How are #altmetrics services adjusting for the decline of #Twitter, especially #AcademicTwitter? Are they giving Twitter mentions less weight? Are they tracking mentions in other social-media platforms? If so, which platforms? Where do they think academics are going? Do they have good data?
To all of the bookish Mastodonians inhabiting this site: THANK YOU. Last week I posted my FridayReads toot (as usual) and it sparked a lively and engaging discussion with different perspectives and some fresh recs (as usual). You all never fail to deliver!
I used to regularly post with the FridayReads hashtag on the other site, and at best I might get a like or two, or if I was lucky, a stray comment. Nothing like what I saw the other day. #TwitterMigration#Bookstodon#Gratitude@bookstodon
@bmarne organized a workshop this afternoon right before our lab meeting to encourage them to sign up.
Now let's show them what the #Fediverse is made of 😜 so they stay and take part in the adventure. @cpt @sgeorge @blemoine @chrisruisseau @mmay @plaforcade @phd_simon
Recommended follow list for Ukraine war on Mastodon
Here are my recommendations for coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Only accounts active recently and you can easily import them from a file. They are split into two different lists by type.
Ukraine: OSINT & war updates
This list mostly has accounts posting quickly about daily events of the war and doing open source intelligence.
The import file relies on the List import feature recently added to Mastodon. I have noticed the list import results in a few accounts sometimes ending up in their separate list by the same name so you may have to fix that manually afterwards if this happens on your instance. If many people are on an older Mastodon version and want it I can also post a follows file that will work for those.
Import instructions:
Sign into your instance on the web
go to settings (Gear icon)
Choose Import and Export -> Import
For import type choose "Lists" (could also be "Translation missing: en.imports.types.lists" if there is an issue with the localization).
Select "merge" to only add to your current follows/lists so nothing you have gets deleted
I got pushback on #kbin for saying this, but I think that the fact many #leftist or #socialjustice content creators and influencers continue to use #twitter is hypocritical, and undermines their integrity. I might create a larger blog post explaining my thoughts on this. But I guess I would like to hear from #mastodon what you think of this take. I can understand users who still need to use it for their job or livelihood, but not creators who encourage their audience to follow them there.
@Roundcat I do agree with what you're saying to an extent, although I've also heard from many people of colour (especially #Black) that the mass #TwitterMigration is very white dominated, because we have the privilege of running when things become dangerous or undesirable for us. #Mastodon still has a white-dominated issue, and unfortunately there have been #racism problems due to many instances not yet having gone through the growing pains of the various communities on #Twitter, or worse that some of them are actively run by bigots and/or their enablers.
For many people of colour, Twitter was NEVER really safe but it gave them a platform to widely share their existence and protest where they otherwise couldn't. They arguably have to work harder than anyone else to build their online communities and supportive networks, so I personally don't blame them for being hesitant to completely abandon it. For them, Twitter is more than a social media platform. It's a lifeline, a fundamental source of human rights information, resources and support networks. Twitter, even today, simply has an unmatched level of accessibility, popularity and influence on society. #Reddit has a similar problematic history yet is also a crucial source of information for various marginalised groups.
I personally chose to jump ship since it was getting too toxic for me as a #LGBTQIA+ and #neurodivergent person, but I also acknowledge that I had the privilege of being able to do that with only the slightest amount of inconvenience; I never particularly liked Twitter, and had other outlets available to me so it was an easy choice to make. Twitter did majorly help advertise my #YouTube content when I was first starting out in early 2018, so I can empathise with why many #leftist and #progressive content creators still use it.
It's one thing to try and rigidly comply with our principles, but reality is that we all live under a broken system, and those of us who are marginalised often have to play that system in order to survive, share our stories and resources on how to implement systemic change. If we waited for the perfect circumstances/platforms to do this (free of moral contradictions, compromises and sacrifices), our voices would just fade into obscurity. For many, abandoning ship is letting the bigots win - I wouldn't be surprised if silencing progressive and/or marginalised groups was THE reason Elon bought Twitter in the first place. Ultimately, it's a very personal choice whether someone decides to remain on Twitter or go elsewhere. On the surface the former is hypocritical, but the rhetorics used against it are full of privilege and purity politics which have their own air of hypocrisy to them.
