Federated networks like Mastodon and a growing acceptance of paying for content may help move people away from big social platforms and improve online discourse
We're in a very strange moment for the internet. We all know it's broken. That's not news. Mastodon: @stefan@gardenstate.social , @jangles@mastodon.social , @Cassandra@artisan.chat , @timbray@cosocial.ca , @tchambers@indieweb.social , and @mammoth@moth.social X: @katienotopoulos , @niallfirth , @katienotopoulos , @tiffanygholar , @artsjournalnews , @katienotopoulos , and @katienotopoulos Mastodon: Stefan / @stefan@gardenstate.social : “The solution to the internet is more internet” — https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... #quotes #article #federation Neville Hobson / @jangles@mastodon.social : A key point in this article in MIT Tech Review on ‘how to fix the Internet’ suggests that we are at a pivotal moment where momentum for change is growing. It highlights emerging models like federated networks, subscription-based platforms and smaller spaces instead of those with mass millions as alternatives that could decentralize social media and offer more user control. … Cassandra / @Cassandra@artisan.chat : https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... A really good comprehensive article on why the internet is the way it is and how to move forward to something better. Bonus @anildash Tim Bray / @timbray@cosocial.ca : Very decent overview of the social-media malaise: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Tim Chambers / @tchambers@indieweb.social : “Another thing to be optimistic about (although time will tell if it actually catches on) is federation—a more decentralized version of social networking.... Even better, it enables more granular moderation. … @mammoth@moth.social : [In the Fediverse], “if you see [hate speech], you can just leave, and you're not leaving your entire community—your entire online life—behind.” says Paige Collings , a senior advocate @eff" And I think that's probably where we have a lot of opportunity to get it right." … X: Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : Wow looks like Elon read my story and took immediate action 🤣 Niall Firth / @niallfirth : Today, the inimitable @katienotopoulos writes for us about how to fix the internet. She refuses, she says, to “toss out the dancing-baby GIF with the tubgirl-dot-png bathwater.” Instead, she has an idea. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : For @techreview I wrote about how the original sin of the Internet - back in the 90s and earlier - was to assume everything should be free - which mean we are stuck with advertising as the main business. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Tiffany Gholar / @tiffanygholar : “Twitter...provides a good example of what can go wrong when one person, in this case Elon Musk, has too much power in making moderation decisions” https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... @artsjournalnews : The Internet Is Broken. Here's How We SHould Fix It: The internet is worth fighting for because despite all the misery, there's still so much good to be found there. And yet, fixing online discourse is the definition of a hard problem. But look. https://www.artsjournal.com/ ... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : This particular moment (slow death of X) is kind of a good wake-up call and opportunity to imagine that things can work without being The Biggest. There's hope! [image] Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : Advertising isn't inherently evil, but making the entire architecture of the consumer Internet (social platforms, media, etc) based around advertising has created some disastrous incentives, and feels unsustainable for another 30 years. There has to be another way.
Context & Ripple Effects
This argument arrives after a period in which major social services were already destabilizing their user relationships: Twitter imposed limits while Reddit alienated users, sharpening interest in alternatives to the default platform bundle.
It also extends the earlier case for human-curated “slow media”: better discourse is framed less as a feature fix at a single network than as a change in how communities are hosted and funded.
First-order effects
- Federated services such as Mastodon gain a clearer proposition for users and communities seeking an alternative to large, centralized social platforms.
- A greater willingness to pay for content gives publishers and community operators a potential revenue path less dependent on advertising-driven reach.
Second-order effects
- Large social platforms face more pressure to retain users through moderation, community controls, and creator or publisher economics, rather than relying solely on network scale.
- Fragmentation raises the value of interoperability and portable audiences for creators and publishers that want to participate across multiple communities.
Third-order effects
- If paid, community-led models persist, social distribution could become less concentrated around a few ad-funded public squares and more distributed among smaller networks.
- That shift makes trust and governance a competitive layer: the quality of rules and community stewardship may matter as much as the feed itself.
The trend: The social web is moving toward a contest between centralized reach and smaller, federated or subscription-supported communities built around greater user and publisher control.