Mastodon before Twitter: time to change my main social network
With the Twitter advertising preference monster continuing to gather preferences on all of us even after opting outāwhich basically makes Twitter FacebookāI decided to switch the MastodonāTwitter Crossposter around.
With Twitter being my main social network, I was quite happy to allow the Crossposter to take my Tweets and turn them into Toots on Mastodon, and Iād check in to the latter regularly to respond to people.
But with this latest discovery, Iām having second thoughts. We all know Twitter censors, and protects bigots, and its latest way to make a quick buck crosses a line.
I know most people have lines that they redraw regularly, especially when it comes to social media and phone apps, but Iām trying to manage mine a little better.
What Iāll miss is the news: I get plenty from Twitter, often breaking items. Iāll have to find an equivalent, or a news bot, on Mastodon. Iāll also miss interactions with real friends Iāve made on the service. It was incredible to get the condolence messages from Twitter. But if Stephen Fry can walk away from time to time, leaving millions there, I can probably take some time out from the 5,200 following me.
Note that I wonāt cease going to Twitter altogether: Iām not going cold turkey. There’s a bunch of us supporting one another through Alzheimer’s in the family, so I still want to be there for them. But if plans go well, then it wonāt be my main social network any more. Twitterās advertising clients will all miss me, because I simply never consented to Twitter compiling info to micro-target me. Mastodon will get my info first.
And if Mastodon, one day, decides to do ads, I actually wonāt mind, as long as they donāt cross that line. If Iāve opted out of personalization, I expect them to respect it. Even Google respects this, and they’re a dodgy bunch. The fact I have an IP address tied to my country, and that Iāve given some personal info about me, is, in my book, enough. Besides, anyone who knows me will know that a lot of the preferences shown in Twitter have no connection with meājust as Facebookās were completely laughable.
PS.: Dlvr.it does not take RSS feeds to send to Mastodon. I’m trying out the Activitypub plug-in for Wordpress instead.
P.PS.: Ton Zylstra suggested Autopost to Mastodon, which looks far simpler.
[…] Morris, who sat behind me when we were undergrads.) Itās still very civil on Mastodon, and one of the Tooters that I communicate with is an ex-Tweeter whose account was suspended. I […]