Lauren WeinsteinMany government agencies are expressing concerns about how to communicate with the public without Twitter, especially in emergencies. Of course, it was a bad idea to become dependent on Twitter to such an extent in the first place, and no matter what happens, this needs rethinking.
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEM@lauren Mastodon provides a nice clear choice.
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Matti Schneider@trekman10 @mgifford @lauren at least social.bund.de, social.networks.Europa.eu are already there :)
@MattiSG @mgifford @lauren I could totally imagine even universities using this. Idk about you but when I was in uni they tried like 2 or 3 times to get the student body and staff to use proprietary or walled off websites for social media like communication within the school. An instance run by a uni comms department or student group could be really cool. Or just a hellhole depending on how it's moderated.
David@MattiSG @mgifford @trekman10 @lauren Nothing odd about this at all. This is how kids use to join Usenet. From their university or department Usenet server. Universities or departments could run their own Mastodon server.
@trekman10 @MattiSG @lauren but it could be moderated to fit the needs of that particular community.
@trekman10 @lauren It doesn't much matter where they begin. It is always possible to move. By design this problem has been resolved. So start where it is easy.
@mgifford @trekman10 AFAIK it's fairly easy to move followers, but not following. Yes, government agencies would typically have many more of the former than the latter. But also as government agencies, they cannot just plop down on any server without due consideration of its operational and policy characteristics, even briefly.
@lauren @trekman10 The institutions yes. But hopefully they eventually just settle on a government domain name and manage control of it that way.
Lots of stuff was just easier when there was a benevolent dictator taking care of things (even imperfectly).
Odei / Buns@trekman10 @mgifford @lauren Maybe public goberment instantes by continent...with individual accounts for each country? Not sure if this makes sense, just thinking out loud.
@bunsibunbuns @trekman10 @lauren could be but suspect per department or agency will be more normal. We will have to see.
Adam Retchless@trekman10 @mgifford @lauren As I understand it, the german government has its own domain. I think it's social.bund.de
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Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK@allirico @mgifford @lauren government agencies shouldn't assume private Internet or telecommunications networks are available/reliable in emergencies (much is heavily dependent on mains electricity and due to commercial pressures can be quickly overloaded).
If they must deploy online resources they should own them themselves, and work alongside linear radio and TV broadcasters (particularly public service broadcasters where present)