I'm Boycotting Certain Social Media Sites · 3:43pm Nov 27th, 2016
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit have become cesspools of biased news, overrun by ads, and are starting to restrict what you can post on them more and more.
You can learn more about how they are legally getting away with censoring things by reading this article here: http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/lawsuit-facebook-twitter-and-youtube-censor-voices-they-dislike
I've decided that I've had enough of this. Fortunately I have found excellent alternatives to each one.
Here is a list of alternative sites that I am planning on signing up for so I can gradually leave these other sites behind.
I will be keeping my YouTube channels alongside the alternative video site I've found. But I plan on transitioning over to all of the other social media sites at the earliest convenience.
I will still be using the other social media sites for promotion. But I am going to work on building up an audience on these new sites so I don't have to worry about censorship and can also make ad revenue on the posts.
Here is a list of excellent alternative sites I have found. There is a waiting list for gab.ai because they are still in the beta testing phase but the other ones are free to join right now.
Gab.ai: An alternative to Twitter that allows you to write double the amount of text. It is going to be offering an ad revenue program soon so you can make money from your posts.
My Gab.ai Account: https://gab.ai/LyraAlluse
Minds.com: An alternative to Facebook where you can create groups, post videos, make blogs, and post pretty much whatever you want. It is run by Anonymous which believes staunchly in free speech. It is also going to be implementing an ad revenue program so you can make money on the things you post.
My Minds.com Account: https://www.minds.com/LyraAlluse
Steemit.com: Another Alternative to Facebook where can make posts and get rewarded for the things you post that are trending. You can use these rewards to boost your own posts or get paid for your content.
My Steemit: https://steemit.com/@lyraalluse
Voat: An alternative to Reddit which is way less restrictive and lets you post whatever you want. They believe very firmly in free speech and individuals right to post and talk about whatever they want.
My Voat Account: https://voat.co/user/LyraAlluse
Vid.Me: An alternative to YouTube where you can apply to be a creator and are able to upload an unlimited length of video as often as you want. The service is completely free. They are going to implement an ad revenue program soon so you can make money from the videos you post.
My Vid.me Account: https://vid.me/LyraAlluse
biased news, overrun by ads, and are starting to restrict what you can post on them more and more?
Now got take this wrong, but aren't you overreacting a bit? Biased news will be everywhere, use an adblocker or, something for the ads. They aren't restricting anything, it's a load of bull.
I'm glad your trying new things, but you are overreacting...
4319231 Yep. So I have found these excellent alternatives.
4319238 Why you say that?
4319233 I am not overreacting. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all released statements that they are going to start mass censoring posts. I think this is a big violation of free speech. So I plan on moving over to these alternative sites as soon as I can.
4319234 I think that a lot of social media sites have been bought out by large corporations and are censoring things you post for political reasons/ special interests. I feel that these sites I found are great alternatives to mainstream media sites and I am going to move my operations slowly over to each one.
4319240 Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all released statements that they are going to start mass censoring posts. I think this is a big violation of free speech. So I plan on moving over to these alternative sites as soon as I can.
4319242 They have said that before, and has it EVER happened or EVER made a difference? No! It hasn't! It's just something the youtubers and other users cause to make drama.
Please don't get mad at me for this, but do you really think moving to another website will make any differnce eitehr?
4319247 Do you have any links?
4319248 I don't believe in censorship and I can't agree with what Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are doing. I will still have those accounts. But I am just going to be more active on Minds.com, Gab.ai, Voat, and Vid.me.
4319255 Again Lyra. they will never end up censoring anything. This has happened before, yet nothing has come of it. I'm againsit it to, but it will never happen.
They will never be dumb enough to lose so many users and money.
Or, you could just quit using them. You don't need alternatives or anything. Trust me, it's tempting at first, but after about a month you won't even miss them.
4319252 Yes, I put them up in my blog post.
But here are the links again.
Gab.ai: https://gab.ai/
Minds.com: https://www.minds.com/
Voat: https://voat.co/
Vid.me: https://vid.me/
4319253 I completely agree. I don't support what Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Reddit are doing. So I am transitioning over to sites that are run by Anonymous and other activist groups that I feel I can trust.
4319259 No...I mean "Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all released statements" link
4319254 I haven't received anything in the mail as of yet but I will let you know when I do, my friend.
I will probably be using both YouTube and Vid.me as YouTube is the lesser of three evils on this list and posting videos on Vid.me is just extra promotion/ a way to make more revenue.
But I want to transition over to the rest of the sites in a certain amount of time.
