2y ago

The BBC on Mastodon: experimenting with distributed and decentralised social media

www.bbc.co.uk /rd/blog/2023-07-mastodon-distributed-decentralised-fediverse-activitypub

"As the social media landscape ebbs and flows, the team at BBC Research & Development are researching social technologies and exploring possibilities for the BBC. One part of our work is to establish a BBC presence in the distributed collection of social networks known as the Fediverse, a collection of social media applications all linked together by common protocols. The most common software used in this area is Mastodon, a Twitter-like social networking service with around 2 million active monthly users. We are now running an experimental BBC Mastodon server at https://social.bbc where you can follow some of the BBC’s social media accounts, including BBC R&D, Radio 4 and 5 Live. We hope to be able to add more accounts from other areas of the BBC at some point."

174 comments

- Why an instance instead of joining an existing one? They can join the effort and do few ones where several publishers can use to create official accounts
  
  Because then someone else would be able to control and censor their content. Really every business should make their own server to ensure that they're the ones fully in control of their content - this is the entire point of federation.
  
  I think the USA's National Weather Service Twitter presence is a good example.
  If you look deep enough you'll see caveats like "supplemental service provided by NWS" and "Twitter feeds and tweets do not always reflect the most current information", but the truth is that a lot of people (and news organizations) depend on Twitter as their main interface to the NWS, and rarely if ever go to their website.
  That obviously creates a tension, which bubbles up in scares like this:
  Before last weekend’s storm, the National Weather Service’s Baltimore-Washington office sent this tweet saying that because of a new Twitter policy, automated tweets that show advisories, watches, and warnings might not load.
  Contrast that to a world where NOAA (the federal administration which runs NWS) has their own instance: they get the benefit of being able to disseminate updates in a consumer friendly 'social media' style and they retain full control of platform and can be sure the service won't be held hostage, or go down in the middle of a storm.
  Finally: if you're reading this from the USA, consider contact NOAA/NWS to let them know you'd like a fediverse presence, I did!
  
  Having their own instance as a public organization adds more legitimacy to their publications. Think of government officials using the organizations domains for email instead of gmail.
  
  Them having their own instance would serve the same purpose as being verified because of the domain.
- BBC is just a propaganda apparatus of the British government.
  
  even if that's true, which it isn't, wouldn't that still be a hundred times bettee than shit like Fox News? or what Bezos did with news company he bought?
  
  If you look at the structure of the BBC, it's an INDEPENDENT, publicly funded news organisation. The government has no say in its editorial. It has exposed many British government scandals in the past.
  
  Every media is. You must filter news from multiple Organisation to understand the Real news
  
  At least it's not as bad as Al Jazeera.
- One of Germany's public broadcasting services also started running an instance for anyone part of the federal media network: https://ard.social/about
  Translation:
  ARD.social is a basis for ARD's appearances in the #Fediverse network, an amalgamation of various platforms and projects. Regional and nationwide brands, broadcasts, programs and institutions of the federal media network can create profiles at ARD.social. The Mastodon instance ARD.social is operated by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR).
  Also the Tagesschau, which is the most important television news show in Germany, is there.
  
  The other one did as well (https://zdf.social)
Even though I take issue with the BBC, I hope they choose to stay on mastadon in the long term. A large organisation like the BBC on a federated platform is sure to spread word and hopefully convince more people to join the fediverse and see it a a feasible alternative to the current big tech landscape.
- This is how twitter and Youtube picked up pace. News organizations stsrted slowly creeping towards it and they have a lot of incentive to do so with how twitter is becoming a cesspool of Nazis and CSAM.
- What social do most UK users use ATM? Are they on meta/twitter or some UK specific one?
  
  Pretty much the same as the US (and I imagine other English-speaking countries) with similar age distribution (i.e. facebook mums, tiktok kids) and of course toxic cesspit behaviour on twiitter.
I think this is exactly what I want to see, news orgs (not just "mainstream" news, but let's say, professional orgs in an industry) hosting their own instances with closed signups for accounts with JUST relevant topics. I tried to find some journalists on journa.host to fill in tech and local news, and while I found the people, it was way too much personal/personality content and not as much news.
- Relying on a third party for your social media presence is a bad idea. Imagine if Elon got a bug up his ass and banned all BBC accounts; they’d be left in a lurch. Or if, as we saw, someone else got a blue checkmark and pretended to be the BBC.
  But by running their own site they have control over who posts what, while still able to interact with users on other instances.
  
