out of an RSS feed for your public posts⌧ Include public posts in search results
⌧ Include profile page in search engines
⌧ Show follows and followers on profile
⌧ Display from which app you sent a post
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin This is where you come to do your public stuff; privacy is not a problem that the Fedi solves. Not in the personal security sense of the word, anyways.
We have become infected with assumptions created by the lies of corporate sites, things like, websites should do everything, rather than doing one thing well.
I don't have a good suggestion for what you seem to be seeking, and I'm sorry for that. But I think you will have your heart broken if you try to get that here.
You walk into Instagram's walled garden, they can control things, up to a point, in terms of privacy, assuming basic competence on their part (not guaranteed at all) and that they do not lie about things like allowing the NSA or anyone who pays a data broker to read your shit.
Which is to say, the "privacy" people speak of having on these platforms is mostly a delusion, between the above and actual bad-intent hackers and the fascist government leaning on them all. What I find refreshing about how Mastodon works, is that it states right up front that even your direct messages are not actually private, and you should not put your sensitive info there.
But the idea of a "private social media experience" is just kinda weird to me, we do social media when we want to be out in the world, only also at home in our jammies.
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin
Another option is be anonymous.Using real names on the internet wasn't really a thing before Facebook.
While it doesn't restrict who sees and responds, it allows you to post your thoughts and feelings, without it getting back to people you know in real life and causing problems.
It also gives you control over who you share your real identity with.
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@Biokevin
Another option is be anonymous.Using real names on the internet wasn't really a thing before Facebook.
While it doesn't restrict who sees and responds, it allows you to post your thoughts and feelings, without it getting back to people you know in real life and causing problems.
It also gives you control over who you share your real identity with.
There also nothing stopping you having more than one account for different uses. Have a public account and a locked down account and one for shit posting. Have them on separate instance if you want.
Apps let you quickly flip between accounts. -
How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin I wondered this too. The fediverse has the norms of old twitter in regards to real names and real biographical descriptions. I never partook in that, so it freaks me out a bit.
You could always do what I do and make a pseudonymous account.
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin I’m a fediverse noob. What is the photo sharing app, does it have different levels of privacy?
The privacy levels were one of my favorite things of the old school Livejournal. -
How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin I wonder the same thing as I Try and adapt to this experience, it's hard to convince people to try different things, but trying to promote open platforms like these ones is what will make the internet and the fediverse better. The network effect can only be achieved by users
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
@Biokevin The question is always to what extent you want to appear as a real person on the public internet.
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@Biokevin I’m a fediverse noob. What is the photo sharing app, does it have different levels of privacy?
The privacy levels were one of my favorite things of the old school Livejournal.@keledy welcome fellow noobie, PixelFed is for photos, Loops for videos.
Yes, I just checked today there are various permission levels per post that you can toggle between on PixelFed
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@Biokevin not sure which app you're using on your mobile device or desktop, but there are visibility settings where you can keep things locked down to your liking. I know it may not look like the same kind of setup that you're used to, but a lot of people do make use of these settings.
@oddpixel Thank you for the reply. What app are you using in that screenshot?
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@oddpixel Thank you for the reply. What app are you using in that screenshot?
@Biokevin MoshIdon. It's an Android app I grabbed off of F-Droid. Might be on the official Google Play Store. It's based on the official Mastodon app.
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How do folks manage the balance between having a more private social media experience with the fediverse versus a fully public one? I'm starting to run into some conflict with how I use the fediverse like I would my Instagram for example. I've always had private accounts because I only want to share with people I know. That doesn't seem to be an option here so it does limit the type of content I would be willing to share publicly. Thoughts?
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Hi Kevin,
CathyBikesBook is right, you can set your account to just post in "followers-only" visibiilty mode and then set your account to require manual approval of followers.
When you've done both these things, your account will be private and only visible to your followers, and only people you approve can follow.
Guide to visibility settings:
https://fedi.tips/who-can-see-my-posts-in-mastodon-how-do-i-send-dms-in-mastodonGuide to setting manual approval of followers:
https://fedi.tips/restricting-who-can-follow-you-in-mastodon