4319265 If that's the case, you can do what you want. But, you do know those websites won't die anytime soon right :P
4319257 Mark Zuckerberg released a statement that he is going to start censoring posts to fit the 'vision of his company'. So did the CEOs of Twitter and Google. It seems very Orwellian to me. I don't like it one bit. So I am going to be transitioning over to these alternative sites. At least I know they are run by Anonymous and other activist groups that don't have special interests. And that makes me feel a lot more comfortable about having a social media presence on them.
Another nice thing is that I will be able to make revenue from the things I post on them in time. So that's another excellent incentive for using them. There are already hundreds of thousands (and counting) of people on each site so it will also be great extra promotion for what I am doing on my YouTube and Vid.me channels.
4319269 Yes, I get it, you don't need to keep telling me.
But. do you really think they would risk doing that? Think about how many users they might lose, how many other things they will lose. They won't do it.
4319258 The only reason I use social media sites is so that I can promote my writing, art, music, and other creative projects. They are good tools for doing so. I wish I didn't have to use them at all. But I have to get the word out about things somehow. So that's why they are useful.
At least Minds.com, Gab.ai, Vid.me, and Voat are run by Anonymous or other activist groups who don't have any connection with special interests or corporations. So I feel better about creating accounts and promoting my stuff on these sites.
4319261 Here's a news article that talks in depth about it: http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/lawsuit-facebook-twitter-and-youtube-censor-voices-they-dislike
4319270 I will be keeping my Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts open. I just will be posting more on the alternative sites. It will be a process of slowly introducing my fan base to my alternative sites so I can eventually only use Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and such to promote things when I want to. But the rest will be used to post everything else.
4319274 I am sure that I will my friend. :)
4319277 Yes indeedy. :)
Isn't Fimfiction technically considered social media, as us authors and readers are currently able to connect using technology?
4319336 I completely agree. People should be able to say whatever they want. Our free speech is supposed to be protected by the first amendment. But apparently they passed a bill which allows private companies such as Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook to censor free speech. This is very concerning to me because it means that these large social media platforms can control the information you have access to. I don't like this blatant censorship of things so that is why I am choosing to move to social media platforms that encourage free speech and do not believe in censorship.
4319347 Yes, but it hasn't chosen to blatantly censor the things people post on the site like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit have done.
Fim Fiction has a core set of rules that it lays out for everyone to see and the site admins/ developers enforce the rules that have been put into place. It is very rare that they change these core set of rules or try to blatantly censor what people are doing.
So there is a big difference.
I hope you fading away from the popular sites does some good mate.
4319353 It's a pretty weird time we are living in. I hope that enough people can ban together and get rid of censorship in general. I don't believe that it should exist in any form.
4319359 I think that it just opens up doors to meet new people and promote my content to a broader audience. So I think it will be a good move in the long run. :)
4319365 I hope so mate. Best of luck!
The sites you mentioned have always been biased. It's just, up until now, they kept it to themselves.
4319371 Thank you kindly my friend. :)
Lyra, I like you. I really do. But you're being an idiot right now. I mean, several people on this blog are being idiots, but I'm just going to focus on you right now.
None of this is new information. And none of it is worth getting worked up about.
1) Twitter has been becoming a cesspool of cyberbullying and 4Chan culture for a long time. This is them trying to correct that mistake. You are only going to be censored if you are being vile. And I honestly wish that they would do this more around the internet. Ditto Facebook and Reddit.
2) Ads are the only ways that these people make money. This is especially true for YouTube, where the income of the YouTubers depends on the ads in the videos. If everyone started using adblockers on YouTube, thousands of people would be out of a job.
3) And bias news comes from literally everywhere. They have not yet conceived a way to deliver unbiased news.
4) Also, all of these sites are privately owned companies. They have every right to restrict any kind of content they want. Those sites are their houses. And I shouldn't be able to go into someone's house and start calling everyone a faggot.
4319377 I am glad that you agree, my friend. :)
4319390 This is very true. But they have just made announcements stating that they are going to really start cracking down on 'opinions that don't represent their company's visions'. They are writing algorithms so that only posts they want to be featured will be featured on their sites. This is blatant censorship and is actually a bit frightening, seeing as under the first amendment everyone should have the right to free speech and especially the freedom of the press.
I will probably keep my old social media accounts as extra promotion resources. But I also want to move to the new ones as well so I have a wider range of promotion resources and am able to express myself without being censored.
4319402 I don't believe in censorship of any kind. It is people's right to say whatever they want to. That being said, I am glad that Gab.ai, Minds.com, Vid.me, and Voat are implementing systems where the users themselves can choose what they want to see in their feed. Which means they can block certain tags they don't want to show up in their timeline, etc. It gives moderation power to the site users and I appreciate that system.
