Most businesses create social media accounts, and the reason is obvious: to reach customers and partners.
But imagine living in a world dominated by major tech platforms, walled gardens where millions, sometimes billions, of people interact every day. That’s our current reality, shaped by growing corporate control over our digital lives.
Now think of any small business you know: a bar, a restaurant, a tattoo studio, a local shop, a vet clinic…
If most people are still on traditional platforms, what arguments would you give a small business to convince them to share their content on #Pixelfed or #Mastodon, instead of staying on #Instagram or moving to #Bluesky?
Have you tried already? What were the results?
How is the #Fediverse doing when it comes to nonprofit and civil society organizations?
In my own civil society network, several organizations and people opened accounts here, but most eventually shifted to Bluesky.
Instead of blaming them, maybe we should ask: what is pushing civil society actors away? What isn’t working for them here?
As a quick example, I looked up the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung and found their Mastodon account @amadeuantonio (~5.5k followers here, but inactive for over a year).
They also have a bridged Bluesky account @amadeuantonio.bsky.social (~300 followers from the Fediverse and 23 k+ followers on BlueSky, but actively posting).
Let’s be honest about the state of the #Fediverse regarding large-scale adoption: for several important groups, it still doesn't work well enough.
Does it make sense for a small business to use the Fediverse as its main channel? [1]
What about civil society organisations involved in politics? [2]
Both groups need engagement to fulfil basic goals, and many who try to establish a presence here end up discouraged. Can this change? I’m not sure.
The reason I started the “Leave X” campaign for European politicians ( @leavex) [3] is that politicians are, in my view, the group with the strongest obligation to maintain accountability wherever they communicate. We elect them, they should not be reliant on a platform that undermines democratic discourse.
Journalists also depend on engagement, but they have an additional requirement: they must follow their sources. And politics has always been central to journalism.
We can keep blaming the groups that aren’t joining the Fediverse. Or we can strategically focus on the groups who should be here, but still aren’t.
[1] https://social.vivaldi.net/@everton137/115400615193674994
[2] https://social.vivaldi.net/@everton137/115564574402420309
