This is a powerful statement from UK journalists and we agree.

X is no longer neutral and no longer a home for journalists.

We are ready to support any and all journalists who make the move to open social networks, now and in the New Social future.

Please, feel free to send journalists or publications our way if they have any questions. Or, if you're a journalist yourself, feel free to reach out.

docs.google.com/document/d/1dF…

#SocialMedia #X #Journalism #News #OpenSocial #Mastodon #Fediverse

Moving Off X: An Open Letter from UK Journalists

Moving Off X: An Open Letter from UK Journalists As UK journalists, we have used Twitter – now X – for many years. It has been a resource for story-gathering, network-building, and a megaphone for getting public-interest stories to a wider audience.

^{Google Docs}

"Decentralised social media is more than just a technical shift; it's a step toward restoring autonomy and trust in our digital lives, empowering individuals and communities to connect without compromising their values or privacy."

A study by the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford finds that decentralised social media leads to citizen empowerment.

oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/news/dec…

#SocialMedia #Fediverse #Decentralised #Decentralized #Mastodon #Bluesky #Threads #X #Empowerment

Decentralised social media ‘increases citizen empowerment’, says Oxford study

Researchers from the Oxford Martin School find decentralised social media such as Mastodon offer potential for increased citizen empowerment

^{Oxford Martin School}

Channel.org is a service for organisations, built to help them own their social media presence.

It's still early days, but we're calling on people who work for, or have connections to, for-good organisations. We want you to spread a little decentralised chaos and push for your org on decentralised social media.

If you think you can help, please, get in touch!

#Decentralised #SocialMedia #Fediverse #Mastodon #CallToAction #Charity #News #Academia #Disrupt

I feel the fact that #Bluesky is connected to Steve Bannon and Russian state media and cryptobros should be bigger news.

But it's not.

If you search "Bluesky" using a search engine like DuckDuckGo, you'll come across results like "Here's What To Know About Bluesky" (NBC) or "X users jump to Bluesky - but what is it and who owns it" (BBC). One would think the aforementioned connections would be relevant info in a piece like that.

The omission is glaring.

#SocialMedia #TwitterMigration

As another exodus from the site formally known as Twitter gets under way, and again journos mostly only see BlueSky or Threads as the viable alternatives, the wonderful world of Mastodon continues to slowly gain users....

The Q. is: do we want an accelerated up-take by social media refugees, or are we happy being slowly discovered by those who are sympathetic to the Fediverse's values & practices.

For me the latter, not least of all as that's the Fediverse way!

#Mastodon #SocialMedia

I was just thinking something similar to what this article is saying. Social Media is NOT a source of news, it is other people's reactions TO the news.

She has some interesting insights.

#News #Media #SocialMedia

"I’ll read news, not other people’s reactions to news."

niemanlab.org/2024/11/im-a-jou…

I’m a journalist and I’m changing the way I read news. This is how.

Sometimes it's healthy to do something you love less, and differently.

^{Nieman Lab}

Well done to the team at The Guardian for standing up against X.

Their statement: "The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse."

We look forward to helping the wave of journalists and publications that will no doubt follow.

theguardian.com/media/2024/nov…

#News #Journalism #Fediverse #SocialMedia #X #Guardian

Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

We will stop posting from our official editorial accounts on the platform, but X users can still share our articles

^{The Guardian}

The Newsmast Foundation was created in response to misinformation and the oppression of marginalised communities and expert voices on Big Tech social media.

In light of the U.S. election results, those communities are more at risk than ever.

This is our statement 👇

newsmastfoundation.org/our-blo…

#Fediverse #USPol #Statement #Trump #SocialMedia #X #Twitter #BigTech

Trump elected: Our take - Newsmast

Trump elected: Our take. In the aftermath of the 2024 US election, community is more vital than ever and we're doubling down on our mission.

^Newsmast

The week is over, here are some charts:
For two weeks in a row, #Mastodon brought more #traffic than #X / #Twitter to heise.de.
But I forgot, that's not just via @heiseonline, but also @heisec, @ct_Magazin, @heiseautos, @iX_Magazin etc. (but for Twitter its the same).

#Bluesky is way behind, #Threads even more. Only Twitter is clearly falling.

(🧵 1/3)

#SocialMedia
#TwitterExodus
#TwitterMigration
#MastodonMigration
#Fediverse

It's time to take Old Yeller behind the shed.

#Twitter #X #SocialMedia #ElonMusk
reddit.com/r/Twitter/comments/…

Are social media platforms that utilize algorithmic feeds inherently anti-free-speech?

In normal discourse, we all have a voice and we all have the choice whether to listen. In the algorithmic space, formulas are used to decide which voices to amplify and also which voices to de-amplify.

Here on Vivaldi Social (Mastodon), I see posts that people I follow post, including posts they choose to boost. No formulas needed. This is, IMHO, the closest to free-speech you can find, although there are some hate speech rules, which is IMHO a good thing. Basically the same as in normal, social discourse.

