Discussion thread on Facebook (I'm stuck there for family reasons) between writers about the difficulties and drawbacks of establishing on Mastodon.
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Discussion thread on Facebook (I'm stuck there for family reasons) between writers about the difficulties and drawbacks of establishing on Mastodon. The previous post dismissed Mastodon as not working for them (especially for self promotion and networking) and justified staying on commercial platforms. My response in the screenshot (wish i just could just paste it here, but the character limits). Thoughts? Discussion?
#mastodon #mastodonhelp #socialmedia #facebook #twitter #bluesky #threads
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Robert W. Gehlreplied to J. Steven York RESISTS last edited by
@jstevenyork I have a chapter in my forthcoming book about creators using Mastodon and the fediverse. It's based on interviews. Multiple folks told me that the engagement they get on Mastodon when they share art is much higher than on corporate social media -- even with a major difference in follower counts.
One interviewee told me about having tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, but that the actual reach there was much smaller than on the fedi due to algorithmic uncertainties.
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@jstevenyork But all of them said the fediverse took a great deal of work to build up. And they also are hedging their bets by also posting to corporate social media.
(Indeed, if you look at social media influencers, they also tend to use many platforms).
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J. Steven York RESISTSreplied to Robert W. Gehl last edited by
@rwg
...and make it feel like wanted, or at least interesting, content. Instead, I look at a lot of writers' profiles, and it's the same badly done ads for the same product over and over ad nauseum, and nothing else to make themselves worth following or paying attention to. That doesn't help themselves or anybody else.
My rule is, your feed has to have a relatable voice (not necessarily your own, though maybe, and certainly not a carnival barker). Build a relationship. -
Robert W. Gehlreplied to J. Steven York RESISTS last edited by
@jstevenyork I think that's the ideal vibe on the fedi. It's more possible because people aren't fighting an algorithm
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Robert W. Gehlreplied to J. Steven York RESISTS last edited by
"My rule is, your feed has to have a relatable voice (not necessarily your own, though maybe, and certainly not a carnival barker). Build a relationship."
I think that's more possible in a non-surveillance capitalist network.
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J. Steven York RESISTSreplied to Robert W. Gehl last edited by
@rwg
If you don't mind, what's the overall subject of your book? -
Robert W. Gehlreplied to J. Steven York RESISTS last edited by
@jstevenyork I don't mind!
My book is called "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Ethical Social Media." You can see an overview here:
“Move Slowly and Build Bridges” Preview
So… it’s coming together. My current book, Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Ethical Social Media (Oxford University Press 2025) is mostly drafted! I am drafting a conclusion, but for now, I figured I would provide an overview of the book. This post gives a chapter-by-chapter summary of the draft. Since it’s a draft, things can still change, but as of today, I’m pretty pleased with the structure.
FOSS Academic (fossacademic.tech)
