david wolfpaw

A presentation screen displays a slide titled Constructing Your Own Space Online by a digital creator and web developer. Contact details and website links are shown alongside a stylized cartoon character of a wolf with pink hair, wearing glasses and holding a drink. The character sports a bandana and wristbands. A QR code is included. The room has beige

Constructing Your Own Space Online – Aquatifur 2025

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I’m giving the following presentation as a talk at Aquatifur 2025

Social Media and Walled Gardens can be useful for finding an audience, but not for owning your creative content online. In this panel we’ll discuss several options that you could take, with various degrees of difficulty, to own your own space to share your art, stories, music, or whatever else you create. Come with ideas, leave with some useful links!

Presentation – Constructing Your Own Space OnlineDownload

Slide Contents

  1. Intro Slide
    • Who am I
    • Why I care
    • Ask who posts to social media
    • Ask who posts to their own sites
  2. The Problem Intro Slide
    • Walled Gardens
    • Ownership of Audience and Data
    • Algorithmic Engagement
  3. Walled Gardens
    • Platforms that control access, features, and data
    • Closed ecosystems: you play by their rules
    • Easy to join, hard to leave
    • Walled gardens make the rules, not you. They may be convenient, but they are also fragile for creators
    • Tip: think of social sites as storefronts, not your home.
  4. Ownership of Audience and Data
    • Followers belong to the platform, not you
    • Platform controls contact channels and analytics
    • Data about your audience is monetized
    • No matter how many followers you have, the platform controls how you can reach and interact with them
    • Tip: Collect at least one direct contact method (email/newsletter).
  5. Algorithmic Engagement
    • Algorithms decide who sees what and when
    • Prioritizes attention-grabbing content
    • Rewards frequency and format over substance
    • Algorithms are made to keep people on-site and looking at ads. Their focus is not what is best for you or your community.
    • Tip: use RSS or newsletters to bypass the algorithm.
  6. Platform Uncertainty
    • Policies, ownership, and features change unpredictably
    • Business shifts can impact visibility and content rules
    • Past examples: sudden content policy overhauls at Tumblr and Twitter
    • Platforms get acquired or change. A policy shift can destroy communities overnight.
    • Tip: keep an off-platform archive of your work and contacts.
  7. Data harvesting and ad targeting
    • Platforms track interactions, clicks, and preferences
    • Data sold or used to target ads and shape feeds
    • Your audience behavior becomes a product
    • You are the product. You cannot trust platforms to keep you safe.
    • Tip: review privacy settings and limit third-party access.
  8. Engagement over authenticity
    • Virality mechanics favor sensational content
    • Nuanced work gets deprioritized
    • Pressure to optimize content for reach, not meaning
    • Creators feel forced to make content to please algorithms over than their community or art.
    • Tip: schedule intentional posts that reflect your interests, not trends.
  9. Limited reach without paying (boosts/ads)
    • Organic reach often declines unless amplified
    • Paid boosts and ads gate visibility
    • Small creators can be priced out of discovery
    • To reach an audience, many creators have to pay for promotion.
    • Tip: build up your own mailing list.
  10. Platform Chaos (Tumblr Porn ban, Twitter Nazis)
    • History shows sudden bans or policy shifts can remove communities
    • Niche subcultures especially vulnerable
    • Recovery is often slow and partial
    • Corporate owned community spaces and archives can be wiped out without warning.
    • Tip: mirror important galleries/posts to your own site or backup service.
  11. DMCA takedowns or account deletions
    • Copyright claims can remove content quickly
    • Accounts may be suspended or deleted with limited recourse
    • Automated systems often make mistakes
    • Copyright claims and false reports can take down your content. Appeals are slow, if they work at all.
    • Tip: keep local copies and upload originals elsewhere. Document ownership (timestamps, source files).
  12. Portability: no easy way to move your followers elsewhere
    • Followers don’t transfer if you leave a platform
    • No universal “follow” across networks (except some federated systems)
    • Rebuilding an audience is time-consuming
    • Moving platforms means rebuilding audiences from scratch, unless you already can directly contact them.
    • Tip: ask followers to subscribe to your newsletter or follow a permanent link on your domain.
  13. Key takeaway: If you don’t host your content, you don’t control it.
  14. Solutions Intro Slide
    • Low Effort – Use Existing Tools
    • Medium Effort – Hosted Alternatives
    • High Effort – Owning Your Space
  15. Low Effort – Use Existing Tools
    • Cross-post among platforms (Postybirb)
    • Create a link hub (Carrd, Linktree, PawPals someday?)
    • Backup your content regularly
    • Add clear licenses (Creative Commons, custom terms)
    • Small steps help. Using cross-posters and link hubs keeps you from being tied to one platform.
  16. Medium Effort – Hosted Alternatives
    • Federated Platforms (Mastodon, Pixelfed, etc)
    • Ethical Centralized sites (RIP Cohost, Dreamwidth, Neocities)
    • Pros: Better community, more control
    • Cons: Smaller audiences, learning curve
    • Niche platforms are smaller neighborhoods. You still get visibility and social features, but with healthier communities.
  17. High Effort – Owning Your Space
    • Buy your own domain like barks.cafe or david.garden)
    • Use it as an identifier where you can (verify on Mastodon, or use for bsky like bowie.barks.cafe)
    • Build a website (so many tools exist for this)
    • Add RSS, ActivityPub, and a Newsletter for reach
    • Your own site is your home base. It can grow and change with you over time.
  18. Key Steps
    • Start small, iterate over time.
    • Cross-post.
    • Back up everything regularly.
    • Join small communities that share values (furry Mastodon servers, art rings, etc.)
    • Collaborate – link to each other’s independent sites to grow your networks.
  19. Thank you/Questions

Helpful Resources

3 responses to “Constructing Your Own Space Online – Aquatifur 2025”

  1. Aquatifur 2025 – david wolfpaw

    […] Last week I attended Aquatifur in Wisconsin Dells. I also gave a presentation on Constructing Your Own Space Online! […]

    Reply

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