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on how #Mastodon, and the rest of the #Fediverse, invisiblize the #GlobalSouth.
I have argued a few times that for all practical purposes, the global south does not exist for Mastodon, and for the rest of the Fediverse. But many people I interact with do not quite understand how this works in practice.
This series of posts is an effort to illustrate that mechanism.
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Say there is a user X on random server Y. Assume that no user on mastodon.social (for example) follows user X. Assume that users on mastodon.social follow other users on server Y. Assume further that neither server has blocked the other.
User X writes a post containing the term, say, #Namibia. The post receives no reply, no boost, no like.
Later, someone searches for #Namibia on mastodon.social. The search results will NOT include user X’s post containing the term #Namibia.
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A relay may complicate the above picture slightly. But if server Y in the above example is an isolated #GlobalSouth instance, or if it is running software (such as Hubzilla) not based on #ActivityPub, then the relay will most likely not be pulling posts from there, so the example will still hold.
In this context, remember many instances do not add relays because the additional posts pulled in through the relay increase the storage and processing costs.
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Generalize mastodon.social in the above example to all mainstream, primarily #GlobalNorth, #Mastodon servers. No user on any of those servers will ever become aware of user X’s post containing #Namibia, even if some of them consciously search for the term.
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An overwhelming majority of #GlobalNorth users have no interest in #GlobalSouth topics. They neither follow users focussed on global south issues, nor boost or like posts on global south topics.
That’s their prerogative, of course; but that is also the root cause underlying the above dynamic. There is no obvious resolution to it, at least not within the narrow confines of the #Fediverse.
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So the user X in the above example could be any account focussed on #GlobalSouth topics. Replace #Namibia with any other country or topic concerning the global south.
The dynamic described above will play out in all these cases.
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That’s it, that’s the mechanism.
Forget #GlobalNorth users, even #GlobalSouth users cannot find fellow users from their regions, or find posts about the global south, even if both exist.
This happens with most global south users, and with an overwhelming majority of the posts on global south topics.
That’s how #Mastodon, and the rest of the #Fediverse, invisiblize the global south.
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As a direct consequence, the majority of #GlobalSouth users who drift into the #Fediverse get disillusioned, and return/move on to #Facebook or #Twitter or #Threads.
The #GlobalNorth users on the Fediverse never even become aware of this loss; though many of them perceive the monotony of voices/topics, and silently move out; leaving behind a tiny, malnourished social medium.
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Also - for those who are interested in expanding their horizons southward, look for profiles on: https://mastodon.africa/explore
@GinevraCat @feralthoughts Indeed, but it's a small South African instance. Being from West Africa and here for quite some time, there aren't many accounts from the continent as a whole.
Tried to do lists and the like a few months ago, but there aren't many accounts to populate them...
And that's indeed a shame.
On the other hand, many are still on X (not BS), as they carved their niche by affinity and aren't all that bothered with what's happening in the rest of this white supremacist space.
@cybeardjm @feralthoughts I get why communities would choose to stay on X. It's a pity to not make alternatives welcoming and easy, though.
@GinevraCat Agreed, but unfortunately, as I said, many have their special area (e.g. I know the Beninese community under 229people or some Naija ones, incl. some spaces that are almost "women only") and it's almost impossible to make them move.
As someone wrote: how do you move a forest when you're just a tree?