Is anyone using Mastodon as their primary social media and is it working for you?
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Yes, main one, hardly use anything else. Works great, but my #science community largely moved here at about the same time, so for me it wasn't much of a difference to Twitter, where we all came from, back in the day.
@LianaBrooks I'm 50/50 between Bluesky and Mastodon. Mastodon is more relaxed—there's no recommendation algorithm and no clickbait—but has its own issues, namely a surfeit of Reply Guys, the Linux Taliban out in force, and blocking is somewhat less effective.
@LianaBrooks
Yes and yes.
Coming from Twitter the security community here quickly became vibrant 😁
Loosely found other communities as well
Yes. Only social media. Mastodon is entirely sufficient once you get a good collection of follows.
@mastodonmigration @LianaBrooks 34k follows is impressive, how did you manage that?
@LianaBrooks Yes and yes. People are overwhelmingly great to interact with. I’m long done with surveillance state/Fascist-controlled social media.
@LianaBrooks 100%. I’ve only used Mastodon for around 4 years and haven’t looked back.
@LianaBrooks There's other social media?
@LianaBrooks security clique moved over here so it's interesting enough for me I guess.
but other communities didn't move that other friends need. without that nucleus, not very handy
@LianaBrooks absolutely YES, on both counts. Fled the birdsite 3 years ago to mastodon.lol, and when the admin folded that instance in a snit, I was actually approached and invited to join my current instance - the admin even helped with the housekeeping. How cool is that? And the engagement on the fediverse is active, genuine and enjoyable. I have one-third the followers I had on Twitter, and three times the engagement. I’ve encountered a few honest conservatives, very few, and no nazis while here.
@LianaBrooks this format of social media does work best for me.
@LianaBrooks
Yes and yes for over 3 years. I see it as a street full of independant coffee shops and bars. You can pop in and listen and join in to conversations. No adverts, no algorithms forcing things on you. Left Twitter after 12 years when Elon took over, but also because the negativity and trolling was unbearable. You do have to work a little harder here looking for content but I'd rather that than being force fed a corporate agenda. Social media how it should (used to) be... 🤜🤛
@LianaBrooks primary? It's my *only* social media (unless you count Signal, Matrix, or email).
Once I got settled on Mastodon, I poisoned and deleted my last remaining social accounts.
I have zero regrets.
@LianaBrooks yes
Confused by the “does it work” for me. I’m baffled corporate social media “works” for anyone. How does being a tool for billionaires work for anyone???
@LianaBrooks Absolutely. And it's working great. It takes more to get going, I'll freely admit that, but - yeah, for me at least, it's so. much. better.
Howcome, anyway?
@LianaBrooks yes and yes. I get good engagement with my art posts, much of which drives traffic to Patreon
@LianaBrooks I am, and I'd say it's mostly working!
The specific corner of the fediverse I'm in is very welcoming, encouraging, and engaging.
The main downside is that not everyone has the same experience as I do, and it's really hurting the diversity of our community.
@LianaBrooks Love it! I sacrificed a lot of local engagement when I left Elon's mess, but the communities available here make up for it, afaic.
An environment not controlled by plutocrats is a much better fit for me.
Also starting to branch out in the Fediverse (via Peertube).
@LianaBrooks Yes, it is and it is working for me.
You do however have to curate the accounts you follow and choose hashtags to follow. There is no algorithm on the #fediverse, you are the algorithm.
Reply to posts and boost posts by others that you find interesting and find relevant for other people who follow you. That is how you can make it work for yourself and others.
@alterelefant @LianaBrooks same. It is my ONLY social media at this point.
Yes and sorta. Social media is playing a smaller role for me now than in the past.
@LianaBrooks Mastodon is my one and only social media. I had pretty much abandoned social media entirely for a few years before finding and joining Mastodon. It is without a doubt the best experience I've ever had on any social media platform.
Mastodon is not a rage factory as all the other social media platforms were...it is a home.
(Don't get me wrong, there's PLENTY of rage at the news articles being shared...but not about or because of the platform itself.)
@LianaBrooks yes and very yes
I love all of it, and I learned a lot from the communities that welcomed me.
Best feature: have separate pseudonym accounts on different servers, partitioning professional life from friends from activism from private life from exploratory and intellectual curiosity. Tusky client allows jumping from one account to the other as easy as switching timelines.
With my accounts I mostly read and boost, with minor interactions, but I get news, super interesting commentary, and links to amazing blog posts.
I have read that the Fediverse hasn't been as welcoming or not even safe for many non-(white-cis-male) people, I do my best to not (involuntarily) add to the problem, and actually help when I can. All good-manners I learnt here.