Mastodawn

Tony Webster Dec 17, 2022

As annoying as it is, the reality is that followers provide independence. If a reporter has a following, they can be more independent against corporate media power. Demanding reporters “delete their Twitter” is to cede to corporations, who will never leave Twitter. A better start to this would be to encourage journalists to join Mastodon *too* to build and diversify their audience, and to get them to report on Mastodon itself to get more folks here.

Constructive things to say to journalists: join Mastodon, encourage your audience to have their conversations here, report on Mastodon, add Mastodon to your news org bio, make a video explaining how to use Mastodon, ask lawmakers if they will be joining Mastodon
Not helpful: You are a fascist just like Elon Musk for not immediately deleting your Twitter and giving up the audience you spent 15 years building. It’s all or nothing, right now.

aptlyundecided Dec 17, 2022

@tony I love that you are providing a solution for how people can address this behavior rather than just telling them to stop. I also feel like this strategy has a good chance to help them reach the goal of nullifying the relevance of twitter in the long-term.

Ponygirl Dec 17, 2022

@tony To stay = being complicit.

Zizi Dec 17, 2022

@tony Please make sure to tell them that the server they join matters.

The people who say "just pick a server" are doing a huge disservice. Your server can be shadow-blocked by other servers because of moderation issues.

Alexey Merz Dec 17, 2022

@ankaracode @tony You can easily change servers once you’re here. It’s really not that big a deal.

Chris (Gains Era)Dec 17, 2022

@ankaracode @tony right, like what happens if someone joins an server, the server gets shadow blocked and then they have to rebuild their following?

RDS (shawphd on Twitter)Dec 17, 2022

@tony @lunarflare @ankaracode Except you don’t. That’s the beauty of it. Switch to a new server and your followers are automatically updated.

Chris (Gains Era)Dec 17, 2022

@shawrd773 @tony @ankaracode wait so you're telling me that switching servers imports your old followers? That's so cool!

RDS (shawphd on Twitter)Dec 17, 2022

@lunarflare @ankaracode @tony It does! I did it when I moved from mastodon.social to zirk.us.

You can also export a file of the people you follow and import it to your new account (it’s a separate process).

Robin from Colorado 🇺🇸🇺🇦Dec 17, 2022

@tony @ankaracode so which one?

mynameisblueskye Au Dec 17, 2022

@ankaracode @tony This is the problem I have and why I can't add a whole lot more friends off of Twitter.

Avram Grumer 🎲Dec 17, 2022

@ankaracode @tony I agree that “Just pick a server” is bad advice, but telling people that it matters which server they pick, and then not giving them advice on how to choose one, seems like a way of increasing anxiety.

I also think journalists should be pressuring their employers to set up instances of their own. It makes sense for the NY Times, Wash Post, CNN, etc to each have its own Mastodon server for the use of their staff.

WardenclyffeTower Dec 17, 2022

I've seen a few news outlets that have setup their own instance, bylines.social is one example. I'm really surprised more haven't yet.

Tim Erickson, @stpaultim Dec 17, 2022

@ankaracode @tony The advice to just "pick a server" is to help people get past one of the biggest obstacles to moving. It is offered with the knowledge that moving is possible, but probably not necessary as most anyone following this advice will end up on a large/popular server.

If I was talking to someone directly, I would provide more detailed advice.

I think it's better that someone pick the wrong server and move, than to be paralyzed choosing between 15,000+ servers.

Wtime Dec 17, 2022

@tony @ankaracode How does one discover which servers are shadow blocked and by whom? #TwitterMigration

mjt Dec 18, 2022

@ankaracode @tony @BlackAzizAnansi

And if that happens, they can easily move to a different server. I found that, despite being technically astute, until I’d spent some time on the Fediverse, I didn’t really know why and how different servers matter.

Let’s be open and understanding of those who “just want to get started” and get off the hellsite.

Having said that, yep, it’s cool to find the community where you belong, once you get your bearings.

