Mastodawn

Draphsor Oct 10, 2023

I posted this on the deadbird site:

"Standing offer for journalists: I'll help you get set up on Mastodon and will help you bring your Twitter audience along (and find new followers and rich engagement there). All I ask is that you migrate -- over time, not instantly -- your social media activity there."

Dan Gillmor Oct 11, 2023

(No takers so far...)

Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor maybe reach out to their head offices?

Artemesia Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor I wonder whether their employment contracts (or engagement if freelance) require them to maintain a deadbird presence and to promote their work product there. Clues usually arrive last at manglement levels.

Brooklyn Buckets Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor I keep posting a willingness on TwiX to help people move to Mastodon (or invite them to Bluesky), and I haven’t gotten a single taker either.

It’s demoralizing, honestly. People don’t seem to care about the toxic atmosphere at TwiX. Either that or they like it.

Meanwhile, I can’t get ANY traction of note with my Mastodon accounts. Engagement is slow-growing at Bluesky but it dwarfs the engagement I get at Mastodon or PixelFed (very few followers and almost no replies/discussion)😞

Leisureguy Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor Perhaps they think that things are getting better.

Mr H D Oct 11, 2023

@Leisureguy @dangillmor That made me laugh "Perhaps they think that things are getting better."

Mr H D Oct 11, 2023

@Leisureguy @dangillmor Being short on time to learn new things might be a factor. Getting intimate with all the settings will take time. I have set up dedicated Firefox profile for mastodon and I have a bookmark folder for mastodon users with sub folders with profiles and this means I can customize my reading experience using a system I am familiar with. I reduce mouse clicking whenever i can and I recommend the Vimium plugin for super-fast browser use. @Leisureguy goes in the "incoming folder"

anubis2814 Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor I have to spell it out as M@$tod0n because its a free speech platform. At least posts were getting hidden or or removed for a while there for using the word.

Jamie Mason Oct 10, 2023

@anubis2814 @dangillmor

Correct! Ultimately, it makes you think about your journalists and the news organizations. They all filter content anyway for ratings. So it's no matter they're still on Twitter. Hand in hand...

Jamie

jz.tusk Oct 10, 2023

👏👏👏 That's the way to do it!

And if you introduce them on your feed, I will follow them, and will toot them out to my dozens (dozens, I say!) of followers.

And here's a tag for people to follow, to not miss any of them:

#MastodonMediaMigration

SearingTruth Oct 10, 2023

"It is those who follow that award power to those who lead."
SearingTruth

Jiří Fiala Total Landscaping Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor has any responded?

TAI Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor I absolutely hate the beggars approach, better to step up your game, keep improving and attract them. EARN IT, there is a lot of room for improvement

George Liquor, American Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor Any takers?

ᴚ uɐᗡ Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor thank you Dan 🤩👍

Mastodon Migration Oct 10, 2023

Hopefully given the total insanity on Twitter in the wake of the crisis in Israel, some journalists will take you up on your offer.

If they do, this account will join you in helping to promote any journalists who begin to engage here.

For the future of a free press, let's build open social media.

Matthias Bohlen Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor How would you do this: “bring your Twitter audience along”?

Rob Oct 10, 2023

@admin @dangillmor

I had the same question. I have to constantly swap between each site, and I would much rather not do that.

In the other place I have spent years curating very rich themed lists of clever people. I've started to do the same here, but it's just harder to find them.

https://mastodon.green/lists/1179
(My journalism list for example)

Mastodon.green

Plant trees while you use Mastodon. A server originally for people in the EU, but now open for anyone in the world

Mastodon hosted on mastodon.green

Matthias Bohlen Oct 10, 2023

@robf @dangillmor I get a "page not found" error when I click on the link.

Rob Oct 10, 2023

Urgh :-( @JohanEmpa how do I link to my lists? Are they not public?

Johan Empa Oct 10, 2023

@robf @admin They aren't public yet.

CautionWIP (he/him) 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇦🕎Oct 10, 2023

@robf @admin @JohanEmpa You can, however, export them as csv files, share the file somewhere you like, and others can then import them and upload.

Also, check out https://www.mastodonlistmanager.org/main. Great list management tool.

Mastodon List Manager

A manager for Mastodon Lists which lets you add people you follow to lists through an intuitive grid-based interface.

Tom Schaffer Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor How do you go about doing the "bring the audience along" part?

@dangillmor it’s sad that so many of them will likely wind up on Threads instead.

Lorq Von Ray Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor I would expect this message to have almost zero reach on the zombie Nazi site, by design, without consequence, and with complete disregard for how you feel about that.

skua Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor
Would be happy to trial follow any journos who take up your offer.

Dianora (Diane Bruce)Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor They are losing audience. I am no longer on twittler. Maybe they only want alt-right and fascist audiences.

