Sarah (Fackrell) Burstein
Okay, so some observations after a week of social media turmoil:
- A LOT of #LawTwitter people (including a fair number of law profs) migrated to Bluesky last weekend.
- It appears that many of them already had invite codes but didn't use them until Twitter melted down (again).
- Related: At least one of my friends noted that during the last Great Migration (November) they weren't really sure Twitter would implode, so they weren't ready to jump (or fully jump) quite yet
Stu Duerson, machina exo deus
This view may be obnoxious to most lawyers, so give me a good reason to believe otherwise...
I've contended that the necessity to be able to defend either side of a legal issue, in law school, removes the metric of morality for academic purposes. And regardless of the personal ethics qualifications to graduate & enter the bar, the sense of the propriety of a morality is never academically reinjected.
The same moral dispassion is being used in the selection of social media sites. The migration is not toward sites that reflect common community morality (i.e., away from sites that cater to inflammation, extremism, and creating bigotries), but toward those that provide the most extensive professional opportunity.
In short, I think there are many businesses that give little thought to the strength of good media leadership and reasonable conversation, in deference to profit, of which lawyering is one.
Erin Conroy
Absolutely, 100%. I think the same & think you nailed it.
Jill Dominguez
@nancylwayne @design_law I think you both make good points. I came here in fall of 2022 and instantly felt the tone change—I felt welcomed. I set up lots of # to follow. Once I found the accounts I wanted to follow, I deleted some # and now see the content I want to see—mostly real people posting about their own interests. Different platforms offer different experiences—Mastodon offers the social part of social media, which is what I’ve been looking for.
Sarah (Fackrell) Burstein
@nancylwayne I think some people do. And, as we've discussed ad nauseum on here before, the way some people explain instances can seem kind of intimidating, like you have to make this big, life-or-death choice before you've even tried the thing. I understand why people are passionate about this issue but I really believe that where you start doesn't matter. Get people in then help them find an instance that's a good fit
Dr. Nancy Wayne ✅
@design_law I don't get it. I see people complaining that it's so hard to get started on Mastodon and build a community, but I'm a computer illiterate Mac user and had no problems and got up and running quickly. Do people want an algorithm to decide what posts and people you see?
Sarah (Fackrell) Burstein
- To my mind, the last point means that what we saw in some quarters wasn't so much a rejection of the fedi as much as a timing/perception issue
- So, depending on what happens over there in the future, those people may ultimately be persuadable to try the fedi (or try it again)
- But, for now, the mass of people over there creates an undeniable gravitational pull for law people
Sarah (Fackrell) Burstein
- To be clear: I still believe in the fedi and strongly prefer Mastodon to Bluesky as a platform
- But I think it's worth thinking about why people are making the choices they are making now
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