This blog developed out of an email exchange with a friend who writes as a hobby; actually more of a compulsion. I have spent the last 20 years helping him to turn his longer writing into ebooks and a few POD books. Now that he is retired he also likes to write articles on Facebook about his past life as a Television cameraman.
He wants to escape from fb but we can’t seem to find a good alternative for the kind of thing he wants to publish on the internet. Mastodon is too focused on smaller items. In spite of the generous word limits on the fediverse most of his articles would be long threads rather than one or two posts.
Facebook succeeded because it managed to be “all things to all people” to a certain extent.
- Proof of Life Comments (MicroBlogging)
You can make a quick comment to remind your friends and family you’re OK or show them what you ate for lunch, or how your cat/dog/guinea-pig is doing. - My-Life-is-Better-than-Yours (Photos)
You can show everyone what Cute Things your kids are doing or your latest Trip or Party or Extravagant Purchase. - Groups-Pages-Hobbies (Forums)
Talk to people who are interested in subjects that interest you. - Messaging (Chat) & Events (group calendar)
- Self Expression (miniBlogging)
Personal Opinion Articles (maybe with photos) about subjects that you want to share with your friends and the wider community. - Market Place & Business Pages (The Commercial Area – the bit that makes them money)
Buy and sell or exchange things you own or make.
All of this has worked to keep people on their leash because each area works on the same principle. You can use the same format to type a single sentence or an entire article; upload 1 pic or 20. You don’t need to spend time learning anything different.
BUT to keep it profitable the commercial aspects needed to grow at the expense of the personal. So we see more ads and less information about our friends. When Instagram started competing with this model by combining options 1, 2 & 3 with advertising, Zuck just bought it. The Instagram “merger” solved part of this problem by giving people an option where the advertising was not quite as intrusive, although “Billionaire-Greed” is beginning to swamp normal posts there too now.
TikTok had also created a simple alternative to Instagram’s Reels.
By the time Musk crashed Twitter into the ground Mastodon and other Fediverse sites were available to step into the gap as people became more aware of the link between commercial advertising and straight up Propaganda. Zuck has created Threads to try and hold onto that aspect of the fb scenario.
Awareness of the Propaganda aspects of Social Media in general have combined with the self-destruction of Twitter and recent threats to the viability of TikTok to assist the rise of more altruistic forms of Social Media. Thus the rise of Mastodon and more recently Pixelfed, and even signs of more awareness of PeerTube as a potential replacement for YouTube.
The revival of the idea of the Indie Web has encouraged many people back to full-blown Blogging and owning their own web sites, but in spite of what I consider the fun and ease of use of HTML/CSS and even the wide availability of hosting and frameworks for Static Site Generation there is a “techno-barrier” to entry for people without a “nerd frame of mind”. I mean if just choosing a server is seen by some people as a roadblock to joining the Fediverse then the Indie Web is a step too far for the average person.
The only gap in New Social Media seems to be a replacement for option 5 above – the simplicity of what I call miniBlogging. Being able to write an article or several on a subject that interest you. Add some photos if you like. Links to the rest of the Fediverse that make your ideas available to your friends and others. Without the technology getting in the way. Write Freely is an attempt to cover the textual aspect of what I mean but the concept needs expanding to include the visual as well, which of course is where the cost barriers arise as hosting text is simple and relatively cheap compared to photos and videos.
I wish I had the expertise to create something like this myself but I am hopeful that the rise in awareness of the dangers of the current media landscape and increase in interest in the Fediverse will encourage someone with the skill set needed to create miniBlogging for the masses.
If you feel inclined to take me up on this little challenge, my only feature-request it that you give it a reasonable name. I live in the Linux universe (3 computers running Mint and one old notebook running Bodhi) so lord knows I’ve seen a few weird names for programs in the last 20 or so years, all I ask for is something that I can talk to my friends and family about without their instant reaction being – WTF is that!
Categories: webPolitics
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lynfox