Due to recent shitshows at Twitter, Reddit, and elsewhere, there's been a renewed interest in decentralized platforms. Mastodon is like a chain of Twitter-style islands. Pixelfed works in a similar way but is intended for sharing images. If anyone has accounts on these platforms, please post them here. My Mastodon account: https://mastodon.social/@rogzilla71 My Pixelfed account: https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/574943840643003122
I've been using it for years but only a handful of people I follow from other sites were on it. Now many more people are moving there. If I had the time and money I would love to set up a toy-centric Mastodon server. Some day.
Mines been in review limbo for months. Gave up on it after a bit since I don’t even use twitter that much. That said, the functionality it has at least seems better than twitter’s. Let’s hope it can compete
Revised the first post in this thread and bumping it to test Pixelfed image embedding. Is anyone else here using these platforms?
@bananas@pdx.sh fer Mastodon, but I haven't done ANYTHING or even looked since the day after I signed up.... last year?
I've since deleted my Pixelfed account, since I didn't use it much. Anyone else here using Mastodon? It's still fun but relatively quiet, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've gotten invites to Bluesky but I'm not going there. It's bound to be "enshittified" in a couple of years.
I miss IG as purely a picture sharing app, without the like contest that is now a social platform or whatever they call it. I read that post about bluesky you linked too. I’ve (barely) heard about it on that other monstrosity of twitter. I liked the writers perspective as an originator in the field. My take away is as per everything… capitalism poisons everything. (I know this will erk a few ppl who think capitalism is the source of what we have — not the parasite that feeds of it. Whaddaya gonna do when ppl can’t think critically) … but I digress. My hope is someone will have the wherewithal, and expertise to provide a platform that inhibits, or outright excludes the trite mechanisms that feed the beast that is profit/power/data mongering. And we can all sing digital koombayah - or at least share pics and art - without giving two fucks whether someone likes it or not.
For me, Instagram still works as a picture app, the spiritual successor to Flickr. I am hoping that Meta won't continue to screw with it but we are all at their mercy. I thought the perspective in that article I shared on Mastodon (https://www.inc.com/joe-procopio/i-give-bluesky-six-months-before-it-implodes/91066670) was interesting. In the present iteration of the internet where everything is hyper-commercialized, the cycles of these social networks are getting shorter and shorter, going from bright stars to black holes more and more rapidly. I have this vision of public libraries operating Mastodon instances for local residents. They'd come in and register with their real names, which would hopefully reduce the prevalence of Internet Fuckwads. Maybe then we could have a real "global town square," or at least a national one. But then I think I am really kidding myself. Most people don't want to go to libraries.
I think as people get used to things, the expectation or need to interact disappears. If you post something cool to Instagram, I may not bother to like it, but just know in my head I’m thinking “hell yeah” as I scroll past.
Pixelfed just launched apps for their platform, plus they are launching a Kickstarter soon to build more functionality: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks In an alternate universe where I have unlimited time, energy, and most importantly, money, I start a Pixelfed instance for Japanese toys and together we all rule the internet.