The regular disintegration of platforms is a feature of online life and its not always the worst that collapse - remember del.icio.us the link saving website, I loved it, it gave you access to swathes of other peoples research. But now, killed by idiot management when yahoo bought it. We are back in one of those chaotic moments and I think your prescription is correct but the universal accessibility of twitter was good as well as bad, it was so good for breaking news even if crap for debate. Facebook is dying a different death via algorithms that strangle access to anything that is not personal or trivial because that is the data they can profitably harvest, anything remotely resembling intellectual debate is throttled. What I yearn for is a publicly owned social media where they aren't manipulating your feed to promote data mining and where toxic people will be banned after sufficient infringements. None of the others quite do that although substack is at least a good source of interesting reading.
Have you tried Elk? It's a separate interface that's more streamlined.
Otherwise, you may just try another service on the Fediverse (I recommend Firefish, but there's also Plemora, Friendica and Akkoma to name a few).
In other words, the Fediverse and all of it's goodness is not limited to Mastodon. (Personally, I use both Mastodon and Firefish, but I need to try Akkoma too, it seems promising)
I have not tried Elk, no. Thanks for the suggestion. I may give it a look.
I am a n00b in this regard, but I think my gripes are due less to Mastodon specifically than they are to the fediverse concept itself; i.e., it drives me bananas that even though I have a Mastodon account and am logged in, I can't just visit someone else's timeline and follow that person by, you know, clicking "Follow." I can't even like a post, at least not without jumping through hoops (having to follow first, iirc).
I guess I would (will?) be more motivated to struggle up the learning curve if I had the sense that more people I cared about were completely off Twitter and onto Mastodon. Right now, it seems like just a few. Given Elno's recent history, though, that might change. So, we'll see. Right now, Twitter is still where it's at, from my perspective, despite the increasing number of warts.
I'm a bit confused by " I can't just visit someone else's timeline and follow that person by, you know, clicking "Follow." I can't even like a post, at least not without jumping through hoops (having to follow first, iirc)."
It just won't accept my clicking the Follow button. I have to copy the user's handle, go back to my own home page, paste the handle in the Search box, find the user, and then click Follow.
This is when the other user is on another server, or whatever you call it, in the fediverse.
Similarly, I have to follow someone before I can Like one of their posts. Again, prob only applies when they are on a different server.
Yes, you can only follow from your server. That's part of how federation works.
When I find someone new that could be interesting, I first search them from my account, then open their full profile in another tab (if necessary, i.e. if it doesn't show from my server). If I like it, I just click on my tab and follow. Yes, it's not the way we've been used to with centralized billionnaire owned network, but it's a very small learning curve, one or two extra clicks, and I think a small price to be able to enjoy something that should have been what social media is from the very beginning.
With that being said, you should be able to like someone's post that shows up on your feed even if you don't follow them but simply clicking on the star. Boosts and Likes from directly from your feed, regardless of anything else.
It's funny. We're both describing the same exact actions. I make it sound Sisyphean, you say "one or two extra clicks." I would hazard a guess that this might just have something to do with our respective mindsets, going in. ;)
I don't feel good about spending time on Zuck or Elno's platforms, when I think about it in those terms, but the reality is, social media is not something I care deeply about. It's mindless entertainment, mostly. Admittedly, with a non-trivial fraction of stuff I really do want to read and otherwise know about. But in either case, getting what I want depends heavily on there being a lot of people there about whom I care. The old chicken and egg problem, once again -- I'd like to go to new SM platform, but no one else is there. They'd all like to, too, but ... same reason.
That said, Elno has shown no signs of slowing in his efforts to wreck Twitter, so I probably will be back on Mastodon sooner rather than later.
I use Facebook to keep in contact with my extended family. I use Twitter to stay in contact with the writing community on three countries. I use LinkedIn to stay on contact with work friends. And I use Instagram to stay in contact with other members of my extended family.
As for writing only for money, many creative writers have difficulty getting their work published. On a saturated book market, it is increasingly frustrating waiting for any sort of money return for the effort involved in professional writing,. The starving artist stereotype may be an urban myth, but it remains likely that their is a significant opportunity cost involved in writing professionally in Australia,
The Fediverse is my new online social home, but I still use Facebook daily (most of my friends who are not terminally online like me only use Facebook and have no interest in looking beyond it).
Threads is meh. I'm done waiting for an invite for Bluesky (I'm still curious about it, but it had red flags everywhere). Strangely, I find myself using Instagram more (from "almost not at all" to "a few pictures a weeks)).
I am irregularly active here, on Substack (I don't really use Notes, though) but I'm more and more weary of mi/billionaire owned platforms.
I still write on my blogs. My "random topics" one may have a handful of readers but I don't care. My "main" one (about my corner of Japan) still has a decent readership, but yes, it's just too much work nowadays (with no return beside my reader's gratitude, which is priceless, but doesn't feed me), so I'm looking for options (probably turn the static content into an e-book?)
I left Twitter because "X" removed Tweetdeck. I had depended on Tweetdeck for information from valuable sources. I write - but not for money (though I have done that in the past). I write for the relatively few who appreciate my work. I joined Mastodon, but so far have not learned how to grow a presence on it, or to find valuable sources as I found on Tweetdeck. As to those other new sources that you mention. Well, good try - but how much time can we afford to put into all this splintering new media?
I agree about Mastadon. It's much kinder than Twitter, and the only thing I've needed to do is stop following one person who had been filling up my feed with stuff I wasn't particularly interested in.
