"Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02554-0
@w7voa I hope they all know there's a place they can come. I've been on Mastodon for over five years and it's always been a haven for scientists and artists. Early on it seemed almost exclusively composed of scientists, academics, and artists.
If you're a scientist and don't know how to research Twitter alternatives, I don't trust your other research.
@Hawkmoon @w7voa That's not the problem. I'm sure anyone can easily come up with a list of platforms that could be used.
With the old Twitter around, this wasn't a problem. It was THE platform to be on, no question. Everyone on the planet of any importance was on Twitter.
The question now is, for example, where are all the entomologists going to go? Where will they be five years from now? The answer is not at all clear and they want to make the best choice(s).
This happened to me when Google Plus was shut down in 2018-2019. To stay in touch with my friends I had to get on four new platforms that I was not using before: Diaspora, Mastodon, MeWe, and Reddit. Nowhere are all of my old friends together on one platform.
So is the answer then that they ought not be on any platform that is a) commercialized and b) centralized?
Maybe a consortium of universities should set up an academic Twitter alternative? Maybe they could it it in the fediverse as well?
What do you think would work best?
@Hawkmoon @w7voa I don't know. Universities would do well to support Mastodon by setting up instances, but there are problems with that like continuity. Nor is it necessary. The "entomologists", so to speak, could all come to Mastodon today and it would be great.
Right now, all the "entomologists" are casting about, trying to pick a platform. I don't know of any way they could all be reached, all over the world, to organize and get buy-in from them. They're going to spread out on various platforms creating the same problem I have today with my Google Plus friends.
I don't know of any way to solve this. It's especially difficult with smart people. Smart people think for themselves and organizing them is like trying to herd a bunch of cats. (That's not a criticism, just how it is. Haha.)
I wish I knew of an easy solution. I suspect there isn't one. It's really unfortunate because a lot of the synergy in many fields will be lost thanks to Twitter's demise.
