X makes you complicit, it's time for nonprofits to act
Why remain on a platform that directly opposes your organisations morals?
I'll start by admitting that I am angry. The thread that weaves between the lines of this blog is red and spiteful. But I think it's time we acknowledged our emotions.
A week ago, Trump won the U.S. election. Again.
People across the US voted for a man who is a convicted criminal, over a qualified woman of colour. They voted for the comfort and easy lifestyle of the deceitful, rich, white man.
I wonder if the American dream is really to be a white man, a rich white man, with an eagle on his passport?
One white man who chased that American dream, is South African-born Elon Musk, CEO of X (formly Twitter) among other things. Boy, did he achieve it.
Twitter was once a platform loved by many. It was hub of journalism, information sharing, communities, diversity, and knowledge. When placed in Musk's hands, it was moulded into a weapon.
That weapon turned on the people that loved Twitter. The sharp edges of the X cut and now we see the red blood spilt across the American polls.
X bent to Musk's own politics. The rise of the far-right white man. The true American dream.
Musk and X lobbied for Trump, spread targeted misinformation, misled American people, and used the funding to fly a convicted felon around the country.
X is not Twitter, we've been saying that for a long time. But the context continues to change. X is now a political tool.
Nonprofits must leave X
With The Newmast Foundation, I have been working to help individuals and organisations leave X for well over a year.
I've said it before but it's hard. Surprisingly hard.
Many of these organisations will have a noble mission, an ethical core, and a list of external actions. Internally, they are quite happy, how they get the message out doesn't matter so long as it gets out.
I get it, a nonprofit - especially one that relies on donation - needs an audience. It needs people to share its message, to donate, to become activists bearing the weight of their flag.
But the context has changed.
A nonprofit continuing to post to X is not only unwelcome by the crowd growing there, but they are complicit in what is to come.
That's why 62% of nonprofits active on X have already begun building a presence on new and emerging platforms.
90% are looking to Threads, the Meta run micro-blogging service that offers the most Big Tech. 15% are on Bluesky, built by an ex-Twitter splinter group. 13% are looking to set up on Mastodon, a network of servers built on an open-standard protocol (Activity Pub). And a final 10% are moving to Discord, often used as an instant messaging service [M+R Benchmarks Report].
These numbers are growing. On Bluesky alone, numbers of new users continue to surge past expectations.
Here are UK & US BlueSky numbers separately, to show what’s driving the trends: • Aug 3rd: Musk says ‘civil war is inevitable’ in UK during far right riots • Oct 17th: Musk changes the block function on X, prompting a massive exodus • Nov 7th: thousands more migrate in aftermath of Trump victory
— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch.bsky.social) 2024-11-13T11:57:45.949Z
The Alternative
The platforms above are all (bar Discord) a part of a larger network. A web of social platforms without walls, letting your posts escape them and reach the shores of another. This has many names, but I like the open social web or New Social.
Think of email, imagine how bad it would be if we all needed HotMail accounts. Why have we grown used to social media working this way?
This is the future of social media. It allows your nonprofit to hold a space, own a space, and never have to submit to a platforms politics.
Now, it's not quite all singing and all dancing yet - we're still at the humming a recognisable tune stage.
There are still a few technical hiccups that are being ironed out but with each platform working independently, it's a wonder that it works at all! But this spirit of open collaboration, doing something for good, rather than profit, fuels this space.
That sounds perfect for a nonprofit, right?
Joining New Social
The first step is simple, make an account on an alternative platform and start posting.
You won't instantly get the same level of followers that you had on a platform you've been on for years - of course not - but you have to start somewhere.
Do not just set up an account, post a few things, and vanish again. Invest half of the time you spend on X elsewhere, then slowly increase that number. You'll see that many people want to follow you somewhere else. You need to build a community, you can't do that unless you try.
Once you've seen the power of this space, that the world won't end if you leave your 10k followers on X, then start looking deeper. Think about how to really build community. Think of how to ensure this never has to happen again.
We're working on something, but I'd love to hear from some of the people as angry as I am 👇
Josiah Mortimer
The Guardian
Kat Tenbarge