Brainstorming - Is it a good idea and if yes, when will be a good time, to publicly promote the concept of nonprofit and small scale social media - an what would be good methods/strategies
Every nonprofit organization I have ever worked with does some form of publicity/public relations to support their mission. Many have speakers bureaus of volunteers who give talks about what the organization is doing. Many work to get articles written about their mission and efforts.
I think more could be done to remind people and inform people of a few things about nonprofit and small scale internet sites. For example that the early internet was centered around universities not corporations and marketing, that news organizations such as NPR and the BBC provide a valuable counter perspective to corporate news organizations, that nonprofit sites including Lemmy and Kbin and Mastadon and Tildes exist, to remind people that you can add forum or blog to a search to find small scale content and more. The point would be to make the case publicly that nonprofit and small scale internet sites 1. are still possible and viable, 2. already exist (insert several examples) 3. and and should form part of a strategy to resist corporate monopolies/dominance and create more diverse conversations and communities online.
What are your thoughts? I'm curious about timing, (will there be a better future time?) about possible methods and strategies and about whether this is something some members here want to think about.
What better time than now really?
With the current state of the Internet, it seems like many of us who've made it our home over the past 10-35 years have really started leaning back into the smaller websites and forums.
There's a gigantic chunk of people who do not see the variouis Walled Gardens (Discord, Meta, et) as a problem, because they've never really experienced anything differently. They've known an internet in service to corporations, rather than in service to passions, hobbies and nonsense. Can we persuade those users to give up creature comforts of simple logins / quick communication? Unlikely.
But you can promote to the people who want to find places like Tildes.
As Musk goes full nazi, I believe there are people realizing that they might like something different. But many don't know that such things exist.
I'd say mostly you're not seeing the Nazi side of things, you're seeing the capitalist side of things that is deathly trying to get its stock value to make sense. Can't help but feel like a lot of big tech firms still don't make large sums of money beyond selling user data...
Honestly, somewhere like Tildess is great because of the relatively small community. If you act a clown, you get ... shot down (did not mean to rhyme). Where as if you opened the floodgates? It'll be a return to Reddit's one line jokes and laughs everytime.
I think people have to know what they want. I wanted phpBB forums when I came here, I'm pleasantly surprised to find a community who wanted that (or at least something similar). There's no memes, No low-effort content, No nonsense that I have to wade through. We have some seriously hard conversations and some laughs at the same times and I really do enjoy the site. I tried Mastodon & Lemmy and cannot stand the communities that they have. They're the same walking examples of Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory day in and day out.
Tildes continues to feel homely, wholesome and really quite grownup compared to many other places. I think part of that is because the community DEMANDS that, I don't know how Demios would think about opening said floodgates.
Which is precisely why I would like to promote the idea of an ecosystem of small and nonprofit communities. Some people will be a good fit for Tildes but I don't want to bring them all here.
Re nazis, this is specific to Musk.
antisemitism on twitter
Conspiracy theorists, homophobes, neo-Nazis: Ten accounts that embody Twitter's change under Musk
Oh I know. The whole rise of the Far-Right and Twitter is partly due because of Musk's madness. Apologies, I didn't word any of what I said above particularly well! Bloody scary.
I honestly love the idea of promoting that wider. Worth a message to Demios to see if he's interested? Heck, some of these folks might be marketting types who can help.
You'd almost need to say what each type of site is for, granted these things are often taken over by users requirements very quickly (the old startup pivot)
I figured it was worth starting a conversation. I know this type of forum tends to attract introverts/quiet types but many of us can write and a few might be interested in speaking, who knows.
This might have been suggested somewhere before on this site but what if, as your account ages, you get to post more? As in, when you're brand new, you can't post anything yet. You have to learn how tildes operates and lurk to see the vibe of the community first. After a few days/a week, you get a few posts until you can't post anymore. Increase this as time goes on in combination to how many "votes" they earned in that time, or something? Maybe make the number of allowed posts shrink if they get too many "noise" or "malicious" etc labels. I'm not sure how the scaling would work, otherwise I'd probably have made my own version of social media by now. But this might make new people consider the quality of what they have to say instead of making a bunch of spam posts. It would also allow people with older accounts to retain their ability to post quality content since they already know and are dedicated to the feel of tildes.
Have you read about the Trust/Reputation system idea yet? Because your suggestions sound like they're along a parallel line of thinking to that.
Trust/Reputation isn't needed at the tiny scale Tildes is at right now though, which is why it hasn't been implemented. But if/when Tildes gets much much larger, and perhaps opens up registration (if it ever does), so requires more moderators and moderation, that's when Trust/Reputation will likely get looked at again.
cc: Thanks for the ping @boxer_dogs_dance
I feel like this is a somewhat different discussion than the point of the post, but these are questions worth asking. Pinging @Deimos or @cfabbro with feature requests will be taken seriously although Deimos in particular is quite busy running the site and has a day job. Edit, just a user speaking from my personal experience, not in any way speaking for the site.
Lurking while you wait for an invitation already provides that apprenticeship period for many.
I've been thinking about this a lot. Mostly about the question why there are so few alternatives to the big social media sites - do they get sold and shut down? It seems that everyone is looking for a good alternative to FB/Insta/whatnot these days, yet none are offered.
I would love to have something like a central landing page for the independent/non-profit slice of the Web. But the more I look, the more it seems like no such a thing exists yet.
Yeah, I find sites when articles are linked. I was unaware of Metacritic until this year.
It's an interesting thought. I've suggested Tildes to my own group in our third space, but no one really seems to want a new thing. It looks like bluesky was chosen, because people could connect there, where as Tildes is still a little isolated. I will share articles from Tildes, but not specifically the threads. So far I haven't had an invite to share, as well.
I 100% agree with Pioneer's post as well. This is a perfect place if it's exactly what you're looking for.
Edit for methods and strategies: connect with larger organizations; create public forums for geographically based groups without isolating particular demographics; clearly communicate what makes Tildes unique and relevant, to encourage people to visit. Send codes to notable people and intellectuals. Get a write up in magazines, specific to either your existing and/or target audience.
You can always share the invites@tildes.net email address if you know individuals who might be interested
How are you finding Bluesky? I was never a big Twitter person because it always felt like a platform where you have to keep talking or be ignored forever. I'm tempted to try this version, but I see it's invite-only.
As for Tildes, it's hard! I gave out three invite codes to friends and so far, only one has been redeemed. I think we might be a bit too discussion-heavy for most people (and I mean this in the sense that we like to debate things, not just talk).
I have had the best results mentioning Tildes to people on Reddit who are unhappy about a rude or assholish conversation.
I have tried to share Tildes with friends. Some are rejecting all social media. Some don't do anonymous message boards. Some say yes and don't follow up. I think you have to be motivated to make a change from what works for you now.
I have a bunch of bsky invites if you're interested. I personally find it ok but it's definitely a place that you have to be very aggressive in muting annoying accounts. Like, I browsed Twitter to look at funny pictures and cute animals, with the occasional meme or joke or life update. I don't ever want to see """discourse""" because public loosely moderated social media is probably the worst place for discussion humans have ever come up with. It makes middle school debate club look good. If you curate your feed bsky can be pretty fun.
Btw if you're planning on making a new social media site, I'd be happy to work for you to make a logo and brand theme for the site. Includes button graphics and icons, favicon, etc.
I'd love to be a part of something that makes a positive difference on the world.
Thanks for the offer. My own skills are not tech based. If leadership here ever starts a marketing campaign, it would be useful.
In the meantime, there is probably a nonprofit that would appreciate that type of contribution.