I am only on here and Mastodon, is there a socialist argument to be on mainstream social media?
I see many socialists on X and Instagram that are not on Mastodon, why is that? Is there a socialist argument as to why these organizations are still there, and should we join them?
My take on socialists presence on mainstream vs federated social media is that we should have our "main" social media spaces on the fediverse while maintaining a presence on mainstream social media to make agitprop and draw more peoples in.
For agitation and propaganda, mainstream websites are infinitely more effective than whatever we have on the fediverse. That is not on you as an individual but on your organisation as a platform for that agitation.
Now for individualist arguments, there's the clear reason that sadly most people are still only on corporate social media.
The fediverse works as a safe space, and allows for deeper discussion and studies, but it's definitely not a place for reaching an audience.
As Communists, it's important to engage with even reactionary-controlled spaces in order to agitate. Lenin made this clear in "Left"-Wing Communism. That being said, we should also promote spaces like Lemmy and Mastodon while on more reactionary spaces, as we can create our own, Proletarian controlled spaces free from the censorship of corporate media.
Each plays a different role, but ultimately we should be where the working class is.
At least, that's my belief.
As Communists, it’s important to engage with even reactionary-controlled spaces in order to agitate
I tend to agree but think this needs re-evaluated in the digital age where engaging in these controlled spaces can be used to stamp down on comrades through the repressive state apparatus. It was just last decade that communists & trade unionists in Scotland where being added to an employment blacklist based on there social media presence.
https://theferret.scot/billionaire-trade-unionist-blacklisting-tory-donors/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwatch
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2006-06-21/debates/06062174000004/RedwatchWebsite
This is an excellent point, though I think the correct answer is engaging in corporate media with an exceptional focus on OPSEC. Losing access to the biggest Working Class spaces would be too large a price to pay, though we should be careful not to let comrades be endangered either.
I agree, and i think that is very consistent with what historically Marxist-Leninists have done.
Yep! It won't always be the comfiest spaces for us, but without a strong attachment to the broader working class, it's hard to actually build up those other spaces that are comfy.
Edit: revolution is not a tea party, I'm aware, I was using comfort as a stand-in for strength, power, stability, ease, etc.
Some anonymous stranger from either hexbear or twitter payed my rent for me as I have lost my job so that was cool.
Personally... Twitter (when it was still Twitter) helped get me to where I am now in knowledge and beliefs. Lemmygrad has helped me on some things as well, like the Russia-Ukraine situation. Reddit drove me more toward a "anyone could be a political bot" rabbithole of thinking in years prior to that. But also, the way it went on Twitter was helped a lot by people in the orbit of Bernie Sander's campaign at the time, so some of it may have been pure timing.
So in my own experiences, Twitter was helpful at points, but Reddit was largely a cesspool. There are probably people here who were helped by Reddit though, cause if I understand right, this was born out of one of the only ML subs on Reddit?
Some people can be reached on the large platforms. But I tend to think you need to consider your own situation too. If you're an org or style of "pundit" who is trying to grow and get messaging out, it makes sense to be on the big platforms to reach more people. If you're an individual, you may struggle more with when and how much to post about what, and get burned out in irate arguments that lead nowhere. The kind of mainstays I remember from Twitter tended to come across as people who either had a lot of patience to keep at it regularly or were the fighting type and could give as good as they get without growing weary of it.
I just sometimes use bigger platforms because, well, the point of social media is to socialize. It's not as fun if there's not many people there.
The only purpose to be on the corporate social media platforms is to agitate. I know I was radicalized by posters and I know I have pushed a couple people left with my posting. If you think you do better work IRL that's cool.
Nobody uses mastodon. Orgs use platforms where they can reach an audience
ineffective at best, orgs should focus instead on going outside and moving to decentralized platforms for information sharing.
host your own site, hand out leaflets, open stalls; posting on mainstream social media is a dead end and only drives engagement with fascists and people who dont go outside, neither of who are productive.
no
I strongly believe the means are the ends. if your only presence is on corporate fascist socials that says everything.