I know it's on Spotify, but it's very interesting. The podcast discusses the challenges and considerations related to the adoption of alternative social media platforms compared to mainstream ones. It mentions that digital literacy, market-driven trends, and network effects play a significant role in users' choices. There's a question about whether to work within mainstream platforms for community empowerment or integrate with alternative platforms like Mastodon. The key to empowering local communities lies in increasing digital literacy and creating tools that address their specific needs.
The debate within the federated social network community is about whether it complements or contrasts traditional social media, with a preference for human relationships over automated mechanisms.
I'm very interested in learning more about Fediverse in Africa. Reply to the post or DM me
Finally got round to listening to this episode.
in the opening minutes, there is a participant (I think called juliet) who remarked "[internet rights community from Africa] could not survive in the fediverse" and there are multiple problems with the fediverse like its unmeasurable nature. There was also another argument made around "virtual signalling" for people who announced their exit from Twitter and then quietly went back to the same place. There was also another argument around African research not being cited in key policy engagement yet non-African research is seen to give "gravitas" to the issues.
My reflection about it is there is a subtle misunderstanding between what fediverse is supposed to be as an alternative to centralized options like Twitter and Facebook. The expectation that the options are supposed to mirror the aspects of the centralized platforms is misplaced. Expecting metrics on almost everything people do on the fediverse is a hangover from Facebook and Twitter.
The expectation that "someone else" will create the platforms and alternatives is evident. I did not hear anyone on that panel point to some instance they are hosting or supporting. Perhaps that is my biggest takeaway -- they focused more on telling others what should be done and less on what are we actually doing ourselves to create the social media ecosystem we want? They said they were in Japan. I can bet you the combined ticket prices and accommodation and visa fees for just the panelists is enough to host a robust fediverse instance for three years.
i am not so optimistic with talk shops like this Internet Governance Forum.