[liberationtech] Wealthy entrepreneurs ask whether you would use a Liberationtech-friendly Twitter clone?

[Yosem Companys]

I helped develop Diaspora, the once exciting FLOSS alternative to Facebook.
It seems in 2010 Diaspora was to Facebook what today Mastodon is to
Twitter.

But, what good is a "good" Twitter, if no one uses it?

As a Wired article notes about Mastodon, "Mastodon has never grown quite as
big as social networks like Twitter or Reddit. Rochko says that’s because
network effects are hard to replicate. People go where their friends are,
and most people’s friends are still on Facebook and Twitter."

Diaspora was private, secure, and distributed, which the Liberationtech
community loved. But, most Diaspora users simply asked, "Why are our
friends not here?" Others asked, "What is your killer app?"

UX research at Diaspora revealed that users were just as or more motivated
to meet new and interesting people as they were in connecting with people
they knew.  Meanwhile, Twitter's history shows it gained critical mass when
it entered the news/journalism space.

So, I ask: What must Mastodon do to overcome Twitter's network effect? What
would make it go mainstream? Ideas?

Thank you,
Yosem

On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 6:12 AM Yosem Companys <ycompanys at gmail.com> wrote:

> One thing I will note because it has come up a few times in the discussion
> already is the following: The founders of the Twitter clone in question did
> NOT build it for commercial gain. In fact, they are specifically offering
> to provide it as private, secure, and decentralized FLOSS software run by a
> nonprofit foundation, if that's what people want.
>
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 2:43 AM Petter Ericson <pettter at acc.umu.se> wrote:
>
>> I would agree insofar as to say that any particular social media
>> _platform_ is
>> unlikely to be "liberation" technology, but federated _protocols_ as well
>> as
>> specific online/digital places to be and ways to organise can be (and are,
>> sometimes) liberatory.
>>
>> In particular, if it's hard to monetize, it's more likely to be
>> liberatory.
>>
>> And if it is built by "wealthy serial entrepreneurs" it is decidedly less
>> likely to be.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> /P
>>
>> On 28 april, 2022 - Jillian C. York wrote:
>>
>> > While I would certainly welcome a Twitter clone, I'd be really hesitant
>> > about calling any social media platform "liberation" technology at this
>> > point. I think we've all witnessed that this tech is/can be/will be
>> > utilized just as much by malicious actors as by liberatory ones,
>> regardless
>> > of the policies implemented or content moderation strategies employed.
>> >
>> > On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 12:35 AM Yosem Companys <ycompanys at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Dear Liberation Technology community,
>> > >
>> > > A group of wealthy serial entrepreneurs who built a Twitter clone to
>> > > foster civic democracy in the 2020 elections just reached out to me
>> to ask
>> > > whether you would be interested in using a Liberationtech-friendly
>> Twitter
>> > > clone now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter. They want to know the
>> > > following:
>> > >
>> > >    - Would you use a Liberationtech-friendly Twitter clone?
>> > >    - What would make you want to use it? Conversely, what would make
>> you
>> > >    NOT want to use it?
>> > >    - What would you name it? They said they might even be open to
>> calling
>> > >    it Liberationtech, if there were enough interest.
>> > >
>> > > Thank you,
>> > > Yosem
>> > > --
>> > > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major
>> > > commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you
>> > > moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe,
>> > > change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
>> > > lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > +1-JILLIAN
>> >
>> > "To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger" -
>> James
>> > Baldwin
>> >
>> > "We must not be afraid of dreaming the seemingly impossible if we want
>> the
>> > seemingly impossible to become a reality" - *Vaclav Havel*
>>
>> > --
>> > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major
>> commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you
>> moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe,
>> change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
>> lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Petter Ericson (pettter at acc.umu.se)
>>
>
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