I just wrote a Facebook post advocating for Mastodon, Micro.blog, and Textcasting, so I thought I’d share it here as well.

Mastodon is where your friends and family can gather, shoot the breeze, and share their moments without the ever-present shadow of yet another creepy billionaire pulling the strings. This place? It’s different. You don’t like the instance you’re on? Cool. Pack your digital bags and move. You’re not shackled to it like Facebook or X.

And here’s the beautiful part: timelines on Mastodon? They run straight, no gimmicks, no sleight of hand. Chronological, like your feed should be, without some algorithm breathing down your neck, deciding what you should see, or trying to shove political posts out of sight. No walled gardens and no invisible penalties just because you dropped a link. Unlike those other platforms where links go to die, Mastodon keeps it raw, open, and real.

Now, I’m everywhere, sure. Name a social media, I’ve got a footprint. But Mastodon? That’s the HQ. It’s home base. And because I’m a Mac and iPhone kind of man, Ivory’s my app of choice. Yeah, it’s got a price tag, but for quality? I’ll pony up. No regrets. Ice Cubes is solid, don’t get me wrong, but when Tapbots dropped Ivory, it was game over.

Then there’s Micro.blog. I’ve been there since day one, and yeah, it’s a subscription deal at five bucks a month, but listen—it keeps the bots and the trolls out. You want a space where people actually think before they post? This is the place. Plus, it plays nice with Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads—cross-posting made easy.

And here’s the kicker: this is all leading somewhere. Dave Winer—the guy who basically put podcasting on the map with RSS—has a vision. Textcasting. Imagine podcasting but for words. You get the goods no matter the device or app you subscribe to. No middlemen. With ActivityPub and tech like that on the horizon, we’re this close to breaking the chains. All of Facebook, X, will have to up their game or watch their empires crumble. Do you want people to stick around? Offer something worth their damn time.