Paul Cantrell
My institution (Macalester) finally ditched Twitter.
“We made this decision due to a sustained decrease in active users and engagement on the platform, as well as concerns about its integrity and longevity as a social media channel.”
No duh. Overdue, perhaps, but I say every departure deserves a celebration.
Paul Cantrell
Should Macalester be on Mastodon? I’d love to encourage them, though honestly I’m not sure.
Colleagues, yes, for sure. Lots of good chat about ideas here. But the institution?
Are they going to reach many prospective students here? Doubtful. Are people going to use Mastodon as a primary source of news about the institution? Also doubtful.
Opening a simple announcements-only account with links to school news seems like a good idea. But who fields replies? Is it worth their time to wade in?
Paul Cantrell
I can make an abstract case from the standard Fediverse fan vocabulary: no corporate ownership, institutional independence, social good, aligned with the college’s values, yada yada.
But putting myself in the shoes of a small, short-staffed communications staff, where every “yes” is a “no” to something else, is Mastodon •really• the wisest investment of their very limited resources? I have trouble making that case honestly.
Paul Cantrell
@RandomDamage
“Should” as in “that would be nice?” Sure.
“Should” as in “that’s a good use of time and money for an IT department that’s up to its eyeballs just keeping our godforsaken LMS online on a day-to-day basis?” Honestly…no. Just no. Not even remotely.
Daniel Taylor
@inthehands They should have their own server, as if it were e-mail.
Jenniferplusplus
@inthehands I think "being on mastodon" probably doesn't have much value for them, you're right. But, I think participating in the fediverse, by rubbing their own server, could be a worthy endeavor in it's own right. In the same way and for the same reasons that running a college newspaper or radio station. Just like email used to be.
Paul Cantrell
@ShadSterling @RandomDamage
Yeah, when there’s G-Suite but for Mastodon, then the conversation can move to moderation…which is an administrative headache even if it’s an “official announcements only” instance, but maybe tractable.
ShadSterling
@RandomDamage @inthehands if they want to handle it like email, they would pay some provider; as far as I know there are no such providers for mastodon, but maybe there will be in the future
Paul Cantrell
@jenniferplusplus
I think this is the argument with the winning ethic and ethos, though it’s hard to imagine it winning the day now. I do miss the days of university tech folks spinning up Usenet and Gopher just because nobody knew what they were doing and nobody really needed to stop them.
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