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Newsmast

People like to say it’s all tech… but to really understand Communities on the Fediverse, we’ve done some research.

You can see what we’ve found in our new report, Mapping Fediverse Communities, available for download on our website: newsmastfoundation.org/blog-ma

Or check out the thread below for a summary 👇

Please boost and if you have any comments or want to offer your expertise, reach out!

#newsmast #socialmedia #mastodon #fediverse #fedidev #fediadmin #boost #communities
4 April at 11:41 | Open on newsmast.social
26 comments
Newsmast

Our whole mission is centred around improving knowledge for all through topical expert-led Communities, which is why we thought we’d help provide some knowledge on the Fediverse itself.

“People often think the Fediverse is about tech. We’ve not found that,” says @michael one of our co-founders. “Around a million people participated in knowledge-sharing over the last six months, in a broad range of Communities, from Pets to Politics.

4 April at 11:42 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

Knowledge-sharing makes up a big part of the Fediverse.

We estimate there were around 930,000 knowledge-sharing users in the Fediverse over the last six months, including people posting, and everyone viewing, liking and boosting this content.

Looking month on month there’s an estimated total audience of 370,000 for knowledge-sharing in the Fediverse. That’s a third of all monthly active users!

4 April at 11:43 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

There’s a good spread of posts and users across all our Communities, with no Community dominating. The Journalism & Comment Community has grown strongly, up 72%, most likely driven by the events in Gaza.

Conversations are driven by a small number of regular posters. 18% of users post once a week or more, making up 83% of the posts per month. Knowledge-sharing has a strong and resilient base in the Fediverse.

4 April at 11:43 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

We hope you’ve enjoyed this quick look at what we’ve found. If you want more information, please check out the report.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on what we’ve found!

4 April at 11:43 | Open on newsmast.social
Kate Bowles

@newsmast Quick question: in the appendix list of community topics you specify Ukraine but not Gaza. Any reason?

4 April at 13:33 | Open on aus.social
ij

@newsmast First and foremost: Google Drive?! Are you serious?!

4 April at 11:44 | Open on nerdculture.de
Newsmast

Hi @ij

Given our current resources, this was the best way to share a PDF on Mastodon and beyond in a way that everyone can access!

We hope in future to use open-source technology, however we haven't found software which suits our needs yet.

Thanks for the concern, you're right to raise it!

4 April at 11:48 | Open on newsmast.social
Derek Caelin 🌱
Newsmast

@derek

Hi Derek, no problem! Thanks for checking it out 🧡

Please let us know if you have any thoughts.

4 April at 12:19 | Open on newsmast.social
keith

@newsmast

How do we opt-out our instance from this type of mapping and research?

4 April at 12:44 | Open on bookstodon.com
Newsmast

@keith

Hi Keith, hope you're well.

We thought you might find it interesting to see the kinds of conversations happening on the Fediverse.

All the data in our report is anonymous and any federated instance can see it without scraping, all we've done is look at what it could mean.

If you'd rather keep bookstodon.com out of this kind of research done by The Newsmast Foundation, we can purge your instance from our future reports and data analysis - just let us know.

4 April at 14:32 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

@keith

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions please get in touch.

4 April at 14:33 | Open on newsmast.social
keith

@newsmast

In my opinion, there should be an easy way to opt-out from this type of activity rather than having to contact you directly, or having you spam instance operators via email.

Why are you doing this research without gaining consent from instance operators beforehand?

This type of activity should be opt-in by default. Why isn't it?

How do you consider this data to be ethically sourced without opt-in consent, and without posting all of your funders?

Or do you post a list of funders?

4 April at 14:46 | Open on bookstodon.com
Newsmast

@keith
We haven't collected any data, only analysed our federated timeline, as every federated instance can.

We understand concerns about data collection, however this research is similar to that which academics often publish. It's to help grow understanding, never for monetization or gain.

The research is not related to instance specific data outside of newsmast.social and the Newsmast app.

You can see more information about how Newsmast is funded in our FAQs: newsmastfoundation.org/faqs/

@keith
We haven't collected any data, only analysed our federated timeline, as every federated instance can.

We understand concerns about data collection, however this research is similar to that which academics often publish. It's to help grow understanding, never for monetization or gain.

The research is not related to instance specific data outside of newsmast.social and the Newsmast app.

4 April at 16:22 | Open on newsmast.social
keith

@newsmast

Thank you for that information, so will defederating newsmast[.]social discontinue the future data collection research studies from your organization?

Do you intend to move to a double opt-in method before the next report or not?

4 April at 16:24 | Open on bookstodon.com
CindySue

@newsmast Hello. How do we opt our instance out of your research? Is there no opt out besides defederation? Or are you still going to be doing the research? Not everyone consents to this type of research especially in safe spaces.

4 April at 13:59 | Open on bookstodon.com
Newsmast

@CindySue

Hi Cindy, thanks for getting in touch!

We've just spoken to @keith on this matter, you can see what we've said in reply here: bookstodon.com/@keith/11221301

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any more questions.

4 April at 14:37 | Open on newsmast.social
keith

@newsmast I sent you an email on 10/30/23 and had no reply:

"What do you have in mind and what is your monetization strategy and four year lookahead? If this is a research project, will you promise to be transparent about naming all of your funders and provide routine financial reports detailing where all ongoing income is spent?"

Interesting that there is no easy way to opt-out besides contacting you directly.

In my opinion, default opt-in data collection like this is unsavory at best.

4 April at 15:20 | Open on bookstodon.com
Newsmast

@keith

Hi Keith, we've had a look and found that we replied to your email on the 31/10/24 but we'll just forward the email to you again for visibility!

4 April at 15:58 | Open on newsmast.social
keith

@newsmast

What is your organization's official mission statement and how does your organization feel that it applies to non-consensual, opt-in by default, data collection research study activity?

4 April at 16:13 | Open on bookstodon.com
keith

@newsmast

Just because "everyone else does it" doesn't mean you should "hop on the bandwagon" and engage in data collection from your instance, including email addresses to spam instance owners without opt-out links, and ultimately using that data to engage in data collection research studies without consent.

In my opinion, this type of behavior should be strictly double opt-in for the sake of end-user consent, just like unsolicited email. Not allowing to opt-out is, again, unsavory at best.

4 April at 16:42 | Open on bookstodon.com
Newsmast

@keith

Morning Keith, hope you're well. I think it's best to reply to all three of your comments that came in overnight here.

We reached out to the bookstodon team using the public email for your instance because you're one of a few dozen Fedi folks we thought would be interested. You've clearly opted out and we respect that. We won't email you again and we have already opted out bookstodon.com from future research.

5 April at 11:03 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

@keith

The report is a breakdown of what is happening on our federated instance - counting the no. of posts on some specific hashtags and noting how many unique users use them. Mechanically, its similar to the Trending Now part of your Mastodon UI on desktop.

5 April at 11:03 | Open on newsmast.social
Newsmast

@keith

Our mission is 'Knowledge for all for good'. We believe in growing the Fediverse and understanding user behaviour by analysing public posts can help instances, admins, and Fedi users engage in informed conversations about the future of the space we share.

To save us both time and avoid further misunderstanding, one of the team would be happy to discuss any further issues over email or call where we aren't constrained by character count. You can reach us at support@newsmast.org.

5 April at 11:03 | Open on newsmast.social
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