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King Twitter is Dead. Long live the Fediverse. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-25  

Here’s the social media take no one seems to be talking about. What if you could log on to Twitter, and see not only other people who’ve tweeted there (or Xed, or WTF they’re going to call it now), but also posts from people you follow on Mastodon, or Post, or Threads, or for that matter, Gettr, FrankSpeech, Truth Social or any other platform?

I believe this to be the true future of SocMed. Rather than being trapped in a walled garden, with only the content from other members of the same club visible, we should be trying to tear down those walls. You should be able to see anything from anyone you follow, regardless which platform they prefer. This is what’s known as the “fediverse”, a growing network of platforms that can communicate with each other using what’s known as the “Activity Pub” protocol (or its older version, called “Ostatus”). Rather than trying to “cover all the bases” by posting on multiple sites, you would be able to put your content out in one place, where it can be accessed by anyone who follows you on any platform in that network. So far Mastodon is the only “major” provider that offers this feature, although Threads is reportedly intending to roll it out soon.

I think paying for subscriptions in order to post on any given platform, while keeping read-only access free, is a model that makes sense in the long-term. Let the platforms compete for “thumbs” rather than “eyeballs”. Different platforms can road-test different features and subscription tiers to optimize their particular niche. One provider may offer a small number of posts per day, for example, with only a few ads, for a nominal fee, which a subscriber may decide to upgrade to unlimited posting and no ads for a higher price, or maybe a premium package with things like ID verification, increased algorithm promotion, longer post lengths, etc.

This is similar to what happened to the old Hollywood studio system. In the early days, an actor signed an exclusive contract with MGM, or Universal or whoever, and would only be able to work in films produced by those studios, and those films would only be shown in theaters owned by those studios. This was a way to lock down talent, and keep actors from shopping around for more money. The system was dismantled in 1948 under antitrust statutes, which led to a surge of creativity and innovation in the industry, as well as higher pay for actors, and greater variety and lower prices for consumers. Social media is overdue for a similar renaissance.

The days of the internet plantation model are coming to an end, and I believe the industry, and its consumers, will only benefit.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/25/2183252/-King-Twitter-is-Dead-Long-live-the-Fediverse

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