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Reasons To Join Mastodon! [a thread]
No Ads, No Algorithm
This evens the playing field a bit! There’s no “clout” on mastodon because there’s no algorithm that favors certain posts over others, it’s just chronological. /2
This evens the playing field a bit! There’s no “clout” on mastodon because there’s no algorithm that favors certain posts over others, it’s just chronological. /2
It also means businesses can’t really use mastodon to advertise, and in fact, that shit is actively discouraged. It’s a social network genuinely meant for people to connect, not buy and sell. /3
Anti-harrassment + Accessibility Features
No typing long image descriptions into captions, no figuring out how to effectively use Content Warnings - these things are built into Mastodon in a user-friendly way. /4
No typing long image descriptions into captions, no figuring out how to effectively use Content Warnings - these things are built into Mastodon in a user-friendly way. /4
You also can’t search for specific words or repost people’s toots (yes they’re called toots) with a snarky comment, which makes mass harassment a lot less possible. If you’ve ever been the target of a flame war, you know how valuable these features are. /5
Decentralized Design
This means there’s no one person or office running things - Mastodon is a free, open-source self-hosted social network made up of separate servers that can talk to each other, kinda like if you have Gmail and your friend has Yahoo. /6
This means there’s no one person or office running things - Mastodon is a free, open-source self-hosted social network made up of separate servers that can talk to each other, kinda like if you have Gmail and your friend has Yahoo. /6
You’re on separate servers but you can still follow + msg each other. This means you can join a server specific to your interests and values, and not worry about a company restricting or banning you - instead there’s real human mods for all the servers. /7
It’s a lot like the internet of the 90’s, before companies monopolized social media. /8
Building Networks
Ya’ll - hateful people are mass migrating to their own platforms as we speak. Parler, the new conservative version of Twitter, hit a million users last month. We need to strengthen our networks, too, somewhere that we are not at the mercy of an algorithm. /9
Ya’ll - hateful people are mass migrating to their own platforms as we speak. Parler, the new conservative version of Twitter, hit a million users last month. We need to strengthen our networks, too, somewhere that we are not at the mercy of an algorithm. /9
Your Humanity
The way massive social media networks are set up to harvest our data and essentially use us to sell things is dehumanizing. It’s scary, it doesn’t feel good, and the algorithm replicates so many aspects of IRL systems, except now, the oppression is automated. /10
The way massive social media networks are set up to harvest our data and essentially use us to sell things is dehumanizing. It’s scary, it doesn’t feel good, and the algorithm replicates so many aspects of IRL systems, except now, the oppression is automated. /10
You don’t have to leave these networks completely, and many of us can’t for financial reasons, but there is another option if you want to explore what it could feel like to connect online outside this machine that’s using us to create capital. /11
