Chris TrottierIf you're unverified on Twitter (e.g. not a Blue Check), you'll be treated as if you're a dirty spammer—and your tweets will essentially be placed in the spambox.
It's not free speech.
It's speech for $8 per Twitter account.
A week ago I did a comparison of engagement between Mastodon and Twitter.
I demonstrated that Mastodon won out despite me having more followers on Twitter. (I deleted my Twitter account since then.)
Some people doubted my findings—but now you're hearing it from the horse's mouth.
Unless you pay $8/month, no one's reading your tweets.
It seems to me as though Twitter is finally giving up all pretense of being social.
If I can't read my friend's tweets because he didn't pony up the $8, there's nothing social about that.
A better term for this is "social barrier media."
Mastodon (and the Fediverse) is free and open source. For $0, you're entitled to social media.
Twitter is proprietary. For $8, you're entitled to social barrier media.
A social network is only as good as its network effect.
Twitter's network effect is being purposely diminished.
So who is this service for?
Another question: what if a Blue Check re-posts one of my Mastodon toots to Twitter?
Will Twitter ban that Blue Check for letting me get through the back door?
Julie Webgirl
Comfy/NotComfy@atomicpoet A verified account that only cross-posts Mastodon toots (from people who want that).
unfunk@atomicpoet you'll be charged with piracy, since it's now Twitter's content that they charged everyone else $8 to see.
Ben Ramsey@atomicpoet It's not $0, though. Someone's building it, and someone's hosting it. It's being paid for.
@ramsey The software is both free as "freedom" and free as in "beer".
I, myself, am building and hosting it.
I'm also happily *donating* to keep the service functioning.
There may be a cost but no obligation.
RandomDude@atomicpoet @ramsey I fully agree with the freedom part. The beer thing is true until the point where operating starts. I mean there *is* cost. Someone not being a big company taking your data as money needs to pay some bills. I think it’s important for people just coming over to see that. As long as donations cover the cost, it’s fine. It’s a social thing (what a fit). It’s 0$ because someone invited you and maybe the next round *should* be on you.
@randomdude @ramsey Free beer also has a cost.
But now we're arguing semantics.
The fact is, anyone with a Raspberry Pi can have this thing working in an afternoon.
@atomicpoet @ramsey I think we’re essentially on the same page. Maybe I’m not so good in semantics as a non native speaker. I just think people joining should be aware of it. That this is not a place where this one big instance magically pays itself, while Elon needs to sell ads and checks (stupid him). Btw thanks for the info regarding pi. Already asked myself if there’s a way, but hadn’t digged deeper.
Chiritescu.Eth@atomicpoet The real liberation is here on mastodon, not on Twitter, they try to control everything you
@atomicpoet I still wanna know if I follow zero blue checks, do I see zero tweets or do I see my follows? We'll soon see. I'll be unfollowing all blue checks.
Chris Pirillo@atomicpoet ...without hard data on-hand, I do feel I've had a similar experience. Could be a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Fewer people here, higher signal, greater chance for discovery.
@ChrisPirillo I suspect a big reason is how Twitter's algorithm sorts relevancy.
But now with this new $8-for-reach policy, only Blue Checks get to be relevant.
goosetrousers@atomicpoet in fairness, nobody reads my toots either!
JoYo@atomicpoet @goosetrousers yah, I find people respond well to responses and shit posts but anything inbetween is void screaming.
@JoYo @goosetrousers @atomicpoet you'll be delighted to find out that they're called pooptoots over here! 🥰
Ted@atomicpoet i gave this idea to Elon months ago for free.
"Enough about free speech. What about paid speech?"
Lennart@atomicpoet free* speech
* terms may vary, consult your provider regarding additional fees
joy larkin 🌺✨@atomicpoet Kind of hilarious you used a digg link there (a website I have not visited in many years).
@joy I know 😆
ocdtrekkie@atomicpoet @joy I was in high school when Digg was a thing. Jeez.
ovh@atomicpoet fuck you elon musk and fuck ur twitter
Elias Mårtenson@atomicpoet verified. Meaning you can afford 5 dollars?
That's like arguing that one should prioritise content from single user instances on the Fediverse. They are about 5 dollars per month too.
Nothing against single user instances. I probably would run one myself if I wasn't so lazy. But it's certainly no guarantee that the content is better in some way.
neatchee@atomicpoet
Ok, yes, all of that is true BUT you posted a digg link in 2022 and I don't know if I can respect that /s
Ok, yes, all of that is true BUT you posted a digg link in 2022 and I don't know if I can respect that /s
Bill Bereza@atomicpoet
IOW. Pay up or you won’t be seen.
IOW. Pay up or you won’t be seen.
northbound@atomicpoet He has basically played a social media version of Dr Seuss' "stars upon thars" con.
"For only $8, you can also be a Star-Bellied Sneech!"
Virtualkat101@atomicpoet so it will be Pepsi talking to Katy Perry taking to the weather service talking to your local politician. With everyone else in the spam folder. Fun times!
@atomicpoet Such an elitist and discriminatory attitude! The people who don’t pay are just spam and not relevant 🙄😡