I’ve always had a bad relationship with social media. I understand why people love them, though: if used consciously, they can be interesting or entertaining. It’s when I see professionals using social media platforms as the only channels to share their work that I raise my eyebrows. People in creative fields, especially, have completely abandoned personal platforms in favour of micro-blogging ones, which I find absurd.
I understand the need to reach as wide an audience as possible; it’s the same reason I’m still on social platforms owned by big tech companies, at least for now. What I don’t get is how anyone can think that putting their work exclusively on platforms where they have no control is a good idea.
“Keeping a blog costs too much time,” they’d tell me, and it’s true. Then they spend two hours a day scrolling a feed chosen by an algorithm, and I feel sick. Then again, I see them struggling to keep up with the latest trends and various upgrades (or downgrades, depending on your point of view), complaining about the time they waste. I don’t think time is the issue here.
Stories! You’re nobody if you don’t post six thousand stories a day!
Reels! You have to make super cool reels with (terrible) music in the background, or the algorithm won’t reward you!
I repeat, time isn’t the problem here: otherwise, you wouldn’t waste so much of it only to follow other people’s rules.
Then, okay, social media can be very useful for finding certain types of content. In fact, I don’t think I’ll cancel my Instagram or Twitter accounts just because so much counter-information is now only available there, even if it’s a paradox. But the time to give my work away to Zuckerberg or Musk, even though I’ve always given very little of it, is up.
I tolerated the idea of being on social media until the censorship began to be heavy, that jerk gave the Roman salute (you know who I’m referring to), Twitter’s name change to one with a very fascist echo, everyone’s open fascist drift, and the support for a genocidal state.
And I’m supposed to fuel all of this with my work? If there weren’t alternatives, fine, but there are.
THE FEDIVERSE!
I’ve always considered myself attentive to everything regarding the internet, but I swear the Fediverse slipped past me. And yet, Mastodon is quite popular!
I approached this new-to-me platform slowly because I have become suspicious. But can I say it’s awesome? It might seem like a nerdy, niche corner of the internet, but you can find absolutely everything there. Sure, you don’t go viral because there’s no algorithm pushing or suffocating you. But to me, the lack of an algorithm seems like a huge advantage. I don’t know what it feels like to go viral—if not on Twitter—but it doesn’t seem fundamental to me. In fact, going viral is quite a pain in the ass. You have to deal with people suddenly following you, and it can suck away time; I draw, I don’t do public relations.
I took two courses as a Social Media Marketing Manager because I wanted a better understanding of how the beast works and to see if I could find a way to use it to my advantage without giving away so much of my creative freedom. I graduated with top marks and the urge to burn every platform to the ground. I wanted to grab every user by the shoulders and shake them, shouting, “DON’T YOU GET WHAT THEY’RE DOING?” Because if you look at it from the inside, it’s pretty clear that social media is a sort of control tool for the masses. In fact, especially Instagram, has true devotees – almost like a religion. Except they feel cool, cutting-edge.
Influencers also make me laugh. People who earn millions and feel like freelancers, but are actually held hostage by social media. If tomorrow Zuckerberg sells Meta to the Emir of Stickistan, and he decides to blow it all up, I’d like to see what they do.
For all these reasons, Mastodon is like a breath of fresh air. The freedom is almost complete, up to the app you want to use for navigation. You aren’t forced to stay on the official one. I use Moshidon because it has a pink interface, and I am who I am: my priority is colour. Many things on Mastodon could improve, BUT THERE ARE NO FASCIST MILLIONAIRES IN CHARGE. I’m not making unnecessary money for people who will never pay enough taxes or wages, I’m not feeding my drawings to artificial intelligence, and I think that counts for something.
So, I left Instagram entirely, deleted all my posts, but kept my account. Same thing for Facebook.
I make one exception for YouTube. It’s owned by Google, unfortunately, and it’s flooded with ads. But I appreciate that over the years it hasn’t changed much and, most importantly, is still FULL of people creating interesting, useful, and funny videos. I also appreciate the average user, who is more educated. I believe preferring long-form content consumption is a trait of a certain type of person—more respectful ones. And everyone can get monetised and get a little reward without selling their soul. YouTube is still a nice way for creatives to have a little side income. Same thing for TikTok, I guess. With some attention to what you post and the permissions you give, of course.
I haven’t been on the Fediverse or Mastodon for long, but I’ve noticed positive changes recently. It’s getting more active, it’s livelier. Of course, it’s not free of problems, like somewhat strict server management, but no Mastodon server owner is a millionaire shooting rockets for fun or financing those who raze entire nations to the ground. And switching servers is a snap. You can even make your own.
I’ve always been attentive to the rights of animals and people (in that order), and to ecology. Feeding platforms that represent the exact opposite of all this invalidates my commitment. Especially lately, with hate being officially ‘de-stigmatised’ in the comments, and the various bots created solely to insult and stir up trouble. It’s all done on purpose to create division, and to me, it seems quite obvious. But people are still there, feeding the beast for fear of losing followers.
Do you remember how beautiful the internet was in the beginning? Do you know why it was beautiful? Because there was so much individual, personal work. I remember certain blogs by artists, designers, and creatives in general, maybe unknown ones, that were a feast for the eyes. Now it’s all flattened, colourless. But it can change. And maybe, it’s already changing.
P.S. If you miss Instagram, Pixelfed is the same, but without terrible music and ads. On the Fediverse, there is everything!
