• Phanatik@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Universities have experimented with more private social networks. I remember YikYak back in my uni days. They either don’t have the resource to spin one up or they don’t know about it.

        • cryball@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Might not qualify as a social network, but university hosted IRC servers were a thing once.

      • shrugal@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Because of the network effect and content aggregation. With emails you just want to reach a specific person, with public posts you want to reach as many people as possible. But I also think the whole ownership and control problem of centralized social networks wasn’t as apparent as it is now.

      • zebs@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Back in my uni days (1997-01) my uni ran its own Usenet server. Don’t think it carried the alt.binaries, but did have groups specifically for the uni. Sadly only a small handful of people used it.

  • garretble@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I know I’m not the only one who has been saying that this type of move makes perfect sense for governments and news organizations, but I’m going to go ahead and take credit for this.

    You’re welcome, guys!

  • ren (a they/them)@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This makes so much sense.

    BBC wouldn’t make their news site under Google Blogger… so why depend on other corporations for your microblogging?

    Spin up your own server, have your own verification, then use it on your site and share outs.

  • HipPriest@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’m a fan of the BBC, they make a lot of terrific programmes and the breadth of the audience their radio stations cater to is pretty phenomenal.

    They also have a history of experimenting with technology so it’s not a total surprise they’ve taken this step. Since most people on Mastodon are either sharing British news sources from the BBC or The Guardian anyway it will be interesting to see how they fare…

    • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      Yeah me too. I’m Australian, but I really enjoy BBC tv shows, documentaries, and especially podcasts.

      Our own ABC was pretty great in the past, but conservative governments have hollowed them out. They do still produce some good reporting and podcasts but they have fallen from their former glory.

      Seriously, publicly funded broadcasting, which isn’t beholden to vested interests and advertisers, is an infinitely better model.

      • HipPriest@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Absolutely. And it’s easy to take a lack of adverts for granted when you watch public TV it has to be said.

  • LakesLem@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I may be misremembering but seem to recall them being early to Tw*tter too. Good sign

  • ghariksforge@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The Dutch Government also launched an instance not that long ago. It’s a pity it took so long, but Musk’s antics are finally forcing people to move.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It’s a smart thing for news sources and ngos to do - run an instance and use it to issue posts and provide a platform for journalists. Twitter and other platforms can still receive posts but the “source of truth” is the Mastodon server

    • garretble@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      @BBCRadio4@social.bbc has also popped up today. Seems like the least “experimental” of them so far (in name at least).

      Seems like if the “experiment” goes well this account will just be ready to roll.

      • wewbull@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        Radio 4 is the most serious channel they do as well. Mostly news and politics, with documentaries and a small amount of comedy.

        • Historical_General@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I ignore all the politics from the BBC, though general news and entertainment, documentaries are all broadly fine. But they’re *politically *compromised by state-funding and imo are blatantly corrupt.

          • 8orange8@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Technically the BBC are not “state-funded” but funded by UK viewers paying for a voluntary licence to watch.

            I would certainly agree though that the UK government’s influence in appointing staff in the upper echelons of the organisation (and also general government interference in its day to day running) leaves it open to criticism.

            • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              They don’t treat it like a voluntary license, they constantly harass people that don’t pay. Assuming you’re always guilty if you don’t have one.

              • 8orange8@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Yeah definitely. I remember the fake “Detector Vans” designed to frighten people but I suspect going forward with more and more younger people only using Netflix/Amazon Prime etc their attitude will have to change.

                • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  They tell you to notify them if you don’t need a license, but it changes fuck all, you still get letters every couple of months that get increasingly more threatening. It’s so dumb.

          • wewbull@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Not sure why you felt the need to piggy back your general critique of BBC journalistic independence on my post. Feels like a major swerve in topic.

            I was explaining to those that may not know BBC Radio 4 what kind of channel it is and how it might be a good sign of them taking Mastodon seriously. I wasn’t suggesting people listen to it.

            • Historical_General@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Because your comment was related to what I had to say, and I also agreed with you. I did see a comment that echoed my criticism of the BBC lower down, but I hadn’t seen it before I posted my comment.

  • dan@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    That is fucking awesome.

    I love the BBC, I hate seeing what it’s been forced to turn into by threats from a succession of Conservative governments. I still pay my TV license despite pirating all my TV and movie content for years.

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is it better for companies in the Fediverse to create their own instances, like is that how we’re likely to see the proliferation of corporations here? We’ll see a Pepsi instance, a FoxNews instance, a McDonald’s instance? I imagine that gives them the most control over what happens in their neck of the woods vs just having a single corporate account on like lemmy.world or beehaw or whatever (though I don’t entirely understand what having an instance entails).

    • donio@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, for any sizable organization running your own instance is the way to go, similarly to how you’d want your own DNS domain, email and web site. And just like with these other services your fedi presence could be hosted somewhere too but you want to be in control of it.

    • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Makes more sense for The NY Times than for McDonalds. A commercial ad account would want to be found on a local feed of the biggest instance. The BBC experiment won’t work unless they commit to supporting it. Ideally, their reporters would have their own accounts, not just at the radio show level.

  • YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Mastodon is perfect for any form of media, or education establishment and so on. People who want to read their content will subscribe and they don’t have to allow general public signups, only those working for that establishment.