The regular disintegration of platforms is a feature of online life and its not always the worst that collapse - remember del.icio.us the link saving website, I loved it, it gave you access to swathes of other peoples research. But now, killed by idiot management when yahoo bought it. We are back in one of those chaotic moments and I think your prescription is correct but the universal accessibility of twitter was good as well as bad, it was so good for breaking news even if crap for debate. Facebook is dying a different death via algorithms that strangle access to anything that is not personal or trivial because that is the data they can profitably harvest, anything remotely resembling intellectual debate is throttled. What I yearn for is a publicly owned social media where they aren't manipulating your feed to promote data mining and where toxic people will be banned after sufficient infringements. None of the others quite do that although substack is at least a good source of interesting reading.
I want to like Mastodon, but that UI/UX just kills me every time I try.
Have you tried Elk? It's a separate interface that's more streamlined.
Otherwise, you may just try another service on the Fediverse (I recommend Firefish, but there's also Plemora, Friendica and Akkoma to name a few).
In other words, the Fediverse and all of it's goodness is not limited to Mastodon. (Personally, I use both Mastodon and Firefish, but I need to try Akkoma too, it seems promising)
I have not tried Elk, no. Thanks for the suggestion. I may give it a look.
I am a n00b in this regard, but I think my gripes are due less to Mastodon specifically than they are to the fediverse concept itself; i.e., it drives me bananas that even though I have a Mastodon account and am logged in, I can't just visit someone else's timeline and follow that person by, you know, clicking "Follow." I can't even like a post, at least not without jumping through hoops (having to follow first, iirc).
I guess I would (will?) be more motivated to struggle up the learning curve if I had the sense that more people I cared about were completely off Twitter and onto Mastodon. Right now, it seems like just a few. Given Elno's recent history, though, that might change. So, we'll see. Right now, Twitter is still where it's at, from my perspective, despite the increasing number of warts.
I'm a bit confused by " I can't just visit someone else's timeline and follow that person by, you know, clicking "Follow." I can't even like a post, at least not without jumping through hoops (having to follow first, iirc)."
What do you mean?
It just won't accept my clicking the Follow button. I have to copy the user's handle, go back to my own home page, paste the handle in the Search box, find the user, and then click Follow.
This is when the other user is on another server, or whatever you call it, in the fediverse.
Similarly, I have to follow someone before I can Like one of their posts. Again, prob only applies when they are on a different server.
Oh, I see what you mean.
Yes, you can only follow from your server. That's part of how federation works.
When I find someone new that could be interesting, I first search them from my account, then open their full profile in another tab (if necessary, i.e. if it doesn't show from my server). If I like it, I just click on my tab and follow. Yes, it's not the way we've been used to with centralized billionnaire owned network, but it's a very small learning curve, one or two extra clicks, and I think a small price to be able to enjoy something that should have been what social media is from the very beginning.
With that being said, you should be able to like someone's post that shows up on your feed even if you don't follow them but simply clicking on the star. Boosts and Likes from directly from your feed, regardless of anything else.
It's funny. We're both describing the same exact actions. I make it sound Sisyphean, you say "one or two extra clicks." I would hazard a guess that this might just have something to do with our respective mindsets, going in. ;)
I don't feel good about spending time on Zuck or Elno's platforms, when I think about it in those terms, but the reality is, social media is not something I care deeply about. It's mindless entertainment, mostly. Admittedly, with a non-trivial fraction of stuff I really do want to read and otherwise know about. But in either case, getting what I want depends heavily on there being a lot of people there about whom I care. The old chicken and egg problem, once again -- I'd like to go to new SM platform, but no one else is there. They'd all like to, too, but ... same reason.
That said, Elno has shown no signs of slowing in his efforts to wreck Twitter, so I probably will be back on Mastodon sooner rather than later.
I use Facebook to keep in contact with my extended family. I use Twitter to stay in contact with the writing community on three countries. I use LinkedIn to stay on contact with work friends. And I use Instagram to stay in contact with other members of my extended family.
As for writing only for money, many creative writers have difficulty getting their work published. On a saturated book market, it is increasingly frustrating waiting for any sort of money return for the effort involved in professional writing,. The starving artist stereotype may be an urban myth, but it remains likely that their is a significant opportunity cost involved in writing professionally in Australia,
I'm in a similar situation.
The Fediverse is my new online social home, but I still use Facebook daily (most of my friends who are not terminally online like me only use Facebook and have no interest in looking beyond it).
Threads is meh. I'm done waiting for an invite for Bluesky (I'm still curious about it, but it had red flags everywhere). Strangely, I find myself using Instagram more (from "almost not at all" to "a few pictures a weeks)).
I am irregularly active here, on Substack (I don't really use Notes, though) but I'm more and more weary of mi/billionaire owned platforms.
I still write on my blogs. My "random topics" one may have a handful of readers but I don't care. My "main" one (about my corner of Japan) still has a decent readership, but yes, it's just too much work nowadays (with no return beside my reader's gratitude, which is priceless, but doesn't feed me), so I'm looking for options (probably turn the static content into an e-book?)
I left Twitter because "X" removed Tweetdeck. I had depended on Tweetdeck for information from valuable sources. I write - but not for money (though I have done that in the past). I write for the relatively few who appreciate my work. I joined Mastodon, but so far have not learned how to grow a presence on it, or to find valuable sources as I found on Tweetdeck. As to those other new sources that you mention. Well, good try - but how much time can we afford to put into all this splintering new media?
I agree about Mastadon. It's much kinder than Twitter, and the only thing I've needed to do is stop following one person who had been filling up my feed with stuff I wasn't particularly interested in.