TL;DR VOTE for our SXSW PanelPicker idea. Please and thank you! 

Need more context? Here ya go: For creators, finally, there’s hope after a long, frustrating dependence on “walled garden” platforms that can change their algorithms on a whim and, at the end of the day, own the audience. 

In 2024 and beyond, “winning” as a creator will require being in control of your own work and owning your followers. That’s called freedom — or, digital sovereignty — and it’s going to be the ultimate influencer status. 

One of the visionaries who already lives this is researcher, writer and software engineer Molly White, a leading crypto critic and the force behind the Citations Needed newsletter and Web3IsGoingGreat. Molly chatted with Flipboard CEO Mike McCue about digital ownership on our Dot Social podcast; now we want to bring this critical idea to the SXSW 2025 stage.

YOU can help this fireside chat become a reality by voting for it: 

>>>  VOTE HERE <<<

Digital sovereignty is the new influencer status
Forget about amassing followers within walled gardens. The real power move for creators is ownership and control. Researcher, writer and software engineer Molly White is thinking deeply about how digital ownership is evolving and concludes that sovereignty — the ability to just pick up and go somewhere else — is one of the most important conditions for the modern-day creator. The leading crypto critic discusses how she’s implementing a new model (POSSE) to reclaim her identity on the web and what it means for the future of the internet.

Community votes are a powerful signal when the SXSW staff evaluates which discussions will make it into the programming lineup. We’d greatly appreciate the couple of minutes it takes to smash that up arrow (you’ll need a SXSW account) and offer a few words of support if you like. 

Thank you! 

— Mia Quagliarello, Head of Creator Community, is reading Fediverse & the Social Web