Truth Or Consequences ✅ 🇺🇦Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor
Those who migrate first will have the easiest path to regain their audience.

Clive Thompson Oct 10, 2023

Tell any of em if they want to hear from other writers what it’s been like they can ping me or email me at [email protected] — I’ve been 95% mastodon / 5% bird site for a year now (after years of the inverted ratio)

@clive @dangillmor the thing is that engagement is indeed richer on Mastodon, especially organic engagement, multiple studies found. It's not about why anymore, it's just the when.

James Gleick Oct 10, 2023

@clive @dangillmor Count me in, too. Happy to help anyone who needs it. Frustrated by the smart and well-meaning people who can’t seem to make the move.

Dan Gillmor Oct 11, 2023

@JamesGleick @clive might be worth collecting people like us in a more organized way...

normbrown Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor @JamesGleick @clive
I think one of the virtues of a good social site like this is the organic way in which it grows

: j@fabrica:~/src;

@JamesGleick @clive @dangillmor I’ve been happy with the number of book writers here, mostly disappointed with journalist and tech marketing or developer-relations folks staying behind.

I’d love to help enable the latter move, if you all have the former. Building source networks for journalists here seems useful even if the audience isn’t there yet.

Clive Thompson Oct 11, 2023

@josephholsten @JamesGleick @dangillmor

Yeah, that's what I've noticed too -- more book authors than journalists

Maybe it's because book authors feel it less necessary to be jacked into the updated-every-minute news dendritosphere of X/twitter?

Frankly I think it'd be healthy for more journalists, even daily ones, to be less reactive to that ecosystem lol

James Gleick Oct 11, 2023

@clive @josephholsten @dangillmor For sure.

Medea Vanamonde🏳️‍⚧️ ♀Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor we call it “Branch Plant’n”

leemeade Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor
Amen. By now, they have to realize the doom loop Twitter has been reduced to by #MuskRat

Zee Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor any responses?

@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor We will all help. The sooner #Twitter dies the better it will be for the universe.

Patty A. Gray Oct 10, 2023

I honestly don’t understand why any person or entity of any integrity is still on #Twitter. I can only explain it as a kind of persistence of motion, easier to roll along than to exert energy to disrupt that motion and change direction.

Anytime I visit a website and see “Follow us on” with a bird logo, I lose respect for that person or company. I think I’ll start letting them know: “I want to patronize you, but I find it difficult to trust you given your social media policy.”

Eric R. Danton Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor I’ve migrated 99 percent of my activity to here and to Bluesky, but I’d love help bringing followers along

Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈Oct 12, 2023

@erdanton @dangillmor
You can help by posting on Twitter about it, maybe even asking the people you interact with to come here, and offering to help anyone who asks get set up.

Eric R. Danton Oct 16, 2023

@Raccoon @dangillmor Thanks! I have posted about it and suggested that people come here, though it hadn't occurred to me to offer to help them get set up.

Raccoon🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈Oct 16, 2023

@erdanton @dangillmor
Two of the top reasons people give for not joining or sticking with Mastodon are worry that they won't be able to rebuild a network/following here, and a feeling of "emptiness" when they get here and see an empty feed and get no replies. Being a first follower, welcoming them to the site, and explaining to them how feeds are populated (and thus how to populate their feeds and be seen) seems to be helpful with those two issues.

Cleo of Topless Topics Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor Good luck. I've pretty much given up on prying anyone off twitter who hasn't left it already (or even started posting to any non-tech-bro-owned platform). Maybe if we offer them sponsorships and ad deals? (that seems to be the main motivation for a lot of them refusing to budge)

(I'm being sarcastic about the sponsorships)

taketwo Oct 10, 2023

@dangillmor
Make sure to offer it on Blusky as well, it is the currently most hyped x alternative

Hiker Geek 🌲💻🌲Oct 11, 2023

First although you know you posted it, is anyone actually seeing it? I wouldn't put it past X to filter individual tweets that mention Mastodon and migrate.

Next X is taking heat for the misinformation surrounding the Israel attack.

Is the information on Mastodon better and why?

rouxdoo √Oct 11, 2023

I'm sure you know your friends better than I but I have followed you for a short bit here on masto and I can confidently say that you are truly polarized on your twit/masto opinions...that might have an impact on your audience's reception of the message.

You catch more flies with honey is a universal truth. Lure them don't berate them for their current pattern perhaps?

I love that you are here and want your ilk to come too because it is where I want to engage with others. Thanks.

Dan Gillmor Oct 11, 2023

@rouxdoo You raise a fair point, but there's no response either way...

Tim Chambers Oct 11, 2023

@dangillmor ✊ Respect