Mastodon Users Fuel Democratic Fundraising and Organizing
In the wake of President Joe Biden's exit from the 2024 election, Democratic supporters have experienced a significant surge in online energy and support. A key hub of this activism is the decentralized open social web, known as the "Fediverse," with Mastodon being a major player.
The largest Fundraiser — of Any Type — On Mastodon to Date is “Mastodon for Harris”
Just hours after the president's announcement, Heidi Li Feldman, a law professor emeritus at Georgetown University, launched an ActBlue fundraiser on Mastodon. The results have been unprecedented for this emerging platform. Mastodon users alone did this:
Tech writer Ben Werdmuller observed, "Mastodon users are politically engaged, more active per capita than any other social network, and ready to contribute." Feldman added, "The Mastodon community has demonstrated a profound commitment to rule of law and secular, pluralist constitutional democracy."
A Larger Trend
This success is part of a broader trend of focusing on Fediverse outreach to:
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Grow social reach outside of commercial social platforms
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Find new audiences — that over index progressive and many of whom consiously migrated away from Twitter after Elon Musk’s purchase
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Engage in organic person-to-person organizing — in a platform that deeply values that as the fediverse is intentionally free from artificial political ads, political micro-targeting, and algorithms
New Initiatives — Mastodon for Harris Organizing Groups
A new "Kamala Harris News and Organizing" Mastodon group account has quickly gained 2,000 followers. I am among the organizers of this group. This vetted and moderated group enables pro-Harris accounts to share, collaborate, and amplify key news and organizing opportunities in a spam-free, troll-resistant setting.
If you have a fediverse or Mastodon account you can follow it by clicking here: indieweb.social/...
Major Voices Join In
Notably, prominent progressive voices like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the White House have enabled Federation sharing on their Threads accounts, joining the Fediverse via this means, and expanding their reach to 10 million potential Fediverse users. Other organizations, including AFT, Black Lives Matter Global Network, Blue Virginia, Midas Touch, Mother Jones Magazine, Dems Might, Field Team 6, and new entries like White Dudes for Harris, and Swifties for Kamala have also adopted this approach.
Organizations like Indivisible, and Democrats Abroad, Political Wire, Scott Dworkin, Daniel Nichanian “Taniel” Bolts Magazine, Michael Podhortzer, George Lakoff, Jammele Bouie, Robert Reich, and others, have created their own “native” and vibrant Mastodon accounts that are thriving.
Watch this space closely over the next 90 days and jump in and help. Questions, you can reach out to me on Mastodon here: indieweb.social/...
