I famously try quite hard to avoid podcast and such things - not just because I admit to being about as charasmatic as a jacket potato, but because usually I don't feel I have anything particularly interesting to say.
But - Anthony Zone, host of the Fireside Fedi podcast, reached out to me specifically having heard of the No To Big Tech movement I was running. Previous guests on his show include Cory Doctorow (author of Enshittification - a book I am yet to read, but I will, when it comes out on paperback)...
The funny thing is, Anthony learned of the "De-Google" webinar series because I was using the service he created (called TubeFree.org) which is a decentralised, Fediverse compliant version of YouTube to embed old webinars on our website!
I believe that the Fediverse is the answer to Big Tech - so I was happy to be on his podcast, where I hoped to reach more people and talk to them about the No To Big Tech movement. We also talked about my SEO career to date, including how I got started, and the kinds of clients I tend to work with (charities, small independent businesses), and some of the difficulties I have with the SEO industry in general.
Here is the episode of myself with Anthony Zone, on the Fireside Fedi
As a reminder, this happened several weeks ago now, and I literally cannot watch it back for the cringiness of seeing/hearing myself talk... but we covered quite a lot of ground, and it got a bit radical in places (we need to take back ownership of the web, is probably the gist of it).
What is the Fediverse?
I consider the Fediverse as being the antidote to the Big Tech social media problem - or at least - part of the solution. The Fediverse is a collection of social networking sites that can communicate with each other. They are usually open source and are considered as being decentralised.
They aren't powered by algorithms, they don't rely on advertising as a funding model, and they aren't designed with addiction in mind. This is because they aren't motivated by financial return - they often are privately funded by a small group of users, or are self-funded, or rely on donations from users (sometimes a mixture).
Examples of Fediverse software (or alternatives to Big Tech)
There are many like-for-like ethical alternatives to existing Big Tech social media. Here are some.
- Instead of using X, use Mastodon.
- Instead of using YouTube, use TubeFree.
- Instead of using Instagram, use Pixelfed.
- Instead of using Reddit, use Lemmy.
- Instead of using Spotify, use Qobuz.
- Instead of using Google Photos, use Immich.
There will be many many alteratives I could list here... one day I will do that. But for now you should know the Fediverse, and seek out those more ethical alternatives, and support them where you can!
