Mastodawn

Shoq 🌿Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Without even having read it yet, thank you.

Underten Over Jan 5, 2023

Anyone who remains on Twitter is a fool. It is not safe.
@dangillmor

Jennifer Reitman Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Really good and well-reasoned, Dan. We're working on our migration off Twitter. Posting more over here and learning our way around as fast as we can. On my first day here, I actually put out into the universe if anyone wanted to set up an instance with us at @damemagazine - I think an independent media co-op would be so good.

Dani 🍁Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor I think they want the thousands of likes and retweets as compared to Mastodon.

Kvn W Jan 5, 2023

@DaniEhm @dangillmor I wouldn't say it's that narcissistic, just that, like advertisers, they go where the eyeballs are. Possibly whether they like it or not.

PlineyTheNewer 🇺🇦🌻Jan 7, 2023

@dangillmor @DaniEhm The only journo I saw, and her name escapes me, complained incessantly about there not being a quote toot (like the Bird site’s quote tweet), and how that couldn’t work for journalists.

Dan Gillmor Jan 7, 2023

@PlineyTheNewer I take for granted that there will be new "client" software for Mastodon that offers QTs. Maybe it's a bad idea (I don't necessarily think so) but I don't see how they can be stopped. @DaniEhm

ML2 Jan 7, 2023

@dangillmor
I'm on Akkoma. It has QTs and interacts with Mastodon and other instances.
@PlineyTheNewer @DaniEhm

NHPolandhorses Jan 5, 2023

T Nodine Jan 5, 2023

@NHPolandhorses @dangillmor "dying mall vibe" is the comment that made me chuckle every-so-often today.

JohnW Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor At Twitter you might get the quantity, but you don't get the quality.

Here, more people actually care about the details and reporters will have a more fulfilling interaction with their readers.

Patricklee Jan 8, 2023

@the_Effekt @dangillmor I got the quality but I generally only listened to 20ish of my 8000 followers regularly?

David Binkowski Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor 100%. Once the bird app started banning them I left and have really enjoyed following them here.

Rufus J. Cooter Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor I think this is all correct, and thanks for writing it! I guess one thing that I'd add to your points about inertia & critical mass is that I think network effects are a huge part of why so many journos are still on twitter: all the others journos are still on twitter.

I think that might become less of a problem as Masto use increases, and Twitter proves itself less and less reliable in the coming months...

Tengrain Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor
⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️

Thanks Dan.

Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor As long as Musk keeps quiet, they’re not going anywhere. Too much of a following on Twitter. Mastodon is just an alternative…just in case Musk goes crazy again. Very short sighted.

Catherine is not complacent Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor journalists who don’t live for likes and follows will come here.

Big Worker Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor better in every way except for the size of the audience... I am doing my part, I am here audiencing as hard as I can!

@dangillmor The problem with Mastodon is there's no uniqueness to user names. Joe Dingleberry can find he can be [email protected] but somebody else could be [email protected]

william.maggos Jan 5, 2023

@britishtechguru @dangillmor

this was always possible on Twitter, except now the server could be your company's domain name. I'd assume that would be better for journalists.

@wjmaggos @dangillmor Only while they work for that particular company and then what about truly independent journalists?

@britishtechguru @dangillmor

Bannedalot Jan 5, 2023

Actually 'I'd suggest the opposite is true, as journo@domain is unique in a way that Twitter handles can never be, enforced by DNS.

@bannedalot @britishtechguru @dangillmor

David Jan 6, 2023

One aspect of journo Twitter is that many of them are there to build their personal brands, not the brands of their employer. There's a lot of job-hopping in that field, and they'd presumably have to leave their corporate account behind when they leave for a competitor.

British Tech Guru Jan 6, 2023

@hcetamd @bannedalot @dangillmor Absolutely. Journalists get fired - a lot - so being tied to a newspaper instance probably isn't good. Hence the verified instance might be better. Better for everybody else too if politicians etc all go onto specific instances because each instance can be blocked.

Lambert Heller Jan 5, 2023

@britishtechguru @dangillmor With Mastodon (or any other Fediverse service, for that matter) you can use your own domain name for your username. This more unique than anything@ twitter .com. Plus, you factually *own* your username.

@Lambo @dangillmor Then it goes from free to costing money which isn't that far off from paying for a blue check mark.

Lambert Heller Jan 5, 2023

@britishtechguru @dangillmor Sure, it's cheap and easy to have a unique name within someone's arbitrary business model. It's just as unique, sustainably yours, as they want. Just as anything else you do/have on their platform. On he other hand, there *are* other models than paying for your own domain name out there, e.g. municipalities, cooperatives owning and sharing their server infrastructure.

ninboy Jan 5, 2023

@britishtechguru @dangillmor Is this not true also for email addresses? You wouldn’t assume [email protected] to be the same as [email protected]. I believe what’s needed are more “official” servers, like newsrooms or press associations having their own masto server with their journalists having accounts there. But we are far from that.

@ninboy @dangillmor Perhaps there's money in having a verified server where everybody's identity is verified. Somebody setting up such an instance would be able to charge for membership and everybody else could block that instance. No better solution exists.

JenX Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor I wish they would follow your advice. I saw a whole bunch of journalists make an exodus, only to grab a placeholder here and continue tweeting on the hellsite.

