by Alec Muffett
“This is what happens without algorithmic curation.”
…or, more accurately: “…when your algorithm is neutral/geographic and not just a social bubble” — which makes me wonder if Mastodon & Bluesky should require/oblige similar localism so that people are forced to learn about the diversity of opinion in the place where they live.
@alecm Interesting! I’d definitely be interested in building a Bluesky feed that only lists people in the same geohash as the one you’ve declared (to max 5 digits accuracy, so there’s no hyper specificity).It’d be opt-in though, which would make it quite quiet!
Not sure forcing this kind of localism on everyone is a good idea. People are on Mastodon, Bluesky etc. for many different reasons and purposes. Mandatory localism would make many use cases impossible. I for one like being able to get in touch with people from far away.
In many places, there are already ways of connecting online with people in the area, so forcing something like this on everyone is not necessary. Requiring social media to offer the option of “going local” would be interesting, though. A toggle switch where you can switch from local to global and back.
Mind you, if this sort of enforced localism were to end the constant stream of uninspired advertising spam from all over the planet disguised as regular Mastodon posts I wouldn’t mind, really. I think this kind of spam should be banned altogether, or be visible only in the local feed.
Me in the South of Germany getting a constant stream of spam advertising coffeeshops in Australia, escort services in Dubai, lawn mowing services in Suffolk, plastic surgery in Chennai, special deals on HVAC installation in Austin etc. is a bit absurd, and either muting or ignoring all that spam takes up a lot of mental runtime making the general feed much less interesting or usable than it could be. But a communication channel that will not be misused for advertising is inconceivable anyway, I guess, so I don’t have much hope of that ever happening.
But think about the moral purity of an entirely localised and therefore diverse feed based around the certainty of my sharing the interests of everybody whom I am nearby!
If it’s moral purity you are looking for, I’m pretty sure you will not find it on Nextdoor. The most I’m hoping to find on it is somebody getting rid of garden tools.
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