Local news on a global network

The Texas Observer is a progressive non-profit news outlet, almost 70 years old, that covers Texas. They've been early to adopt the fediverse, and set up their own Mastodon server. Their 13k followers suggest that their popularity and reach goes beyond just local Texans, and that they have managed to use their presence on the fediverse to expand their reach. They have been active in setting up the #newstodon Friday hashtag, where together with other news outlets, they boost the most relevant news stories of the week.

Last week was the sudden news that the board had voted to shut down the Texas Observer, and that all their staff would be laid off. The staff quickly started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money so that the staff would not have to be laid off immediately. The campaign raised more than enough money in a few days to allow the Texas Observer to stay open.

The role of the fediverse

The reason to cover this news story here on the Fediverse Report is the role that Mastodon played in the donation campaign drive, and how that is shaping narratives.

It is hard to determine how much of the money that was donated came directly due to campaigns and messages on the fediverse, so it is hard to directly state to what extend Mastodon and the fediverse contributed to the continuation of the Texas Observer.

What can be seen however, is how popular posts about this were on the fediverse:

When the donation drive turned out to be successful, popular Mastodon posts did not held back in ascribing the role Mastodon played:

The Texas Observer itself was also explicit in the role the fediverse played, quoting an article by The Guardian:

Local news on the fediverse

One might expect global news outlets on a global social network. So far, the fediverse has gone in a different direction: the major active news accounts are often local news outlets. It was mainly local news outlets that started the #newstodon hashtag every Friday. People are actively encouraging and promoting local news on the fediverse, such as via these #followfriday posts. It is an early indication that a global network does not mean we need to have one single centralized town square. Instead, we can have multiple different gathering places, that cater towards different people, from different locales, and with different interests.