It's remarkable the degree to which the Popular Mechanics piece on #Mastodon misses the point.
Brand confusion/name squatting can be serious problems--IF you're using the platform as a serious marketing tool.
Most of us are here precisely because we were sick of being on a platform that was a serious marketing tool. So maybe the lack of professional tools to promote and protect your brand are mostly a feature (and I say that as an IP lawyer who kinda takes brands seriously).
@krypteia I hope any brand that attempts to create an "official" account here is immediately spoofed several times over on all popular instances
@krypteia former ~social media marketer~ who supes agrees :raising_hand:
@krypteia yeah, I completely agree with you. In fact, all these articles run on a moneymaking logic in the line of the more known social media sites.
They see in the lack of a monetary goal as the foundation a faiñure, and without realizing that, they build arguments that are essentially flawed because their initial premise is simply wrong.
The capitalist ideology runs freely on these people.
@krypteia Pepsi can run their own social.pepsi.co.uk, so we can block it.
@krypteia It's probably good advice for everyone to just assume that every brand / celeb account is fake and then nobody gets fooled by anything they were assuming was real.
@krypteia I do think impersonation could become a problem though...
@krypteia If Mastodon takes off, there might be room for one or more verified Mastodons for brands. Or corps could run their own instances, where domain demonstrates identity.
@krypteia A thousand times this.
. @krypteia I was amazed at how *different* Mastodon felt simply because it is *owned*.
You aren't advertised at 24/7.
Because the product, your tweets, aren't a tool to move ads, you can read them from any platform.
Also because of that, you are free to make a better platform.
Also because of that, you are free to make a better *server*.
Anyone can read any post, even researchers.
You can implement amazing search.
So can Google.
…all because you removed profit.
I know what you mean. I really didn't realize the degree to which my attention was being commoditized until trying Mastodon.
By comparison, my timeline on the birdsite seems like a no-holds-barred dogfight for my attention between media companies/journalists, product vendors, celebrities and "influencers".
Problem is, that in that model, the ones that will get your attention are the ones that are best at the dogfight, and not necessarily the ones that deserve it.
@krypteia also if you want to avoid brand confusion, you run your own instance as social.nike.com or whatever. It is literally impossible to squat a brand name on this system. LOL