Menu
Ireland's political and cultural magazine
40 April 2023 April 2023 PB
encourages the worst instincts of the alt-right in
messages he chooses to amplify himself, the
entire site lurches to the right.
In the 1990s, American political scientist
Joseph Overton developed the idea of the
“Overton Window”, the range of ideas considered
acceptable at any given time. Crucially, the
window can shift over time, a dynamic clearly in
play in the online culture of Twitter.
However, just like the proverbial frog, slowly
boiling in a heated saucepan, Twitter denizens
may not feel the culture shift. For many new to
Mastodon, the immediate reaction was how
much nicer the mood was. It evoked or them how
“the birdsite” had felt a decade earlier, and how
much had changed with each tweak of the
algorithm in the intervening years. That process
has accelerated since November.
Since those who remain are disproportionately
journalists and other media workers, shifting
Overton windows will be reflected in the ideas
they consider part of the mainstream, which
raises obvious issues about editorial
judgements. Journalism is in danger of being
boiled alive.
The real tragedy may be that news media will
miss a golden opportunity to break their
addiction to social media. From disastrous
‘pivots to video’ to chasing clickbait, social has
been an expensive game for publishers. The
fediverse oers the chance to build a clear
alternative for their audiences, with communities
they can managed through their own instances
rather than at the whims of Silicon Valley
billionaires.
which tended to boost anger as a consequence.
Reduced search, restricted only to hashtags. No
equivalent of Quote Tweeting, as it encouraged
pile-ons. So while engagement with others is
often higher on Mastodon, several design
choices make it more dicult to ‘go viral’.
For writers, designers, creative artists and
others using the platform to promote their work,
that made for a dicult adjustment. Some
inevitably left, returning to Twitter, or other
networks.
Journalists in particular returned to the Musk
mothership. addicted to the immediacy the site
provides in covering breaking news, the
perceived clout of a legacy ‘blue tick’, access to
other journalists, politicians, celebrities and
other newsmakers, and of course, the endorphin
rush of algorithm-fed shares and likes.
Trouble is, as Musk opens the site to
previously banned accounts filled with incel
memes and Pepe the Frog avatars, fires
moderation teams responsible for reducing
bullying and information warfare, and actively
A
s journalists drift back to Twitter after
the initial wave of enthusiasm for
Mastodon, accepting diktats from
Elon Musk in return for his audience,
the federated networks exemplified
by Mastodon deserve a second look.
Twitter changed, not gradually then suddenly,
as Hemingway had it, but immediately on
takeover. In the heady first days, as the
billionaire welcomed banned racists and neo-
Nazis, one statistic was repeated several times.
Ten percent of users drove 92% of the content
on the site. And as algorithms filled timelines
with bile and crypto-bros, many of those users
migrated to other platforms. Some were already
active elsewhere, and reduced Twitter time.
Others simply left. Leaked comments from Musk
suggest all this as halved the dicult-to-love
company’s value since he bought it.
Mastodon saw worldwide growth from under
one million monthly active users last Halloween
to over two million in February 2023, with the
total number of accounts passing the landmark
ten-million mark. And while some news reports
have focused on the decline in monthly users
since the figure peaked at 2.3 million, what is
remarkable is that so many decided to stay.
Churn happens on all social sites, but what
really matters is the ‘network eect’. Users sign
on, look around, and decide whether or to stay.
In the early days, gaining traction is hard. New
users log in but find a desert, and see little
incentive to stay. But as early numbers grow,
network eects kick in. New arrivals find a
thriving community, and often familiar faces.
Some will be high profile names, Stephen Fry
and Greta Thunberg, or writers like Stephen King
and John Scalzi. But also there are those
everyday active users mentioned earlier, driven
o Twitter. And the more people stick around,
the more attractive the site becomes to the next
wave.
One thing Musk got right was identifying
Mastodon as a threat. But his reactions, banning
mentions of the network, suspending users who
posted links to ‘backup’ accounts, even blocking
Mastodon links as ‘malware’, elevated the
threat to many who had never heard of it. If
anything, his antics drove more users to the
upstart. Nothing is as sweet as forbidden fruit.
For many, Mastodon was a culture shift too
far. New arrivals found themselves in a place
designed from the ground up to minimise things
that made commercial social networks
intolerable.
The earliest adopters – and builders – of the
fediverse were determined to avoid what they
saw as the mistakes of commercial networks.
No algorithm promoting viral engagement,
The real tragedy may be
that news media will miss a
golden opportunity to break
their addiction to social media
Abusive Twitter
has prevailed over
its voguish rival
By Gerard Cunningham
MEDIA
Mastodon
Extinction
40 April 2023 April 2023 PB
encourages the worst instincts of the alt-right in
messages he chooses to amplify himself, the
entire site lurches to the right.
