What are you looking for in social media? (1/N)

privacy.thenexus.today/what-ar…

Since you're seeing this on fedi -- or Bluesky, Blacksy, or elsewhere in the ATmosphere -- you already know the value of alternative social media that's not controlled by techbro white supremacist CEO's who make money by exploiting their users and working with their cronies in authoritarian governments.

But, what we have today is only the tip of the iceberg of what's possible.

#fediverse #ATmosphere #ActivityPub

What are you looking for in social media?

Enquiring minds want to know!

^{Jon (The Nexus Of Privacy)}

What are you looking for in social media? (2/N)

It's not just a rhetorical question, I really am curious!

You can respond with a reply to this post, via the pol.is conversation here, or -- if you're on fedi -- in the polls below. I'll write up the results later this month.

What are you looking for in social media? (3/N)

The first in a series of polls. UPDATE: there are now a couple more polls with suggestions I hadn't included in the original list!

You can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• A Twitter replacement (22%, 99 votes)
• A place to stay in touch with friends (43%, 195 votes)
• A place to meet new peopl (58%, 263 votes)
• Discussions on technical topics (56%, 251 votes)
• Music, photography, art, books, and other creative stuff (65%, 292 votes)
• Potential job opportunities (13%, 59 votes)
• Promoting my music, photography, writing, art, etc (23%, 103 votes)
• Breaking news (47%, 210 votes)
• Mutual aid (19%, 88 votes)
• A socia lnetwork that's not run by a corporation making money from my data (89%, 398 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (4/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• Political information and thought (61%, 127 votes)
• Activism and organizing that won't get shut down or suppressed by commercial networks (65%, 134 votes)
• Anarchist perspectives (35%, 74 votes)
• A place I *don't* have to hear about the US politics all the time (30%, 62 votes)
• A place I don't have to deal with white supremacists, terfs, and nazis (69%, 144 votes)
• An ad-free environment (85%, 177 votes)
• Stuff that will make me laugh (71%, 147 votes)
• nformation and/or support about health, medicine, and welliness (30%, 62 votes)
• A place that's calmer and quieter than commercial social networks (65%, 135 votes)
• I'm not sure! (6%, 13 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (5/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• Interesting posts about the natural world and great outdoors (73%, 104 votes)
• Science news (74%, 106 votes)
• Advice (23%, 33 votes)
• Alternative points of view that I wouldn't otherwise be exposed to (64%, 92 votes)
• Fandom-related news, discussions, events (34%, 49 votes)
• Alt-text on pictures (54%, 77 votes)
• Arts and educational information (60%, 86 votes)
• Shitposting (51%, 73 votes)
• Something to make me think. (69%, 98 votes)
• A place where I'm in control of what I do and don't see (78%, 111 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (6/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• Bird and nature photography (58%, 71 votes)
• Gardening tips and discussion (41%, 51 votes)
• Astronomy, astrophysics, space (56%, 69 votes)
• Short videos (27%, 33 votes)
• Longer videos (15%, 19 votes)
• Weather and emergency alerts (29%, 36 votes)
• Recipes and cooking discussion (39%, 48 votes)
• Hashtag discussions during events and movies (#mosterdon ftw!) (39%, 48 votes)
• Gaming-related (online and TTRPG) (32%, 40 votes)
• Something to replace #AcademicTwitter (24%, 30 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (7/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• World news (67%, 88 votes)
• Sports news and discussions (6%, 9 votes)
• Privacy tips (including online and in the physical world) (70%, 91 votes)
• Tarot, Astrology, Magic, and/or Occult (10%, 14 votes)
• A place where people agree that trans rights are human rights (84%, 110 votes)
• An anti-racist environment (91%, 119 votes)
• A place where I can feel safe (69%, 90 votes)
• nteracting with people from different countries (85%, 111 votes)
• Learning and improving my skills at new languages (31%, 41 votes)
• Amusement and whimsy (78%, 102 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (8/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can check more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• Cats (51%, 68 votes)
• Dogs (35%, 46 votes)
• News and current affairs from my own country (64%, 84 votes)
• Connecting with like-minded people (81%, 107 votes)
• Effective moderation where issues I report are taken seriously (74%, 97 votes)
• A pro-LGBTQIA2S+ environment (77%, 102 votes)
• A place where I don't have to deal with AI slop (90%, 119 votes)
• A way to interact with people who know me but would prefer to stay anonymous (42%, 55 votes)
• Communicating with government agencies (16%, 22 votes)
• Not getting locked into a single platform (64%, 85 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (9/N)

Thanks everybody for the responses so far, here's a couple of new polls including some excellent suggestions that came in. If you've got other ideas, share them in the comments here -- or in the pol.is conversation (which also lets you disagree with stuff you don't want)

• Accurate, weird information about things I didn't know I would care about (93%, 14 votes)
• Being able to move all my data elsewhere (60%, 9 votes)
• A home for artists, similar to what Deviant Art used to be (60%, 9 votes)
• A place to have *long* and fruitful conversations (33%, 5 votes)
• Connection with local (country) community (66%, 10 votes)
• Ability to use a pseudonym (66%, 10 votes)
• Community features in addition to a "global town square" option (46%, 7 votes)
• Comment sections with the ability to hide and delete comments on my posts (53%, 8 votes)
• A chance to be heard by fellow professionals (33%, 5 votes)
• A place that’s safe for POC anime fans to interact (33%, 5 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (10/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can choose more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• Extremely easy onboarding (33%, 11 votes)
• Less mansplaining (51%, 17 votes)
• A place to see and be seen (36%, 12 votes)
• Long posts with no character limits (27%, 9 votes)
• Rich formatting and inline images (27%, 9 votes)
• Actual conversations with people I disagree with (36%, 12 votes)
• Safe place for NSFW artists, without sex-negativity and neo-purity culture (54%, 18 votes)
• No algorithms (66%, 22 votes)
• The ability to choose and customize algorithms (36%, 12 votes)
• Rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, rats, mice, and other little friends (45%, 15 votes)

What are you looking for in social media? (11/N)

Another poll in the series ... you can choose more than one response, and if you've got other suggestions please leave them in the replies.

• a place that takes constant and aggressive actions to avoid anti-blackness and misogyny (75%, 9 votes)
• A place with safety team to handle anti-Blackness, racism, etc when it happens. (100%, 12 votes)
• Something to replace "buy nothing" Facebook groups (25%, 3 votes)
• Discussions with people in my neighborhood (without Nextdoor's racism) (33%, 4 votes)
• A place to organize to fight bad internet reuglation like ChatControl, age verification, KOSA etc (75%, 9 votes)
• A new and different kind of social media I haven't seen before! (41%, 5 votes)
• A "community bulletin board" of local events (41%, 5 votes)
• Independent media (66%, 8 votes)
• Discovering new authors (75%, 9 votes)
• Discussions that *aren't* public for the whole world to see (50%, 6 votes)