The TikTok ban (and subsequent overturn) has been… interesting, to say the least. Once people decided the TikTok ban was real, they flocked to a Chinese app that is named after Mao’s book of communist propaganda as a “screw you” to the American government. Cultural exchange was happening in an unprecedented way and added fuel to the fire of class consciousness ignited by the United Healthcare CEO situation. TikTok went dark for half a day before it was brought back with a “thank you President Trump” message that people are rightfully clocking as propaganda.
At the same time, folks have fled Elon Musk’s Twitter that has been enshittified to hell. (Enshittification definition). Zuckerberg, also kissing Trump’s ass, has decided to roll back harassment protections for queer and trans people, and women (probably other marginalized groups too, tbh). He’s gotten rid of (to the extent it actually existed) fact checking on Facebook because apparently facts are too biased. And while it’s (temporarily) discontinued to my knowledge, Meta was also introducing AI profiles in order to drive engagement, as opposed to genuine conversations, because the former lines his pockets more.
I think this is a tipping point. People are realizing that these tech companies have our worst interests at heart. They fuck around with our data, they keep us numb to the suffering that we and others experience, and they drive us apart. They have been valuable tools for disseminating information and building communities in some capacities. But I think we’re entering a new era.
I have questions more than anything. I want to get off most of these platforms (Meta-owned, Twitter, TikTok). Do I find alternatives? The fediverse stuff (google it) seems interesting, though there’s a learning curve and without large scale uptake, not going to find the same kind of interactions we’re used to having on social media. Does going to an alternative just mean giving a different capitalist money? How are we going to organize? How are we going to disseminate information?
I hope this drives us to get into real-life communities more. I hope people take that lesson from this. We’ve lost that skill and I hope we relearn it. In the interim, I hope we can invest some time in some good discussions around how we divest from the capitalists’ tech while maintaining connections for each other for information sharing. I’d love feedback from anyone else thinking about these things
Hola #vamonosjuntas, hace tiempo que mi cuenta en Facebook estaba sin usar, así que aproveché del #vamonosjuntas para cerrarla definitivamente. Francamente me costó dejar mis contactos, ya que la mayoría se quedó allá. Veo que la mayoría de las publicaciones aquí viene desde Mastodon. Yo opté por friendica y -aunque aun estoy experimentando- me parece mucho mejor que Facebook. Espero que llegue más gente aquí para que el fediverso se establezca mejor en todas partes.
Zwarte katten zijn vaak de pineut. Mensen willen ze niet uit een vreemd soort bijgeloof. welke overigens cultuurgebonden is. Waar ergens ze als helpers van duivels en heksen worden beschouwd, zijn het elders geluksbrengers. Ik ben een gelukkig mens! Met twee beauties in huis en een tijdlang een zwarte zwerver te hebben verzorgd en een goed thuis hebben weten te bezorgen, zijn het voor mij pure geluksbrengers. Zoals elke kat 😊! Ontmoet huiskatten Magica en Onyx en ex-zwerver Humphrey:
@˜”*°• Papigoe 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🏴 🇳🇴 There are likely just none that came to your instance yet. Give it some time, if there are enough active users, you'll get some.
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
The land's sharp features seemed to be The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.
In them you will find the heritage of parents and grandparents from Central America, Africa, the Caribbean, the British Isles, and Most of Europe. As they have grown and matured, they also represent a multitude of CIS and LGTBQ backgrounds as well. Indeed, many of them have now chosen partners of their own that they love and cherish, regardless of their DNA or their cultural and sexual identities.
And some of them are now having children of their own! Evelia and I as Great-Grandparents, who would have believed it???
I cannot express how proud I am to have been a part of their lives and how much I believe that their background and beliefs have enriched mine.
I am also aware that while we have come far with regards to diversity and tolerance, we still have a long ways to go. It wasn’t that many years ago that there were places myself, my Wife, and our own children could not go without a look, a remark, or a singular attitude that made it clear our mixed family was an aberration that wasn’t approved of. Over a lifetime of marriage however, we saw more acceptance and in good moments, indifference, which is the ultimate acknowledgment that the color of our skins didn’t matter when it came to who we chose to love and who we choose to be.
But the struggle remains real, and I will concede that when, many years ago and many times revised now, I wrote the first version of this tribute to the work of Martin Luther King, I truly believed that in the United States at least I would see the day when everyone would be judged by the Content of Their Character, instead of the Color of Their Skin, Who They Choose to Love, Or Who They Identify As. However as I reach my 60th year in this World, and on this day of stark contrasts in the way our leaders wish to define that path forward, I have come to the sad conclusion that it won’t fully happen in my lifetime.
