Rob Johnson

@[email protected]
6 Followers
67 Following
20 Posts
I like to be where humans and tech intersect with a hope that tech will help humans be more human. Professionally, web dev, ecommerce, mobile, & systems architecture with a love for SQL & data analysis.
Personalhttps://www.robkjohnson.com
Rob JohnsonDec 28, 2022
Sascha Pallenberg šŸ‡¹šŸ‡¼ ā™»ļø āš”Dec 25, 2022

"One of the biggest beneficiaries of billionaire Elon Muskā€™s chaotic ownership of Twitter is a small social network most people hadnā€™t heard of two months ago. "

https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/twitter-owner-elon-musk-driving-user-growth-mastodon-rcna62832

#ElonMusk #Mastodon

Twitter owner Elon Musk is driving user growth at Mastodon

A chart shows Mastodon user growth as of December 2022 since Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October.

NBC News
Show threadRob JohnsonDec 24, 2022
@hankgreen please also convert to litres. Thank you.
Rob JohnsonDec 23, 2022
Show threadPwnallthethingsDec 23, 2022
@daniecleme The basic answer is that Putin's war cost the global economy in the order of $3tn, or about 3% of global growth. That's not evenly spread, and decoding it is a lot of work (the US is more insulated from grain prices, but more vulnerable to, say, oil prices), but the comparable figure in the US is somewhere in the region of $600-$700bn a year in lost growth, or roughly equivalent to the entire US GDP growth for 2022.
Rob JohnsonDec 23, 2022
Show threadChris TrottierDec 23, 2022

Some people are asking, "What's wrong with referring to the 'Mastodon social network'?"

Here's the problem:

1. It's inaccurate. Mastodon is not a social network.
2. It doesn't acknowledge other projects that make Mastodon happen. For example, without ActivityPub, Mastodon can't do anything.
3. It feeds into the narrative of centralization. No software should be the "default".

I acknowledge most people don't care -- but they should!

A decentralized Internet is extremely important.

Rob JohnsonDec 23, 2022
Show threadJustin FerrellDec 23, 2022
@anildash I feel like thereā€™s a precedent for this with the RSS icon. You never see, or at least rarely see, a WordPress or Squarespace or similar icon to denote an RSS feed. The protocol IS the brand
Rob JohnsonDec 23, 2022
Austin Kocher, PhD šŸŒŽDec 23, 2022
For me at least, getting onto @Mastodon and appreciating the structure of the platform and the tone of conversation has made these other pop-up social networks (Twitter replacements) totally unattractive. No, I donā€™t want to move up on a wait list by ā€œreferring 5 friendsā€; no, I donā€™t want to be part of another Jack Dorsey project; no, I donā€™t want to be part of something with weird completely top-down control. Mastodon broke me for other platforms.
Rob JohnsonDec 22, 2022
Chris PirilloDec 22, 2022

Via @mmasnick: "Weā€™re at a fork in the road, and it seems like we should be looking to take the other path. The one that is open, not closed. The one that gives us more freedom, not less." ~ https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/21/why-would-anyone-use-another-centralized-social-media-service-after-this/

I feel the need to add: all you've followed to this point may not join you on the journey. That should not stop you from taking it for your own future and potentially theirs. This includes your friends! You can keep them (but make new ones). ~ #socialmedia #news #community #mastodon

Why Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?

So, itā€™s been quite a year for legacy, centralized social media ā€” and all without any really big change to the laws that govern it (yet ā€” the EUā€™s are coming into force shortly, but posā€¦

Techdirt
Show threadRob JohnsonDec 22, 2022
@slightlyoff well said. Great model. Would love to see "cost per session" in this way. It would be the only way to convince me.
Rob JohnsonDec 21, 2022
Robert McNeesDec 20, 2022
Carl Sagan passed away #OTD in 1996. In his final interviews he left us with two messages that are even more relevant today: one emphasizing the importance of a science literate public, the other a warning about how hard it is to extract ourselves when weā€™ve been conned.
Rob JohnsonDec 20, 2022
Jon DubovskyAug 4, 2018

Please consider writing your hashtags in upper camelcase so screen readers have a chance at figuring them out.

#whyistayonmastodon sounds like an giant undecipherable mess of sounds.

#WhyIStayOnMastodon reads out "Why I Stay On Mastodon" šŸ˜„

(Reason #44 I stay here: my previous requests like this have been generally well-received, proving that most people are awesome.)