If you aren’t sure what The Fediverse is, here’s a decent overview.

If you aren’t sure who to follow, this is my Mastadon Account.

Basically, this is social media without all of the things you hate. It’s not owned by corporate goons–and in fact, if whoever is running your “instance” turns into a corporate goon, you can move to a different instance and keep your followers. You can even start your own instance if you have a little know how, and people in the Fediverse are eager to teach people how.

You can interact with people in different instances and pick up new eyeballs with your hashtags from any instance. They don’t sell advertising and the feeds are not driven by algorithms–they are chronological.

There are not nonstop dopamine hits–it’s just people talking to each other. As it should be. Which means it’s kept interesting with hashtag games and by what YOU put out there.

And yes, sometimes you get bored with it. Which is a great time to stretch a leg and finally do the things you would normally put off for one more scroll on a mainstream social media site.

You’ll see people from all over the world in the Fediverse, making it easy to see how the news is being covered in different parts of the world.

(And while you’re at it, why are you still using Google search when you could be using DuckDuckGo? It is AWESOME, and blocks websites and other interested parties from tracking your searches.)

If you are worried because you have a huge following on corporate social media and don’t want to lose them, start building your Fediverse social media and promote it to your followers now. You already have a ton of social media sites to maintain, I’m sure–throw this one in the mix, and instead of saying “Like and subscribe” at the end of your video or post, tell them to join you in the Fediverse.

Because this is our best shot for stopping our dependence on corporate social media. All is not lost–there is a place we can build something owned by the people.

The first step in thwarting the tech overlords is to need them for nothing. It’s a little like leaving an abusive spouse: start quietly getting ready for the move. Prime your support network to be there for you. And then run, girl, run!

My greatest Christmas wish is that we will collectively tell Meta, X and Google to fuck right off, and then not look back.

I will say this: it will be a little hard for a bit. You will suffer withdrawal from the lack of artificial dopamine. Your follower count will be low and you’ll wonder why you aren’t seeing engagement.

That’s because in real life it takes time to create bonds. But your followers are genuine and found you honestly.

People who have gotten where they are by gaming the system and appeasing algorithms and manipulating their audience will find it difficult to cope with having to be genuinely engaging as just themselves. People who are genuine and make great content with no care for the algorithms will find it a revelation. And people who go to social media to find friendship and community will find this slower, but ultimately more satisfying. Because it’s typically not people screaming hot takes at each other. And the fact that your every thought doesn’t receive cheers or jeers, and that those cheers and jeers won’t make you viral, means you’re never dead or cancelled over one misunderstood post. You’re never suddenly famous because of one off hand comment. Reposting and following and hashtags are all you get–meaning that if you ever DID go viral in the Fediverse, it would be because your post genuinely hit hard with every single person who encountered it–not because Zuck thinks your post is really handy for advertisers or for causing emotional states condusive to advertisers.

We do not have to live the way we’re living. And if you find yourself saying, “What can we do? What can we do??” Well, this is a crucial first step.

Because we can’t even talk about anything else we can do until we’re in a space that values our privacy.

I understand that everything about the Fediverse is filled with techy jargon and shit you don’t want to think about–thats because the people are in control. So there are a lot of ethical tech developers there who want to teach you. This is good.

But, if like me, you wish to not spend too much time learning new tech vocab words, it feels like regular social media once you get through the sign up process–you really only need to understand it all thoroughly if you want to start your own instance. But all of it is within your grasp. Really.

It’s social media at a human pace. And the more of us who are on it, the more engaging it will be.

But most importantly, a mass exodus from the corporate platforms to the Fediverse will make things much harder for the tech overlords.