⁂ Article
Criticism of the word ’microblogging’, outlining a few actual properties (rather than post length), pessimistic
Let’s talk quickly about the term ’microblog’.
For ’microbloggers’, publishing and thinking for clout, the term implies that a worthy blog post should be longer. In Mastodon/Pleroma interactions, length in itself can be perceived as an authority argument.
Now the usual microblogging mechanisms are the following:
- Built-in following/followers mechanism,
- clout-related notifications (favs/click-shares/followings), and
- a sort of interdependant federation mechanism (whether centralized or through a protocol).
Emphasis on the word ’interdependant’: the federation mechanisms are meant to create loose fabrics of mutual dependance, that depend themselves on their federation mechanisms. There will always be switching costs with ’microblogging’ services, that will be higher for the most abused, disabled, isolated, dependant, vulnerable people.
I’ll try to get a French research lab in touch with the Bonfire developers instead of pouring this pessimism of discutable quality 😅