Seizing the Moment
Trying to support viral co-ops, become a viral co-op, and remain hyper-local is hard, but fun
What a two weeks it’s been! A viral post and the follow-up to it, rapidly tripling our social media followership, the rise of several popular co-op projects, and making progress on local efforts has kept me and the team busy.
On May 4th, international Star Wars Day (may the 4th be with you!), I flippantly made a meme to post on the Old Growth socials. It was the scene from Rise of Skywalker (my least favorite Star Wars film, by the way) where the Final Order fleet has been launched to conquer the galaxy, and suddenly thousands of small ships show up and start wrecking the bad guys. A Star Destroyer captain says something to the effect of, “where did they get all these fighter craft? They don’t have a navy.” His first officer replies, “It’s not a navy, sir. It’s just… people.”
My first time seeing that film, two hours into the most disappointing cinema experience I’ve ever had, that scene struck me. Set at the climax of the rotten output of corporate takeover of a beloved film franchise, it captures the essence of the best revolutionary movements. They’re just people, united despite often-stark differences in a common cause. And that scene has stayed in my head through the foundational years of Fitchburg Fiber and the beginnings of the Old Growth project. I knew I’d use it someday to communicate the essence of what we’re building.
On the day I made the post, though, I was in the middle of a family health emergency and quickly slapped a reel together to make sure it got out while it was still Star Wars Day. A week later, it had over 77,000 views and hundreds of engagement - likes, shares, saves, and follows; all things that “the algorithm” looks at to determine the value of content and the account that posted it. As it started taking off, the team and I realized that we needed to try to capture the momentum and get our project talked about online. So, after a couple weeks of near-daily posting of pop culture references, we’ve determined that people and the algorithm like familiar fandom and pop culture clips with snarky white text in the borders. Who’d have thought!
At the same time, the Spirit 2.0 and Letterboxd cooperative conversion projects have started going viral. We’re making our best efforts to make contact with the organizers and develop some collaboration - content and discounts on our services to members of their movements who also become members of ours, or something of that nature.
As our (admittedly meager) social media presence and followership is growing, I have the genuinely fun task of engaging with other accounts and with folks who engage with our content.
And finally, in preparation for hyper-local door-to-door canvassing about Old Growth and Fitchburg Fiber in Fitchburg, those of the Worker-Owners who have chosen participate in that activity get to appear tonight at the Licensing Commission to be heard for and (hopefully) receive our Solicitor’s Permits. A bit silly that they got the name of our company wrong on the agenda, but it was correct on the application so hopefully no problems arise from that.
For those new to the Substack, Old Growth Co-op is a worker-led, people-owned communications cooperative organizing and raising investment from everyday people to build a national-scale cell phone service co-op, developing local fiber optic networks, and helping to develop the MeshCore project in Central Massachusetts. Membership is open to anyone interested in any part of what we’re doing! Help us build you the last cell service you’ll ever need.
~ Tristan T.
founding Worker-Owner, Old Growth Co-op