decentralized social media

‘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.’ —Zhilin Zhang, University of Oxford, 2024

In November 2022 — from platforms to covenants — I wrote that I firmly believe open protocols connecting small pieces loosely joined is a better framework than any privately owned social media platform. Twitter was just too darned easy for many years. I am connecting more on Mastodon though I have not mastered all of its functions. Mastodon is an open protocol and anyone can put up a server and connect to what is called the ‘fediverse’, a federated network of hosts using the protocol.

The University of Oxford study of Mastodon instance administers revealed that decentralized social media provide certain benefits.

Safer, more inclusive spaces online

Absence of algorithmic manipulation

Better support for data privacy and autonomy

These are definitely reasons why I stopped using Twitter to teach about online networks in my PKM workshop and why I finally left Twitter after 17 years. With centralized control, social media platforms can be easily manipulated.

Elon Musk’s X may have tweaked its algorithm to boost his account, along with those of other conservative-leaning users, starting around the time he announced his support of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. That’s according to a new study published by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which found that Musk’s posts in particular were suddenly much more popular. —The Verge, 2024-11-17

Decentralized social media, like Mastodon, reminds me of my early days of blogging twenty years ago. Nobody was in charge, but there were certain protocols on how to interact with others, like using RSS, trackbacks, and blog rolls. This decentralization makes for more work for administrators, as it did for individual blog owners two decades ago.

Participants did identify challenges with decentralised social media platforms. For example, they found it challenging to grow their respective communities because of the sparse content driven by relatively low numbers of users, while the concept of decentralised social media might be too difficult for new users to understand. The complex nature of moderating communities due to the fine line of creating a safe space and protecting freedom of speech, and the burdens of moderating content that could include harmful materials and potential scams, were other identified challenges. —University of Oxford, 2024

The decentralized web has given me hope and the energy to keep going with this blog. I kind of needed that at this point.

Mastodon Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada