Nostr and Mastodon (Fediverse)

The Fediverse is a network of interconnected servers (instances) that use decentralized protocols for communication. It encompasses various social media platforms and services, each running on its own server but able to interact with users on other servers. The key concept here is federation, where users from different instances can communicate with each other seamlessly.

It is basically like emails, there are plenty of providers out there (yahoo.com, gmail.com, hotmail.com etc ...) but they all manage to send each other messages.

Mastodon is one of the most popular platforms in the Fediverse. It's a decentralized microblogging platform (similar to Twitter/X). Users in the Fediverse can post short messages (toots), follow others, and engage in conversations. Mastodon instances are independent servers, each with its own rules and community, but users can interact with people on other instances.

Nostr is another (more recent) decentralized social platform, (similar to Mastodon) but with some differences in architecture and design. It uses a new protocol for transmitting data between servers (relays), making it lightweight and efficient. Nostr focuses on decentralization, privacy, and censorship resistance, allowing users to communicate without relying on a central authority.

Compared to mastodon, you do not need to signup when connecting to another server (instance/relay) ; the same nsec key is shared on all relays, making a smooth transition between all services. And second big change is the micro-payment (zap) featured in Nostr, which can serve as incentive to be active on the platform.

Twitter Saga continue

Elon twitter saga as of November, 18 2022

In a nutshell: One of the world's richest men asking his staff to work unpaid overtime (and at high stress level) so he can recoup some of the billions he lost, when he overpaid for the company. Elon Musk is not an idiot, he is just a complete narcissist.

Can you imagine how many staff were just slacking off at work over the last couple weeks?

Elon has slashed the workforce by 50% and the rest would do overwork to compensate?

For Elon this is a cultural backslash, because Engineers who went to work at Tesla and SpaceX (even though they are paid below market rate) were true believers. 

Their idea was to work for a pioneer company with futuristic products, top notch technologies ... and these engineers worshiped Elon.

For Twitter this is another story entirely, the company has a different culture to begin with, and they were acquired ... 

and when you take over a different company full of people who are not already part of the personality cult of Mister Musk, then the clash was inevitable.

Now I am sure Musk is very surprised that after he laid off half the workforce, fired people who criticized or corrected him, cut all remote work, told people they must work long and hard hours (and weekends), and gave out tons of mixed messaging as to who would actually have a job when all was said and done, some employees might not actually want to stay.

The real question is, when will Twitter implode completely, and which tech giant is going to swoop in, buy what's left, and combine Twitter with their own offerings? Google? Microsoft? Apple?

Some would like to see Elon acquire Facebook, or Instagram just to see these other 2 platforms implodes ... 

but that is just mean.

The Twitter buzz

This month (Nov 2022) Elon Musk bought Twitter at $44 billion (an estimation of Twitter 'real value' would be around $10-20 billion)

When Musk realized that mistake (buying something that isn't profitable) 

Then having started the buzz around this new acquisition, and in the name of "free speech" Elon's next logical step was getting ready to dump 50% of the office staff and also planning on making a blue check mark (you know the one for verified government, journalists, celebrities) - well that 'check mark' is now for sale by anyone for $18 per month.

After this Stephen King called it a joke and Elon replied asking if $8 would be better. 

In the end Twitter is about to get rid of its moderation team, 

and anyone (gullible enough to buy that 'blue check mark') can appear as a "reputable source"

Will this save this investment financially? not sure

But there was a massive exodus, and now people are kind of hating Twitter.