A long-running Mastodon instance (mastodon.technology), of which I was a member from 2018 to this day, has decided to shut itself down. Hence, I migrated my account to Fosstodon, which seemed the next best thing.
It also got me thinking again about how perishable online services are. Especially those unthankfully maintained by a single person with minor support from crowdfunding sites like Patreon.
When a typical social media account shuts down, all your content and presence sink with it. But, when a federated social media site shuts down, you migrate to a new instance. So, think about it if Medium, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn has a precious and irreplaceable status in your life.
Still, the most thoughtful way to own your portion of the Internet is by self-hosting a webpage or a blog. For example, my long-form writing is on a static site backed by a distributed version control, so there is no realistic chance the content would disappear without me knowing. I fully own it and can move it out of GitHub and Netlify in a matter of minutes if I choose to.
If you cannot or won't self-host, at least take regular exports of your data to a safe place. Your intellectual capital is too valuable to be solely in the hands of Big Tech giants.
Finally, as a heads up, if you'd like to follow my short-form posts and are interested in Fediverse, check the links below. I dropped Twitter in 2019, so you won't find me there.
It also got me thinking again about how perishable online services are. Especially those unthankfully maintained by a single person with minor support from crowdfunding sites like Patreon.
When a typical social media account shuts down, all your content and presence sink with it. But, when a federated social media site shuts down, you migrate to a new instance. So, think about it if Medium, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn has a precious and irreplaceable status in your life.
Still, the most thoughtful way to own your portion of the Internet is by self-hosting a webpage or a blog. For example, my long-form writing is on a static site backed by a distributed version control, so there is no realistic chance the content would disappear without me knowing. I fully own it and can move it out of GitHub and Netlify in a matter of minutes if I choose to.
If you cannot or won't self-host, at least take regular exports of your data to a safe place. Your intellectual capital is too valuable to be solely in the hands of Big Tech giants.
Finally, as a heads up, if you'd like to follow my short-form posts and are interested in Fediverse, check the links below. I dropped Twitter in 2019, so you won't find me there.
- Join Mastodon helps you get started with your account
- nikoheikkila@fosstodon.org is my new handle (oh, how it reminds me of good old times spent in IRC)