There are no easy answers, except that we're all just trying to get by in this hostile, rigged system and turning on each other only serves to benefit and perpetuate that system.
This is a comment I made on a thread on Lemmy. I thought I would share it here because it sums up a lot of the thoughts I have about twitter/x, and some of the leftist and liberal leaning content creators that remain. I am open to feedback and criticism though if you think I am missing something or being unfair.
I'm forgiving of artists because most of their customer base is there, and internationally, alt platforms are even more unknown. I am somewhat forgiving of journalists who want to reach the widest amount of people possible, despite the fact that Musk has been intentionally targeting and censoring journalists he doesn't like.
I really don't get a lot of leftist or liberal content creators though. Many constantly push the message that you vote with your wallet, and discourage patronizing businesses, services, or franchises that actively hate or harm marginalized people. Yet at the same time, they are using a platform owned by some who is literally trying to make the platform as hostile to marginalized people as possible. A lot of users have left twitter because they no longer feel safe using the platform. In fact, the reason you see a lot of queer people here on fediverse is because many of them are twitter refugees.
And yet many leftist and liberal creators remain on twitter, exclusively in fact. I could understand it if they pushed some content to alts to keep within reach of users that left while still maintaining their fanbase on twitter, but many of them won't even touch any of the alternatives, much less make themselves more reachable on youtube or other social platforms. By remaining on twitter, they are encouraging their userbase to remain as well, which creates engagement, which benefits ad companies who pay Musk, who funnels that into groups and causes that undermine their audience.
At this point, It is an integrity test for me. How large is this creator's following on twitter? How often does this person post and interact on twitter? and what have they said in the past about interacting with harmful brands? What's their excuse for remaining if any, and would they had accepted that excuse if the shoe was on the other foot?
I accept some people have an addiction, and as someone who tried to leave reddit many times, I know it can be a hard one to kick. But if your brand is built on integrity, standing up for the marginalized, and being ethical with your consumption habbits, remaining active on twitter is not a good look to me.
About a week. I called it. Now my timeline on threads is sorted in a weird algorithmic way where the "top" posts showing are all from hours ago. Not even the replies are current. This sucks.
My feed is now all those interesting people, places, & publications that I followed on #Instagram over the years reacting & replying to celebrities & brands like Dunkin Donuts and fucking Paris Hilton.
Or worse, seeing celebrities & brands replying to each other.
Someone should start like a service or non profit or organization or you know whatever you want to call it to help public services, non profits, and emergency services start up there own instances on the fediverse to help solve the communication issue they were left with when Twitter went to shit.
Maybe an organization with chapters in different regions/states that helps set up a server or multiple servers that are dedicated to that areas emergency services and things.
Get them either set up self hosting if they have the ability or get them connected and setup with a hosting provider.
They would be verified by domain name, in person in the community, and this new organization.
This would help solve future issues from big social media breaking their communication and would get more people onto the fediverse.
I have a recommendation. First, make sure you are following your server's Admin. Then, I recommend that you follow some of the admins of servers other than your own, especially the larger ones. Set them on notifications. This will keep you in the loop on what is happening across the Fediverse. #Fediverse#Mastodon#TwitterMigration
Feedback is extremely welcome. This is a loving document, it can only be honed and get better with loving input from other users. What are your best tips for #creators?
1/ The #fediverse is a public park, not a privately owned country club. There’s no hostess, but many will welcome you. Wander, explore, enjoy the fresh air
5/ Find your friends by using the Search function. Put an @ to search for people. Try handles they use elsewhere. Yeah, it can be frustrating. There are some great online tools that search user profiles here and other places (primarily Twitter) to find friends/followers from elsewhere, but most all have been blocked by Twitter (surprise!) so we’re stuck having to find one another manually. (Look at it as an occasion to find new folks to connect with)