I also like that each of these sites are moving towards a system where you can monetize your posts. It will be nice to make income from posting things on Gab.ai, Minds.com. Vid.me, and other sites. There are actually some other sites where you can monetize your content as well. I will have to write about this in a future blog.
I have no problem with ads. I have a problem with the current system. Which is, even if you pay for an advertisement, it can still be buried with the algorithms of Facebook and Twitter. I knew some people who worked both companies and Google and they told me how dishonest the companies were about this.
I feel that any site that gives you monetization options and doesn't censor your free speech is a good fit for me. I will be keeping my other social media sites as well. They are just extra promotion resources.
But I will start moving the majority of my blog posts and other things to these other social media resources because I feel that it is the best fit for me.
I don't like what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit are doing. An I am happy that there are other resources out there. I look forward to using them to their full advantage.
4319402 agreed.
4319582 I will post the same thing I have stated before.
I don't believe in censorship of any kind. It is people's right to say whatever they want to. That being said, I am glad that Gab.ai, Minds.com, Vid.me, and Voat are implementing systems where the users themselves can choose what they want to see in their feed. Which means they can block certain tags they don't want to show up in their timeline, etc. It gives moderation power to the site users and I appreciate that system.
I also like that each of these sites are moving towards a system where you can monetize your posts. It will be nice to make income from posting things on Gab.ai, Minds.com. Vid.me, and other sites. There are actually some other sites where you can monetize your content as well. I will have to write about this in a future blog.
I have no problem with ads. I have a problem with the current system. Which is, even if you pay for an advertisement, it can still be buried with the algorithms of Facebook and Twitter. I knew some people who worked both companies and Google and they told me how dishonest the companies were about this.
I feel that any site that gives you monetization options and doesn't censor your free speech is a good fit for me. I will be keeping my other social media sites as well. They are just extra promotion resources.
But I will start moving the majority of my blog posts and other things to these other social media resources because I feel that it is the best fit for me.
I don't like what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit are doing. An I am happy that there are other resources out there. I look forward to using them to their full advantage.
4319594 I believe that censorship will exist everywhere in one way shape or form. There's always an opinion that's blocked out or unacceptable to others. We can't live in harmony if it wasn't so.
4319604 I respectfully disagree. I've seen the effect of censorship on things both in my personal life and also from the perspective of people I knew who escaped from areas of the world that censored everything. These stories from people I've met and the experiences I have had in my own life have made me not like any form of censorship. Especially seeing the effect it has had on friends and family.
But not everyone has had these same experiences, so I can respect the opinions of people who may disagree with me.
4319612 are you against all forms of censorship?
4319612 are y against all censorship?
4319624 I don't like censorship.
However, I do agree with rules that prevent people from setting up sites, groups, or online content of any kind that deal with human trafficking, pedophilia, the selling or purchasing of illegal drugs, and other illegal activities.
That's just common sense though. If something is against the law, you shouldn't put it online.
On an interesting side note, most of the social media sites out there don't attempt to censor posts that people make about pedophilia. Twitter in fact has one of the largest hashtags for pedophilia on the entire internet. This is because law makers in many states have labeled pedophilia as a sexual preference and a lot of times no legal action will be taken in regards to it. It's messed up but that's just the reality of the situation.
Here's an in-depth article about all of the social media outlets pushing to normalize pedophilia, Twitter included: http://www.crimeandfederalism.com/2015/10/the-media-push-to-normalized-pedophilia-begins.html
I find it weird that these mainstream media sites don't mind letting things like pedophilia slide, but they are somehow offended by people's religious or personal beliefs.
Just one more reason why I don't respect or support what they are doing in terms of censorship.
4319731 ok, I feel the same way. Too many people are too extreme one way or another. I just want to know to what extent you were.
I'll be honest. I don't see your point of up and quitting everything (or moving to another site). If it's for you, power to you. If you're doing it to send a statement, then I don't think it will make any difference.
Anyways, censorship is everywhere. Even on those sites. Just because it's not seen or said, doesn't mean it's not there.
As long as there's a people who think others ideas are wrong, dangerous, or disliked. There will be censorship, both for good and bad.
4319751 Like I mentioned, I am not going to 'straight up quit' the other social media sites. I am still going to use them for promotion.
But I am going to work on building an audience and making other posts on the alternative sites I found because it is another way for me to make revenue and I don't have to worry about my ideas being censored.
It's a win-win situation all around.
4319764 ok.
4319776 Yes indeed. :)
B-but my whole life is revolved around Reddit.
4320503 Fair enough. But Voat is actually a really great alternative site. I like it a lot better than Reddit in a lot of ways.