I honestly have a lot of empathy for people who are having trouble letting go of Twitter because they used to be popular, or very engaged, there. I made amazing relationships there, and there was a time when I really loved the feedback loop I had. (I didn’t care that much about being “known”, but I valued the access it gave me.) It’ll be years before the fediverse reaches its own equivalent strengths, and I don’t fault anyone for struggling to transition from a familiar (if failing) platform.
I hope public agencies transition to Mastodon soon.
When there's an emergency public notification (earthquake, flood, wildfire, mass shootings, tornado, hurricane; all the favorites of Republican billionaire donors)
People who were suspended from Twitter or are boycotting Twitter or refuse to use Twitter aren't getting these alerts now
Public safety.
@Npars01 @anildash I did some work on this last fall. It is a hard problem. There are major Mastodon instances that would defederate from other instances that provided accounts to government agencies Government really needs dedicated instances, but that means moderating, and moderating (as opposed to using a system that is generally moderated) is a hell of a legal and policy challenge. Also, there are no govtech vendors with experience running Mastodon servers.
Hard. But it's being solved.
@cajun_cheechako @Npars01 It’s absolutely not. Which underrepresented communities do you think are sitting around listening to terrestrial radio?
@anildash @Npars01 sorry, been away for a while. I think it really depends. Visiting my dad near North Miami Beach we got WEA alerts on our cell phones. Of course a lot of people don't have cell phones. Generally for emergency info, if people are mobile, for social media to work folks need a phone with a plan (and data). Radio is nearly ubiquitous and a small radio is inexpensive.
We live in Alaska and cell service is often unreliable - if there is even coverage.
This is a post from a friend north of us, in the small village of McGrath. They have an FM station and small FM translators further out in nearby villages.
"At the end of the day, the week… my only real hope is that I am maintaining the legacy of news, weather and community event info that people have depended on KSKO for in the last 42 years. … especially for those who have no smartphone or internet or tv or all of the above.
I hope along with that hope that people get a good mix of local info and entertainment along with national/international news/talk/info/entertainment. I don’t want KSKO to just be yak yak yak and blah blah blah talk or news… I want it to be FUN!
It’s alot of weight on one persons shoulders every week but I’m pretty sure I’m doing a good job in all of those respects.
Despite the mis-steps I may make or the on air gaffes that may happen, people understand I’m a team of one.
No, I’m not looking for a bunch of yes-Men, pitty, people to agree with me or pay me a compliment…. Because I wouldn’t still be where I am with no plans of leaving if I wasn’t doing a good job.
But… knowing our audience and often the lack of internet or tv in many households, that hope I mentioned at the beginning of this post is what drives me, keeps me going, what I am for and what I keep in mind when I make decisions here and what helps Me sleep at night"