ChopinsHeart Jan 5, 2023

@JenX @dangillmor

We need to post on journo’s feeds here and tell them to start posting here.
We bought their books.

william.maggos Jan 5, 2023

doing the Lord's work!

william.maggos Jan 5, 2023

we should set something like a cut off date. or maybe a month where beforehand, we focus on getting everyone set up over here and try to get them to duplicate all their relationships. then for that month, we encourage everyone to only use Mastodon. a concerted effort to see if we can overcome the network effect.

AndyH Jan 5, 2023

Twitter is harboring hatred and bigotry.

Jay Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Near the end you mention: "countless government agencies also use the birdsite as a vehicle for messaging of all kinds." Getting these agencies off (or at least, not posting original material) there is something I'm really interested in. I've seen various discussions of it, but not yet an organized effort to set up spreadsheets, form letters, etc and get volunteers reaching out to the agencies. If/when someone starts that, I'd love to join the effort!

Svetlana Jan 5, 2023

We live in a culture of narcissism put on steroids by Trump. Everyone is susceptible. Including journalists.

SammyGalen Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Journalists, Independent News Agencies, Small Newspapers, Big Newspapers, I agree!!!

Peter Stone Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Your article is what convinced me to register for a Mastodon account after years of being a “social media” sceptic. Thanks for writing your thoughts so effectively

Jeff Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor let them support musk like they did with Trump

Laimis Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor uggg it will be extremely difficult for people to move... Normal users are addicted to chatter that never stops and things being pushed to them, other accounts like journalists are addicted to exposure they get, the likes, the engagement... It's a mount everest type uphill climb. I still hope twitter gets replaced by federated social media but just don't see it yet how

Leftwardswing Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor What a great read, thank you for sharing

HTPC NZ Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor actually it's worse, I'm noticing NZ mainstream media are linking to 🐦💩 even more now...

Akhenatobi & Meritaten etc.Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Thank you, Dan. 🙏🏼

Roz Derors Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Maybe they are scared of the liability of following folks. They really didn’t have to follow folk on bird site they would follow them?

Fyzzlefry Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Preach!

myrmepropagandist Jan 5, 2023

Great article, Dan.

There are two meanings to the word "centralized" -- or perhaps two connotations. Centralized can mean controlled by a few, exploitable, oppressively standardized. But it can also mean: predictable, comprehensive, complete.

Around these parts folks use "centralized" like it's a swear word. I think some of you would let be call your mother all kinds of things, but if I said she was "centralized" well then it's a fight.

This isn't really typical.

myrmepropagandist Jan 5, 2023

Decentralized, like centralized is a word with many connotations. Though the one that's least flattering for the fediverse is the idea that "you can't there from here"-- FOMO is a powerful emotion.

From what I've seen the fedivese is just as connected as twitter if not more so-- I don't feel like my feed is being hijacked by paid trends-- when I follow someone I see them. I get what I ask.

How do we fight the idea that decentralized means less connected? Isolated? Small?

Denial 🐔 Shown Jan 5, 2023

@futurebird @dangillmor it's probably not the only factor, but i suspect scale (and the celebrities that come with it) are significant factors in that (mis)apprehension.

Tom Hannen Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor Great piece. I worry about the lack of proper search. It’s the biggest downside of switching.

Dr. Emma L Briant🐕🇬🇧in🇦🇺Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor I want to prefer it but it really isn’t as good for debate and commentary without the ability to quote-post. That is very limiting for journalists and scholars (and doesn’t stop harassment as claimed).

https://mastodon.online/@emmalbriant/109635391527051970

Bannedalot Jan 5, 2023

@emmalbriant @dangillmor

That's surely merely an app issue. Here is a link to your comment. All a given mastodon app needs to do is display the comment in an appropriate format.

(and maybe have a button for quote tweet... I got this link by bookmarking your comment and sharing the bookmark)

Dr. Emma L Briant🐕🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@[email protected])

@[email protected] I want to prefer it but it really isn’t as good for debate and commentary without the ability to quote-post. That is very limiting for journalists and scholars (and doesn’t stop harassment as claimed).

Mastodon

Dr. Emma L Briant🐕🇬🇧in🇦🇺Jan 5, 2023

@bannedalot @dangillmor yeh that’s actually quite slow and complicated though and it doesn’t even display the post, so it seems rather unfit for purpose.

Bannedalot Jan 9, 2023

@emmalbriant @dangillmor

That's just the current app. I'm demonstrating that the "machinery" is there, so the enhancement is possible... Not suggesting a workaround.

Dr. Emma L Briant🐕🇬🇧in🇦🇺Jan 9, 2023

@bannedalot @dangillmor I see! Thanks!

James Noel Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor
Elon Musk is a free speech absolutist. If you agree with him absolutely, you can speak.

PJ "Vote Green" Coffey Jan 5, 2023

#TwitterMigration #TwitterBan #Censorship #TaylorLorenz #ChadLoder #TechDirt #MastodonFuture #Mastodon

I like your tags but I think that the audience is actually a bit wider. Great article though.

Nicole Sullivan Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor how do you protect sources without encrypted DMs?

Dan Gillmor Jan 5, 2023

@stubbornella Twitter DMs, as we've seen, are not protected from the owner of the company. Journalists who use DMs with sources rather than something like Signal are taking massive risks with their sources' well-being. (Same applies to direct messages on Mastodon: They are not secure.)

Timo Grün Jan 5, 2023

@dangillmor @stubbornella
I frequently experience that professionals like journalists can develop an exaggerated confidence in their understanding of IT and security because they they have learned to use IT products confidently.