  I think governmental organizations should do the same. It's absurd that FEMA or whoever essentially has to rely of Elon's goodwill.
Someone tell me how to feel! Do I hate this or like this!?
edit: I have been told to like this, and thus... I do.
Disclaimer: please ignore my negative initial vote score, as I have the privilege of being bot-downvoted by CCP sympathizers because of comments on this post https://lemmy.world/post/2338419, there is also the possibility that I’m just an asshole.
- It's a news organisation, so it's okay. We definitely want more journalists and news organisations in the Fediverse. I'd much rather have them directly on mastodon than the million different bird.tld mirrors.
  
  Yes, and it also prides itself on journalistic values, unlike a lot of the Murdoch empire, for example.
  
  BBC is not a news organization, it's government propaganda as it always was intended
- It is good in that it makes Mastodon more useful. People can use Mastodon instead of Twitter to see BBC tweets.
  And karma isn't a thing here, otherwise I just blew a lot of it on North Korea.
  
  Although there's not a general karma score on your profile, seeing a post heavily downvoted tends to make people disregard it... I assume it's the intention, that or to make the user feel unhappy / harried and close their profile
- there is also the possibility that I’m just an asshole
  Me anytime I do anything that sometimes gets anyone slightly upset
  I can’t figure out how to quote that comment. When I click the quote things it doesn’t work. I have settled with italics
  Got it thanks
  
  Me anytime I do anything that sometimes gets anyone slightly upset
  Exactly my thoughts.
  p.s. You can quote using the ">" (greater than) symbol at the beginning of the line.
  Disclaimer: please ignore my initial negative vote score, as I have the privilege of being bot-downvoted by CCP sympathizers because of comments on this post https://lemmy.world/post/2338419, there is also the possibility that I’m just an asshole.
  
  You can manually do a quote block the same as on reddit, just put a right-chevron (I don't know how to type it without it triggering quote, mine is the same key as ".") directly before the text
- I think it depends on what sort of content is posted. If it's mostly promotional stuff some people may feel that it doesn't fit the vibe of Mastodon. If it's thought-provoking content (especially journalism) then it will be a win. Either way, having The BBC on Mastodon seems like a big deal, to me, and maybe it will induce other journalists to explore the fediverse.
It's interesting that they decided to make their own server and not just join a popular instances like Mastodon Social. I know part of it is then experimenting but if the goal is to just have a presence in the Fediverse, it sounds like a lot of effort for little reason.
- It's interesting you have this opinion; I figured this would be the biggest draw for corporations-- they're no longer beholden to some third party for their media presence-- it's all hosted and controlled by themselves;.
  In email terms, it's the difference between tide@gmail.com and tide@tide.com.
  Edit: I don't have any idea why I went with tide, so if you find yourself wondering why I did that, get in line. haha
  
  hr_ibm@gmail.com
  VS
  hr@ibm.com
  Lol
  
  It also solves the verification problem. It's without a doubt the best way to go for an organization -especially news orgs.
- It's instant verification for all their accounts and an instance that won't disappear on them.
- You may as well say the same thing about having their own website vs using Facebook.
  This kind of thing is exactly the point of the Fediverse. They control and own their content, they control who gets to post from their URL.
- Treat it like email. Thats how Mastodon will grow
- No, this is what they should be doing. It's the difference between owning your house and renting. They get to make the rules on their instance, they're not at the mercy of a tech bro company or a trash billionaire that might have a political agenda against actual journalism...
  After what happened to the BBC and NPR on Twitter, who can blame them for saying "Fine, we'll do it ourselves!"
- I guess with twitter they learned the lesson of being beholden to a rogue CEO/admin who can take away verified status or change the rules on a whim. It is better that they maintain their own official presence that they control.
- Could be that BBC employees can have their own accounts on mastodon going forward
- You’ve missed the entire point of Federation then.
As a Canadian I’ve sent a formal letter to the CBC asking them to do the same. I’d suggest other Canadians join me and send formal letters to CBC on their site if you want something like this here in Canada. Personally, I really like how BBC did this and would love others to follow.
- No but you need a loicense
It's risk mitigation on their part to not have their platform controlled by somebody else, especially someone with an agenda like Elon Musk.
Would like to see them set up a Lemmy instance as well.
And of course, it's always good to get in these things early, but not too early in case things don't work out.
- Federation is the future of social media for exactly this reason, especially in the twitter-like realm where who is saying it is as (or more) important than what is being said. These people and organizations need to control their brand outside the scope of commercial pressure from the platform.
  
