#xitter determines what people see just like #CBS etc does. do you have a problem with that process or just who controls it because so many people still use them? being serious about all this requires looking at it as a fight for decentralized media in general. where info and opinion are end nodes, but we decide together which ones deserve attention. #DemocracyOfReach

Decentralized media needs to mean not just independent creators but also a great experience for the consumer. That's the legacy of podcasting. Great apps that make it easy to pull everything in. But now we can also add our social graphs. Our priorities should be doing that for long form writing and video. But also music, radio and audiobooks etc. Great apps for mobile but also the web. Searching in any app should show basically everything that exists in that format.

The threat to capitalism is competitive markets, and they are made possible by an open protocol. By making everybody an endpoint instead of part of the connective tissue. Platform coops where necessary. We're coming for these bastards. #SocialWeb

#bluesky has the decentralized social media movement somewhat frozen because their approach is built on VC funding. they've built something that may be decentralized enough, but feels centralized. that makes it easy to grow, so they dominate the space. but they are doing it using money they will have to pay back many times. we'll only know how their design works in the long-term once we see how they choose to sustain themselves, and how users deal with those imposed costs.

Being a digital artist shouldn't involve promotion. The rest of us are supposed to do that for you, if we think the work deserves it. Our culture is shit because the machines of mass media, now algo media, dominate attention. It could be different, with no way to force your work on others. What you discover would be because somebody you trusted thought it was worth your time. That's the promise of decentralized social media displacing all the other media business models.

re #threads decentralized social media isn't damaged by who is here. that's the whole point - it's open. like the decentralized WWW has Nazi sites nobody sees. we struggle partially because people think they need to protect it and decide that involves telling others how to properly participate. the only problem on decentralized networks without algos is unwanted tagging of any kind. like spam. forcing yourself into someone's attention. welcoming them (and everyone else) was/is a good thing.

I'm haunted by the dream of finding a way to democratize attention and support artists without corporations taking a commission, because I grew up at the "wrong time" with divorced parents. My formative years were when both the internet and alternative music were taking off, and I had the opportunity to immerse myself in them. A computer job paying to see so many concerts. So I believe in that better world. Those possibilities are etched in my soul. #DemocracyOfReach #PublicPatron