Here's my 1-month #review of #CoSo following my migration from #Twitter.
Thread follows, but tl;dr - while I miss some aspects of Twitter, CoSo is a completely different experience and I've found a whole new side to social media that I'm really enjoying. I just need to put the effort in so that I get more out!
(1/4)
(2/4)
I like the Firehose. It's nice to jump on now and again for a random snippet of interaction; the general tone is far more conversational than confrontational, which is such a nice change of pace.
It's easy to avoid doomscrolling, mainly due to the general lack of doom! Filters are a necessity, helping simultaneously keep focus and avoid the esoteric and the yawn-inducing. Fortunately this are easy to use. #cosomusic is a particular highlight that deserves some time .
(3/4)
I mainly use mobile, but when I am on desktop the ability to pin tagged subjects is really useful, especially during an event. I should make more effort to sit down with it every so often instead of using the mobile app.
coso has not been able to replace Twitter for news & original content , I see this is as being purely down to the smaller scale and lack of organisations & notable individuals on the platform. How am I supposed to troll my local MP now? 😅
(4/4)
I would be interested to see how CoSo would change if it got _really_ popular...so here's hoping!
One of the big benefits I've seen is that after a week or so off Twitter I stopped randomly unlocking my phone to check something I'd just been looking at.
Do I miss Twitter? Yes, but not as much as I thought I would. The real acid test is whether I would go back to Twitter if it was magically de-Musked tomorrow? All things considered...I don't think I would. So I guess I'm here to stay.
@CrowTheory
The real benefit of CS is the non-troll, non-pile on & non-hashtag tweeters that twitter has.
I have just spent few months tracking troll accounts, their ALTs & working out who they are, grabbing account info for when they morph their accounts with name changes and putting it on a database to manage & cross reference.
So a place without the need for that, is kind of useful.
Internet safe environments are needed for adults too, not just children.
@DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory Counter.social is slowly becoming a space that I highly value for the insights, intelligent discussions, and supportive messaging that shows up here when I really need it most. No other SM offers this kind of community, and honestly, I doubt any other will ever be able to match CoSo for this unique reason as well.
@PaganMother @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory
You are very right, counter social is for your more classy user.
We have a small community Discord board we use, that we set up for like minded folk from Twitter, but its a closed network and not comparable.
@OrdinaryGuyUK @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory Exactly, I have a small discord server of my own that is mainly for the neurodiverse gamers and folks with mental health issues to co mingle and just chill together. It's no where near in comparison to CS. But it's cozy!
@PaganMother @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory
Our Discord server is used for domestic abuse survivors to have a safe place, where we can keep the predators away.
We also burn rooms regularly & replace, but keep them in a limited access burn bag just in case need to refer back for any reason.
Also with breakout places, limited access & hidden rooms depending on user profile risk to level of access granted.
We have other servers for intelegence gathering on trolls & the like, for community safety.
@OrdinaryGuyUK @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory That's pretty awesome! I'm a DA survivor still working thru the trauma years after the abuse took place. Pretty clever way to keep predatory types out.
@PaganMother @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory
Afraid for us, were still just surviving, rather than survived (pas tense).
But the Discord, plus the twitter community, we have been in deep dive mode tracking undesirables, their accounts, which ALT is which MAIN profile etc.
We also are aware of behaviour of covert hostiles, from within the network & the % trust to be allocated to each user, so have become a sort of resource for many as we know the behavour patterns "in the market".
@PaganMother @DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory
All our Discord servers are set up with laberyinth of hidden rooms, allocated on trust score basis, & value of intel received.
We also have a no lurker policy, so recently ejected fair number of users ... but did it as a fake server closing down to avoid suspicion & confrontation as to "why was I booted".
So we put a note to say closing server, week later, titanic sinking gifs then booted them out with server closing down message to be subtle but achieve.
If you ever have the need to DM for anything not suitable in the public domain, feel free.
@OrdinaryGuyUK I appreciate it, thank you for all that you and your collective does. Safe spaces and retreats for DMV victims and survivors is in short supply in the world these days, that's a hell of a task to take on and I fully support it.
@DoxyMus1c How do you think the environment might be affected if CoSo gains, say, 10 times the user base in a year's time?
@CrowTheory
Still a newbie, but my guess would be that the community fire hose would end up with accounts tick boxing their interests, so the firehose could be filtered to more aligned interests as a way to stop the screen scrolling & information overload with stuff that is totally irrelevant to somebodys focus.
Having said that, its nice to see random stuff, but not if it means screen scroll.
@CrowTheory
Online protection & anti-troll measures would also be the biggest challenge.
But think CS has it cracked by eliminating problem countries totally, & would also have a better take on any bot algorithms detection than other platforms as Jester is code & criteria focused background, so an achiever, rather than a a shiny objects person that well, dont achieve😂 .
@DoxyMus1c @CrowTheory I'm really glad to have a safe space like this place has turned out to be. There's been a few times I've brought out grievances and issues I'm working through here to my followers to just discuss and figure things out and found so much support and so many wonderfully caring people here to talk to and help work through it all a little at a time. It's a blessing and a relief to have a place that I can do that safely without being harassed/trolled over the struggles I face.