PeterSoukup Dec 17, 2022

@tony These are all valid points. But on the other hand, it's hard to stay on a platform that encourages hate speech, allows far-right extremists to thrive and its owner dabbles in censorship, conspiracy theories and is calling for prosecution of public health officials. At which point one has to say "enough is enough" ?

Tony Webster Dec 17, 2022

@PeterSoukup I think what I’m encouraging is being nice and giving constructive paths for individual reporters. For giant corporate news (not individuals) turn up the heat and have at ‘em

Cassandra Granade Dec 17, 2022

@tony @PeterSoukup I take the point, but even for individual journalists, we are well past the point where staying is complicit. It absolutely sucks to lose that audience, and is especially hurtful to independent / freelance folks, but that's also true for writers, artists, science communicators, and other communities that have been affected by Musk's takeover.

I feel for journalists who are hurt by it, but them staying just passes the hurt along.

Sebastien 🌍 🇵🇸🇺🇦 Dec 17, 2022

@tony but do we want Mastodon to become the new news outlet?

I don't miss journalists on Mastodon. Don't miss the clickbait or the tendency of journalists to make stories bigger than they are.

Tony Webster Dec 17, 2022

@SebastienK Please don’t assume all journalists are the same! The giant names in news are not the same as the reporters with small to medium readership holding police accountable, digging through City Hall spreadsheets, filing FOIA requests, and the like.

RDS (shawphd on Twitter)Dec 17, 2022

@SebastienK @tony This. The big news corporations can go hang, but I want to preserve my relationships with my local beat reporters, whose use of Twitter would absolutely translate well to Mastodon.

Sebastien 🌍 🇵🇸🇺🇦 Dec 17, 2022

@tony not saying all journalists are the same but if journalists like it here they will ALL come

Having the good ones also lures in the other ones 🤷🏽‍♂️

UV kravitz (She/they)Dec 17, 2022

@tony Those are valid points, but being part of the Qelon network and creating content for it, you are legitimizing him and helping the narrative that twitter is still valid and normal.

ikeacurtains Dec 17, 2022

@tony replace Mastodon with Fediverse and yep.

Richard Dec 17, 2022

@tony This is a very polite way to address them, but it is also a bit late for journalists (or anyone else) to still be on the fence about Twitter. Join Mastodon or don't, but continuing to engage with Twitter at this point is just gross.

Interpipes 💙Dec 17, 2022

@tony the thing that I think is most frustrating in all of this is that certainly for some people the writing has been on the wall since he turned up with that sink, and while I think many could understand not wanting to give up a hard-won following on twitter, the refusal by many to even hedge and circulate their new socials while they had the chance to freely do so has been pretty hard to comprehend in the face of what's been going on the last weeks.

Jonasnuts Dec 17, 2022

@tony you’re doing the right and balanced thing to do. Only people that don’t rely on an audience in order to work, are saying that someone should cut all ties. Keep listening the constructive bits, ignore the rest :-)

ProgGrrl Dec 17, 2022

@tony OK that’s fair.

Chanders Dec 17, 2022

@tony I sadly agree w/ the first post. On the second, I just can’t see it happening except amongst a very small few, like yourself. Fundamentally what you are recommending is extra unpaid work, and journalists already see themselves as uniquely burdened w digital “busy work.”

Sam Dunstan Dec 17, 2022

Definitely.

It is also true that as a journalist, if you've ever DM'd with a source or shared your phone # with Twitter, you / your employer are currently at risk of harm on the current twitter.

That is an insecure environment and you're actively being hunted and targeted over there.

Debbie Goldsmith 🏳️‍⚧️♾️🇺🇦Dec 17, 2022

@tony What I usually say (to people in general, not just journalists) is that if you want options or alternatives, you need to nurture them and help them grow, or they won’t be there when you need them. Yes, it is extra work.

P Stewart Dec 17, 2022

The *conversation* aspect is important, I think. A lot of people seem to do the "join an instance and just link their articles constantly, w/o commentary, and w/o engaging with reader responses at all" thing because that's how it goes over there. I feel the more active, less drive-by tone here is an improvement over that.

(That said, I love how a bunch of the replies to this post are variants on your Not Helpful example. *Great* job, guys...)