But like Dr. King, I still believe it will someday happen, and the three(!!!) generations that now succeed me in my and Evelia’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are the reason why.
For they are the colorblind generations, and they are the Leaders of the future. Their diversity and the way they see the world continue to instill in me unshakable faith that The Dream will be achieved.
Thank you, Mr. King for continuing to show us the way.
Hello. I'm wanting to ditch FB so I'm trying out some other non-techbro social media platforms. Is Friendica a good option? How about Counter Social, Hive Social, or Diaspora?
The thing that friendica has over sites like Counter Social and Hive Social (and to a certain extent diaspora) is that it is a part of what is known as the fediverse. In short, the fediverse is a network of social media sites that communicate with each other, and share content within each other's feeds. So you will see posts on Friendica from a bunch of different places around the web, including Mastodon (a twitter like site), Pixelfed (an Instagram like site), WordPress, flipbook, Bluesky, and many others. The other benefit is that these platforms are not owned by a single individual, but rather are independent servers hosting open source software. You can communicate seamlessly between all of these servers, both within the platform, and between platforms. So it is a diverse and decentralized ecosystem of social networks, vs a single privately owned social network that are those other sites you mentioned, making it immune to takeover by billionaires. Diaspora is technically a part of the fediverse, but only marginally. It is also not really being developed by the original creators as far as I know, whereas friendica is still under active development and improvement.
The only downside to Friendica as I see it is the learning curve, but there are lots of helpful people on here willing to help you learn, so don't be afraid to ask questions!
Hi, I am new to Friendica! I like the inteface, I think this could be a great alternative to FB/Meta. The only thing it needs is a LOT more users. Could there be a grassroots, coordinated effort to make this a happening place?
I totally agree. I think #freeourfeeds is a good campaign to get involved with, but other than that I am not hearing much talk of it. I have tried to get my family and friends to join, to no avail.
I'd like to create a new group here on Friendica, not sure how to go about it. I don't have the option on the right side of the Contacts page, as per the manual. I was thinking of creating one art and one tech group.
So setting up a group is like finding a needle in a haystack at the moment. You go to your main feeds tab (the square with 3x3 dots), then go to groups, and you will see a plus sign to the right of that small box. That is how you create a group. You will then be prompted to make a new account, which will serve as the page for the group itself. That account can then be updated in the "accounts" section in the drop down at the top right, to make it a community group, which is the type of group that allows users to join and start/participate in discussions.
I followed your instructions, and couldn't find the aforementioned plus sign. I did find an option to create a managed account in the settings though. Perhaps I can't find it because I'm currently not following any groups?
That is strange that you cannot see the plus sign. Here is a picture of what it looks like on mobile, with the plus sign circled in blue. The accounts page is definitely another way to go about it, but most people would not think adding an account is how you would create a group, so better explanation/UI would be helpful.
Can't see the screenshot right now either ("resource may become available later"), will try to remember the conversation and return later to see if the server is happier then.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day. A day to honor King, a great leader, a champion of human rights, one of history’s greatest Americans. This takes precedence over any other events today as I’m sure everyone will understand.
Rob Meyer
in reply to Susan Barthel • •The thing that friendica has over sites like Counter Social and Hive Social (and to a certain extent diaspora) is that it is a part of what is known as the fediverse. In short, the fediverse is a network of social media sites that communicate with each other, and share content within each other's feeds. So you will see posts on Friendica from a bunch of different places around the web, including Mastodon (a twitter like site), Pixelfed (an Instagram like site), WordPress, flipbook, Bluesky, and many others. The other benefit is that these platforms are not owned by a single individual, but rather are independent servers hosting open source software. You can communicate seamlessly between all of these servers, both within the platform, and between platforms. So it is a diverse and decentralized ecosystem of social networks, vs a single privately owned social network that are those other sites you mentioned, making it immune to takeover by billionaires. Diaspora is technically a part of the fediverse, but only marginally. It is also not really being developed by the original creators as far as I know, whereas friendica is still under active development and improvement.
The only downside to Friendica as I see it is the learning curve, but there are lots of helpful people on here willing to help you learn, so don't be afraid to ask questions!
Susan Barthel
in reply to Rob Meyer • •