article headline: Japan Earthquake Alert App Says Sayonara to X
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/technology@lemmy.world/t/333398
Many people in Japan depend on the NERV service for earthquake alerts. Unfortunately, they’ll no longer be able to receive them on X.
Is “switches” really correct? They’ve been on Mastodon since 2017.
I rewrote the title a few times, couldn’t settle on anything. Updated it again now (criticism was valid, I originally posted with “Japan Earthquake Alert App switches from Twitter to Mastodon, already has 488k followers”)
Probably should have just included the relevant part of the article
We are moving forward under the premise that our operations should move from platforms managed by other companies to those within our control. Our app of course works on Apple and Google but these are different in terms of API constraints. On the other hand, distribution on ActivityPub is where we can manage our content completely independently. For this reason, in response to requests to move our operations onto different platforms will eventually only result in the same outcome as this time and therefore will not be considered. As NERV posts are still accessible via social media linked with ActivityPub, we plan to continue sharing there.
That’s a pretty huge move right there, hopefully this is the first of many migrations of apps to Activity Pub software (besides Threads).
Also…the name NERV kind of threw me off for a second. Tell the anime crowd on Twitter that NERV moved to Mastodon full time and we’ll probably get an extra 2 million people in the Fediverse.
This looks like a glimpse of how Mastodon (specifically: ActivityPub protocol) can really detrone Twitter. The world is full of governments and agencies and other Very Serious Organizations. They must hate having to depend on a single private company to get their message out. They must be itching for an alternative that gives them the kind of control that they have with phone numbers and email addresses and websites. Surely this is Mastodon’s golden opportunity.
Absolutely! I’ve been contacting the national directorates and Very Serious Organizations in my country asking if they have strategies in place for effectively communicate with the public, in light of Twitter requiring an account to read its content (this happened some weeks ago). I always link to other public bodies or Very Serious Organizations that have done it. Same goes for political parties.
Make them understand that there is a need for reliable communication, and show them that others are doing it as well.
We need to remember that Mastodon (and Lemmy for that Cass) still are pretty niche things. Every example of Very Serious Organizations that joins lowers the barrier of entry for the next Very Serious Organization.
Is the app seriously called NERV? 🤣
I thought it was all a prank because of all the NGE terminology (Gehirn too). It says in the article the founder is a fan, which makes sense. I’d want to pretend I’m sending off anglesangels too if I were running an anti earthquake product.
TL;DR: X’s rate increases are costing the service about ¥6 million per month. As that is very expensive, they would rather spend their money developing their own platform and using a free social media platform to disseminate information.
”…move our operations onto different platforms will eventually only result in the same outcome as this time and therefore will not be considered.”
