“Decentralized social media is more than a simple technical change; It is a step towards restoring autonomy and confidence in our digital life, allowing individuals and communities to connect without compromising their values or their privacy. –Zhilin Zhang, University of Oxford, 2025
In November 2022 – Alliances platforms – I wrote that I firmly believe that open protocols connecting the small pieces in a loose way are a better frame than any private social media platform. Twitter was just too easy for many years. I connect more on Mastodon Although I have not controlled all of its functions. Mastodon is an open protocol and everyone can install a server and connect to what is called “fediverse”, a federated host network using the protocol.
University of Oxford study Mastodon administrations have revealed that decentralized social media offer certain advantages.
- Safer and more inclusive spaces online
- Lack of algorithmic manipulation
- Best support for data confidentiality and autonomy
These are certainly reasons why I have stopped using Twitter to teach online networks in my PKM workshop And why I finally Left twitter After 17 years. With centralized control, social media platforms can be easily manipulated.
Elon Musk’s X may have changed his algorithm to stimulate his account, as well as those of other users of the workforce, starting when he announced his support for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. It is according to a new study published by the University of Technology of Queensland (QUT), which revealed that Musk's publications in particular were suddenly much more popular. –The Verge, 2025-11-17
Decentralized social media, like Mastodon, remind me of my first days of blogging twenty years ago. No one was in charge, but there were certain protocols on how to interact with others, such as the use of RSS, trackbacks and blog rolls. This decentralization does more work for administrators, as it did for individual blog owners two decades ago.
Participants identified challenges in decentralized social media platforms. For example, they found it difficult to develop their respective communities due to sparse content motivated by a relatively low number of users, while the concept of decentralized social media could be too difficult to understand for new users. The complex nature of the moderating communities due to the fine line of the creation of a safe space and the protection of freedom of expression, and charges of moderating content which could include harmful materials and potential scams, were other identified challenges. –University of Oxford, 2025
The decentralized web gave me hope and energy to continue with this blog. I needed this at this stage.