  especially in the twitter-like realm where who is saying it is as (or more) important than what is being said.
  I know right? So great to be in a place where nobody cares who you are. Gets tiring.
  It's nice to just not stand out and be accepted as a normal member of a community.
Awesome news! Hopefully more media follows suit!
- Only somewhat. Lemmy Communities show up as users when viewed from mastodon, that boost every single post and comment in the community (so browsing it is near impossible, and there is no sorting). Mastodon users can interact with posts (but can't downvote), and they can post by @-ing the community.
  You can't follow mastodon users or view mastodon posts from Lemmy. I heard kbin had some functionality to do with this tho
- @Comment105 @jocanib yes
  
  I've seen people say this, but how? Are any lemmy clients compatible with mastodon in the sense that you can follow people or instances? I thought that was the big draw of kbin, that it combined both.
- Is Mastodon compatible with Lemmy?
  https://vijayprema.com/using-lemmy-from-my-existing-mastodon/
  I've been doing this a lot over on https://lemmy.world/c/coys. I mostly post directly from my Mastodon account.
  Sometimes I have to jump over and use my Lemmy account because, for example, you can't post links (that I know of) in the same way you can directly on Lemmy.
  
  Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !coys@lemmy.world
- Ah yes, the massive (pun intended) drawback of hashtags. Unless you actually wanted to follow a mix of news and porn.
  
  "Unless"?
  That's a good time, my friend!
Nice, now a BBC in the fediverse is not just that thing.
We should support them as this is a pretty significant entity moving into the space. Leave nice comments, encouraging comments.
Pretty damn cool tbh
This is great. I don't really care about the BBC since I'm not from or live in the UK, but more decentralization is always good.
- I mean, while that's fair, they cover worldwide as well, I'd say most of the news they cover is worldwide.
  
  Their coverage is just really shitty.
  
  Thats true. I'm not in an english speaking country so their news generally don't reach me.
For those on a Kbin instance you can follow the whole instance to see everything they post:
https://kbin.social/d/social.bbc
If this is a success many more should follow
- is there a way to subscribe to that from lemmy?
  
  I don't think so since lemmy doesn't integrate with mastodon like kbin
Wow this is greats news, hoping more people join federated social network!
The more exposure the better (for better or worse). As the fediverse grows we gotta watch for the growing pains of becoming a large social media platform.
the BBC loves to push genocide denial, what a wonderful group of people over there in jolly old England
- What are you referring to? Legitimately curious
  
  What's their instance on Palestinian genocide by Israel?
- Sauce plox.
  Update: I asked for proof, got downvoted and op updated their comment completely with no mention of the original comment. Super cool.
- What do you mean?
  For example, I think the atrocities committed by russia against Ukraine is pretty well covered so they do not deny russian fascist behaviour at all. Heck, they report on china being buddy-buddy with russia and thus china supporting the war on Ukraine is also covered nicely. I think the BBC is doing fine. Unless you live under the fascist rule of these countries, then you suddenly cannot see clearly anymore. Is that perhaps your problem, that you live in one these shitholes?
Ah yes, more transphobic capitalist corporation on the fedi, surely federating with them will have no repercussion whatsoever /s Fuck them and anyone who federate with this bigots
- I get what you mean, but I don't think we should defederate with them. You must realise that this makes Mastodon more mainstream, which in the long term is a good thing.
  
  So Mainstream means accepting bigots federating with your instance? What should Big capitalist corporation have a pass? Because they are Big and thus Can have a disproportionate weight in the discussion ? Isn't that the problem?
  
  Truly this is what winning looks like.
Nice. That's a good idea and I'm happy that the BBC is taking these kinds of steps. Followed the R&D account. Thanks!
DeFeDeRaTe NoW!
- huh?
Speaking of federation: How do we get at it here in Lemmy land?
Is it possible to follow their account if I'm on Lemmy.world? I'm sorry I'm new to all this.
- You can follow Lemmy communities from Mastadon but not the other way around. And it doesn't work well anyway.
  You can use Kbin for both Lemmy and Mastadon.
  But Mastadon content is not very Lemmy-like so if all you want is the BBC toots, but not a Mastadon account, you might as well bookmark bbc.social and scroll it occasionally.

174 comments