I have been toying with spending more time on social media alternatives to Facebook. I spent a great deal of time writing on Facebook during the Trump administration explaining my opposition to his behavior and Republican policies. I posted close to daily and as the election of 2020 approached several times a day. I wrote elsewhere as well, but all of my political activities were focused on Facebook and its larger user base.
I have explored alternatives to Facebook before, but my reasons had nothing to do with politics. My reasons include a) a concern that Facebook has grown far too large limiting the development of competitors because of the network effect and b) because I object to Facebook’s confirmation bias and emotion encouraging biases that it uses to increase attention to the platform.
I have explored several alternatives and I have been disappointed to discover that these platforms have decided to encourage a pro-Trump bias (MeWe and Parler) in what appears to be a desperate attempt to attract users who believe Facebook is anti-free speech and anti-conspiracy. I am interested in encouraging educational topics and the last thing I want is to spend time on platforms that have become a refuge for extremists with anarchist views of the world. I don’t see educators being attracted to MeWe if it gains this attention.
I will have to wait a few weeks until the aftermath of the election dies down and see what happens.