On Facebook I see posts Facebook thinks I want to see (and boy do they get it wrong), as well as a lot of AI generated nonsense. There are some posts in there that I am interested in, but most are not.

Twitter has turned into amplification of what Elon wants to amplify, mostly hate speech and misinformation. There are still interesting voices in there, but they are harder and harder to find.

What do you think?

#Facebook #Twitter #Mastodon #fediverse #SocialMedia

• Agree (84%, 70 votes)
• Disagree (15%, 13 votes)

Exactly two years ago, we started to post links on #Mastodon via our account @heiseonline 👇

mastodon.social/@heiseonline/1…

It took longer, than I expected, but here we are: it seems like this account now brings continuously more #traffic to heise.de than #X (#Twitter) in its entirety, although it only has ¼ of the follower number (and many of them don't seem to be active anymore).
I'll prepare some graphs after the weekend.

#SocialMedia
#TwitterExodus
#MastodonMigration
#TwitterMigration
#Fediverse

If you want to remove your X account but are worried that someone might register your username later, do this:

1. Open 2 different browsers in their private windows
2. In the first browser: Log in to your Twitter account.
3. In the second browser, go through the account creation process, add something like "Deactivated" as a name. Skip everything else.
4. On both: Navigate to Settings and privacy.
5. Under Your account, select Account information.
6. Update your Username to something different.
7. Save the changes.
8. Immediately rename the other "Deactivated" user name to your own username.
9. Take a full data backup
10. Continue on deactivating the real now renamed user.

By altering your username and email, your original handle becomes available for immediate use so you can register it to yourself as an "empty shell" account.

I just proofed these instructions working by finally deactivating my account. Haven't posted anything this year.

I will not spend any thought ever again to Truth Social, Gab, X and dark onion websites. They are all the same - not healthy for anyone. Please leave now.

#X #SocialMedia #Twitter #Xitter

It's time for charities and for-good organisations to ditch X - a platform which helped grow and fund the Trump campaign - and move to alternatives where they aren't at the mercy of a single persons politics.

As a start, we're excited to be featured as an organisation which can help in this @BylineTimes article

There's a lot of hard work to be done, but we like hard work. Hard work is good work.

bylinetimes.com/2024/11/07/x-o…

#Fediverse #Charity #NGO #News #USPol #Politics #X #SocialMedia #Twitter

X-Odus: Charities and Campaigners to Abandon Musk's Twitter After Trump Endorsement – Byline Times

British nonprofits set to flee the platform after Elon Musk’s campaign for Donald Trump pays off

^{Josiah Mortimer (Byline Times)}

I began using computers (mainframes) about a decade before the WWW was invented. I recall the "good old days" before internet giants (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon) and social media walled gardens (Facebook, Twitter, etc) tried and largely succeeded to control our experience of the Internet.

Hence, I loved reading this empowering piece by @molly0xfff that tells us a different and better web is possible!

#web #internet #socialmedia

citationneeded.news/we-can-hav…

We can have a different web

Many yearn for the “good old days” of the web. We could have those good old days back — or something even better — and if anything, it would be easier now than it ever was.

^{Molly White (Citation Needed)}

Elon Musk May Be An Illegal Immigrant!

Musk Could Have US Citizenship Revoked If He Lied on Immigration Forms

The richest man in the world appears to have worked in the US without authorization. According to experts, if he did so and lied about it as part of the immigration process, he could be denaturalized.
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol #Breaking #BreakingNews #Trump #Musk #Twitter #x #Fediverse #socialmedia

wired.com/story/elon-musk-citi…

On the two year anniversary of joining #Mastodon I'm super proud to share:

🚀 The Future is Federated - issue no.13 👩‍🚀

"The #Fediverse has empowered me to take back control from Big Tech. Now I want to help others do the same."

blog.elenarossini.com/the-fedi…

with mentions of @forgeandcraft (who made this awesome Fediverse t-shirt) @phanpy @ivory @Tusky @nimi @Roneyb @davidoclubb

#FOSS #FLOSS #Matrix #TheFutureIsFederated #blog #tech #activism #BigTech #socialmedia #education

The Fediverse has empowered me to take back control from Big Tech. Now I want to help others do the same.

The Fediverse has helped me regain control from the behavior modification empires of Big Tech. Now I want to help other people do the same.

^{Elena Rossini}

“It’s time to turn off this car accident of a tech future, and get on with reclaiming the world from this new generation of robber barons. These are not the demigods we’re looking for.” @Rushkoff brilliant article.

theguardian.com/books/2023/nov…
#books
#socialmedia #technology

‘We will coup whoever we want!’: the unbearable hubris of Musk and the billionaire tech bros

Challenging each other to cage fights, building apocalypse bunkers – the behaviour of today’s mega-moguls is becoming increasingly outlandish and imperial

^{Douglas Rushkoff (The Guardian)}