{"id":10,"date":"2025-03-11T18:46:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T18:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/?p=10"},"modified":"2025-09-15T18:00:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T18:00:05","slug":"the-goose-is-loose-why-im-building-better-social-media-for-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/the-goose-is-loose-why-im-building-better-social-media-for-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"The Goose Is Loose: Why I&#8217;m Building Better Social Media for Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>TL;DR:<\/strong>&nbsp;Social media is a dumpster fire. Between the bots, the ragebait, and the platforms that profit from division, it\u2019s hard not to feel like we\u2019ve in a completely different dimension. So I stopped hoping someone else would fix it\u2014and decided to build something better, right here in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/blog-how-gander-social-started-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/blog-how-gander-social-started-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/blog-how-gander-social-started-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/blog-how-gander-social-started-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/blog-how-gander-social-started.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I feel like someone shook up the multiverse in 2025, and we\u2019ve ended up on a pretty weird timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Canada\u2019s been trending for all the wrong reasons<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The US is abandoning all pretence as a symbol of democracy and freedom<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The disinformation machine has gone into overdrive for the Canadian elections (and beyond)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It wouldn\u2019t surprise me if this year is studied alongside the Mandela Effect some day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as confusing and surreal as it\u2019s been, it\u2019s actually not hard to see how we got here. From the time cable news went partisan, we\u2019ve seen increasing wealth disparities, rising costs in\u2026 everything, and the complete takeover of social media echo chambers financed by rage and manipulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once Trudeau stepped down and an election was on the horizon, it REALLY started to bug me. I tried not to engage. And by &#8220;tried&#8221;, I mean I totally didn&#8217;t. I found myself spiralling into comment threads that were just&#8230; shocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-tertiary-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-tertiary-background-color has-background is-style-wide is-style-wide--1\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">And then came Elbows Up Canada\u2019s social channels.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by Mike Myer\u2019s \u201cCanada\u2019s not for sale\u201d appearance on SNL, my buddy Peter Wall started&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elbowsup-canada.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elbows Up<\/a>&nbsp;as a way to unite Canadians in response to Trump\u2019s threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the span of just a few days, he quickly gathered dozens of people who helped organize everything from permits and PA systems, to speakers and bands for the first Elbow\u2019s Up rally on Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group\u2019s values?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Non-Partisan<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Open to all who believe in Canada\u2019s future.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Positive &amp; Optimistic<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Focused on solutions, not division.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Family-Friendly<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Welcoming for all ages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Empowering<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Encouraging action and engagement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Polite but Angry<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Passionate, but always respectful.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Peaceful<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Advocacy with civility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The event was fun, hopeful, downright Canadian, and over 1000 people showed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On short notice, in&nbsp;<em>Ottawa<\/em>. It was incredibly impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I played an ultra-minor role in organizing the event, but mainly, I took photos and managed the group\u2019s socials. I filled our feeds with photos of Canadians of all ages, races, and genders standing together, smiling, singing, holding placards with messages of strength and unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-tertiary-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-tertiary-background-color has-background is-style-wide is-style-wide--2\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So of&nbsp;<em>course<\/em>&nbsp;the trolls showed up.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It was mind-boggling and terribly frustrating. Here we were, expressing some of the most wholesomely Canadian values one could hope for, and our feeds were being infested by rage-baiting parasites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, the platforms had nothing to offer to mitigate it. No tools to push back, no real way to set the record straight. Just delete, hide, or get dragged into a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And between the billionaire social-tech set going silent on Trump\u2019s threats, Canadian digital infrastructure reliant overwhelmingly on Silicon Valley, and the disinformation\/rage machine growing out of control, I started to wonder if we couldn\u2019t reset the timeline by going back to pagers, fax machines, and phones the size of a small child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>And that\u2019s when things shifted.<\/em>&nbsp;I realized I could keep watching it happen, and do nothing, or I could do something nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-tertiary-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-tertiary-background-color has-background is-style-wide is-style-wide--3\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I decided to do something nuts.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>That night, I started researching with a singular goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could we build a&nbsp;<em>new<\/em>&nbsp;social platform? One that respected privacy, that didn\u2019t algorithmically reward outrage, and maybe made it easier\u2014not harder\u2014to be decent to each other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the answer was, yes. Yes we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Better still, we can create social media that is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Built and hosted in Canada<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Owned by Canadians<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ethical by design<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Secure, modern, and fun<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, a platform that respects the same social values Canadians expect IRL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the name came to me:&nbsp;<strong>Gander<\/strong>. Inspired by a town renowned for its compassion\u2014and by a bird known for community, instinct and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-tertiary-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-tertiary-background-color has-background is-style-wide is-style-wide--4\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So now, all that\u2019s left to do is\u2026 everything.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been designing digital things for 25 years now. I\u2019ve had agencies and SAAS products forever, and I\u2019ve worked for bootstrapped startups and others with many millions of dollars in runway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that time, I&#8217;ve done it&nbsp;<em>all<\/em>. Strategy, branding, marketing, UX\u2026 I even write code (though more competent developers would disagree).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But something of this magnitude? Nope. This is new ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I\u2019ve gathered a team\u2014passionate Canadians who share in the vision, and have taken Gander a step further by introducing ideas around community-driven design and consent-based interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>We\u2019ve designed our prototype<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>We\u2019ve built our proof of concept<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>We\u2019re putting together a suite of Canadian and\/or open-source, self-hosted operational tools<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>We\u2019ve launched our social media channels and have started posting<\/strong>&nbsp;(probably why you\u2019re here).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And, we\u2019ve kicked off our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/\">Early Access Program<\/a>&nbsp;to build interest, find supporters, and invite feedback\u2026 from folks like you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you\u2019ll join us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, you can follow us here or on one of the many rage-baity platforms I was complaining about \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or Bluesky. I suggest Bluesky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-layout-flex wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:40px\">\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TL;DR:&nbsp;Social media is a dumpster fire. Between the bots, the ragebait, and the platforms that profit from division, it\u2019s hard not to feel like we\u2019ve in a completely different dimension. So I stopped hoping someone else would fix it\u2014and decided to build something better, right here in Canada. I feel like someone shook up the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Ben Waldman","author_link":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"featured_img":null,"lang":"en","translations":{"en":10,"fr":280},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"gform-image-choice-sm":false,"gform-image-choice-md":false,"gform-image-choice-lg":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ben Waldman","author_link":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"TL;DR:&nbsp;Social media is a dumpster fire. Between the bots, the ragebait, and the platforms that profit from division, it\u2019s hard not to feel like we\u2019ve in a completely different dimension. So I stopped hoping someone else would fix it\u2014and decided to build something better, right here in Canada. I feel like someone shook up the...","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/category\/uncategorized\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Uncategorized<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Uncategorized<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 11, 2025","modified":"Updated on September 15, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 11, 2025 6:46 pm","modified":"Updated on September 15, 2025 6:00 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gandersocial.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}