In the 1990s, American political scientist
Joseph Overton developed the idea of the
“Overton Window”, the range of ideas considered
acceptable at any given time. Crucially, the
window can shift over time, a dynamic clearly in
play in the online culture of Twitter.
However, just like the proverbial frog, slowly
boiling in a heated saucepan, Twitter denizens
may not feel the culture shift. For many new to
Mastodon, the immediate reaction was how
much nicer the mood was. It evoked or them how
“the birdsite” had felt a decade earlier, and how
much had changed with each tweak of the
algorithm in the intervening years. That process
has accelerated since November.
Since those who remain are disproportionately
journalists and other media workers, shifting
Overton windows will be reflected in the ideas
they consider part of the mainstream, which
raises obvious issues about editorial
judgements. Journalism is in danger of being
boiled alive.
The real tragedy may be that news media will
miss a golden opportunity to break their
addiction to social media. From disastrous
‘pivots to video’ to chasing clickbait, social has
been an expensive game for publishers. The
fediverse oers the chance to build a clear
alternative for their audiences, with communities
they can managed through their own instances
rather than at the whims of Silicon Valley
billionaires.
which tended to boost anger as a consequence.
Reduced search, restricted only to hashtags. No
equivalent of Quote Tweeting, as it encouraged
pile-ons. So while engagement with others is
often higher on Mastodon, several design
choices make it more dicult to ‘go viral’.
For writers, designers, creative artists and
others using the platform to promote their work,
that made for a dicult adjustment. Some
inevitably left, returning to Twitter, or other
networks.
Journalists in particular returned to the Musk
mothership. addicted to the immediacy the site
provides in covering breaking news, the
perceived clout of a legacy ‘blue tick’, access to
other journalists, politicians, celebrities and
other newsmakers, and of course, the endorphin
rush of algorithm-fed shares and likes.
Trouble is, as Musk opens the site to
previously banned accounts filled with incel
memes and Pepe the Frog avatars, fires
moderation teams responsible for reducing
bullying and information warfare, and actively
A
s journalists drift back to Twitter after
the initial wave of enthusiasm for
Mastodon, accepting diktats from
Elon Musk in return for his audience,
the federated networks exemplified
by Mastodon deserve a second look.
Twitter changed, not gradually then suddenly,
as Hemingway had it, but immediately on
takeover. In the heady first days, as the
billionaire welcomed banned racists and neo-
Nazis, one statistic was repeated several times.
Ten percent of users drove 92% of the content
on the site. And as algorithms filled timelines
with bile and crypto-bros, many of those users
migrated to other platforms. Some were already
active elsewhere, and reduced Twitter time.
Others simply left. Leaked comments from Musk
suggest all this as halved the dicult-to-love
company’s value since he bought it.
Mastodon saw worldwide growth from under
one million monthly active users last Halloween
to over two million in February 2023, with the
total number of accounts passing the landmark
ten-million mark. And while some news reports
have focused on the decline in monthly users
since the figure peaked at 2.3 million, what is
remarkable is that so many decided to stay.
Churn happens on all social sites, but what
really matters is the ‘network eect’. Users sign
on, look around, and decide whether or to stay.
In the early days, gaining traction is hard. New
users log in but find a desert, and see little
incentive to stay. But as early numbers grow,
network eects kick in. New arrivals find a
thriving community, and often familiar faces.
Some will be high profile names, Stephen Fry
and Greta Thunberg, or writers like Stephen King
and John Scalzi. But also there are those
everyday active users mentioned earlier, driven
o Twitter. And the more people stick around,
the more attractive the site becomes to the next
wave.
One thing Musk got right was identifying
Mastodon as a threat. But his reactions, banning
mentions of the network, suspending users who
posted links to ‘backup’ accounts, even blocking
Mastodon links as ‘malware’, elevated the
threat to many who had never heard of it. If
anything, his antics drove more users to the
upstart. Nothing is as sweet as forbidden fruit.
For many, Mastodon was a culture shift too
far. New arrivals found themselves in a place
designed from the ground up to minimise things
that made commercial social networks
intolerable.
The earliest adopters – and builders – of the
fediverse were determined to avoid what they
saw as the mistakes of commercial networks.
No algorithm promoting viral engagement,
The real tragedy may be
that news media will miss a
golden opportunity to break
their addiction to social media
Abusive Twitter
has prevailed over
its voguish rival
By Gerard Cunningham
MEDIA
Mastodon
Extinction
