That is why American-run commercial social networks are inherently not viable if you care about user focus. Any rational adult (of any nationality, from US to Botswana) can make their own conclusions regarding US-run commercial social networks over the past ~20 years.
I deleted Twitter a while ago and switched to Mastodon, I did not move to Bluesky when it started getting big exactly because I knew theor initial user-focus was a ruse (and their federation architecture seemed top heavy).
Do you have any suggestions for starting out on Mastodon? I know for a fact that I won’t be able to get my friends to move there, and that’s whatever, I guess. I’m not against meeting new people and would love to give it a spin.
Follow the money hashtags! Seriously, if you can’t immediately find people to follow (a very common problem when people first join a social network), follow hashtags! Super easy to do:
Search for your topic
In the search results, switch to the “Hashtags” tab (or just scroll down to the hashtag section of the results)
click into one of the hashtag search results
Review the posts, frequency, etc. If you like what you see, click “Follow Hashtag”.
It really does a great job of (1) populating your feed with interesting, relevant content and (2) can ultimately connect you to new people with similar interests.
I mostly follow big accounts and don’t that much with folks (outside of a niche hobby account that I am trying to slowly grow).
Best option seems to be to subscribe/browse hashtags that pique your interest. Eventually you’ll find people who regularly post/boost interesting content and users.
I like to distinguish between ideological, Friedmanite capitalism, which I call big C Capitalism and broader concepts such as trade, competition, new commercial ideas, which I call small c capitalism.
Big C Capitalism is more of an oligarch-promoted, authoritarian ideology with clear fascistsa tendencies (see Friedman’s statement that “free markets” take precedent over democratic governance).
Small c capitalism is more a quality of human civilization and its implementation reflects social and cultural developments.
Capitalism is private ownership of production. That is indefensible regardless of how much you try to seperate the worst elements of capitalism from its root.
That scandal was a big shitshow and vw got the short end of the stick. Everyone was doing it, VW being one of the largest, got caught. The problem with capitalism is that if one player cheats, it gets a monopoly if the others don’t. (see every US company ever. US capitalism is based on two principles:
1: print a bunch of money to buy the competition. If that fails ->2
2: cheat)
This mindset has sadly contaminated the rest of the world for obvious reasons.
So what you’re saying is, in spite of industry wide crimes, none of the CEO’s or senior leadership are in jail? Sounds like a capitalist dictatorship to me…
That is why American-run commercial social networks are inherently not viable if you care about user focus. Any rational adult (of any nationality, from US to Botswana) can make their own conclusions regarding US-run commercial social networks over the past ~20 years.
I deleted Twitter a while ago and switched to Mastodon, I did not move to Bluesky when it started getting big exactly because I knew theor initial user-focus was a ruse (and their federation architecture seemed top heavy).
Do you have any suggestions for starting out on Mastodon? I know for a fact that I won’t be able to get my friends to move there, and that’s whatever, I guess. I’m not against meeting new people and would love to give it a spin.
Take a look at https://fedi.tips/ also
Follow the
moneyhashtags! Seriously, if you can’t immediately find people to follow (a very common problem when people first join a social network), follow hashtags! Super easy to do:It really does a great job of (1) populating your feed with interesting, relevant content and (2) can ultimately connect you to new people with similar interests.
Yes, hit it spot on there.
I mostly follow big accounts and don’t that much with folks (outside of a niche hobby account that I am trying to slowly grow).
Best option seems to be to subscribe/browse hashtags that pique your interest. Eventually you’ll find people who regularly post/boost interesting content and users.
Oh please, capitalism is not better in other countries. Commercial entities are shit regardless of their location.
I like to distinguish between ideological, Friedmanite capitalism, which I call big C Capitalism and broader concepts such as trade, competition, new commercial ideas, which I call small c capitalism.
Big C Capitalism is more of an oligarch-promoted, authoritarian ideology with clear fascistsa tendencies (see Friedman’s statement that “free markets” take precedent over democratic governance).
Small c capitalism is more a quality of human civilization and its implementation reflects social and cultural developments.
Capitalism is private ownership of production. That is indefensible regardless of how much you try to seperate the worst elements of capitalism from its root.
Some countries actually hold them accountable and have reasonable privacy laws/laws about how you can use the user’s data.
Capitalism is capitalism. Some countries might do a better job of reining it in slightly, but it’s only a matter of time before they enshittify.
Look at the European car industry and the emissions scandal.
That scandal was a big shitshow and vw got the short end of the stick. Everyone was doing it, VW being one of the largest, got caught. The problem with capitalism is that if one player cheats, it gets a monopoly if the others don’t. (see every US company ever. US capitalism is based on two principles: 1: print a bunch of money to buy the competition. If that fails ->2 2: cheat) This mindset has sadly contaminated the rest of the world for obvious reasons.
So what you’re saying is, in spite of industry wide crimes, none of the CEO’s or senior leadership are in jail? Sounds like a capitalist dictatorship to me…
Im glad this happened fast enough that I wasn’t too invested in it to leave.