This will be the 78th #HealthXPH tweet chat I will moderate. Will it be the last? We’ve been here before. I moderated a #HealthXPH tweet chat in May 2021, asking Why are you still on Twitter? Back then, I don’t think we knew that Elon would be taking over. June this year, I celebrated my 13th year on Twitter. Unlucky? Will this be my last year on Twitter? February 2022, I moderated a tweet chat entitled Twitterverse: Healthy Debate or Bardagulan? Twitter was becoming more and more toxic. By May 2022, I was already asking Are you staying on Twitter? When December 2022 came, my tweet chat blog post title was #HealthXPH: We’re still on Twitter! Elon was asking tweeps to pay for blue checks. And #HealthXPH did stay on Twitter in 2023. But over the past few months, we’ve noticed lower engagement. Are our tweets still being seen? Elon’s algorithm could be de-prioritizing the #HealthXPH feed, who knows? Two #HealthXPH tweet chats ago, our moderator was informed he hit the Twitter limit. He could not tweet!
Recently, Meta launched Threads and so again we ask ourselves, should #HealthXPH stay on Twitter? Are you staying on Twitter? I joined the Med Mastodon server November 2022 during what we can call the first Twitter exodus. But I became inactive on it after several weeks as most of my personal learning network was still on Twitter. And Twitter didn’t exactly die as predicted. Now we are seeing another massive Twitter exodus though this time to Threads. I will NEVER join Threads. Meta has enough data on me as it is with my Facebook and IG account. NO MORE! And so since last week, I’ve gone back to Mastodon. I am earnestly trying to rebuild my personal learning network there. It will not likely be composed of the same people I followed on Twitter. The Med Mastodon server has certainly quieted down as compared to when it was first launched. And at the back of my mind, I’m thinking should I step into the Fediverse with both feet in by hosting a #HealthXPH server. It won’t be free and it will require time and effort. Looking back, I actually joined the Fediverse in 2020 though I never became active on the University of the Philippines server. There is a call for universities to put up their own Mastodon instances. Dobusch cites several reasons why universities should venture into the Fediverse but let me single out sociality.
Universities have always been much, much more than what happens in the lecture hall. In the exchange among each other, between „peers,“ probably just as much knowledge transfer happens as in the courses themselves – not to mention lifelong friendships and networks.
Leonhard Dobusch, https://netzpolitik.org/2023/a-call-to-action-universities-of-the-world-into-the-fediverse/
Why even the Dutch government has recently put up their own Mastodon server for their citizens! But why is it so painful to leave Twitter behind? I used to call myself a Twitter evangelist. I’ve established a personal learning network on Twitter. There’s switching costs!
“Switching costs” are all the pain-points associated with switching from one product to another — throwing away your charging cables and apps when you switch phone brands, or throwing away all your friends when you switch social media platforms.
Cory Doctorow, https://doctorow.medium.com/let-the-platforms-burn-6fb3e6c0d980
Let’s discuss this on Saturday 15 July 2023 9 pm Manila time at the #HealthXPH tweet chat.
T1. Did you sign up for Threads? Why or why not?
T2. What are your considerations for a social media platform to replace Twitter?
T3. What are your thoughts about the Fediverse?
If you’d like to follow me on Mastodon, you can find me as @endocrine_witch@med-mastodon.com. If you’d like to follow me on Mastodon, here’s the easiest guide I found to navigate the Fediverse.