On May the 4th 2026 in Hamburg, communications professionals from the worlds of culture, the arts, politics, public administration, and academia will present their work on open, democracy-enhancing social media. Those confirmed to provide insights include Thomas Jarzombek (CDU), Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs; Carsten Brosda (SPD), Hamburg’s Senator for Culture and Media; and Awet Tesfaiesus (Greens), Member of the Bundestag. The detailed programme has recently been published online: 2mr.social/programm (external link).
The 2MR Conference
Taking place the day before the OMR Festival (‘Online Marketing Rockstars’) in Hamburg, the new 2MR conference (pronounced ‘zwoMR’) will focus on outstanding examples and role models, addressing key questions such as: What opportunities and benefits do the Fediverse, Mastodon and infrastructures such as Eurosky offer? How can successful public communication be conducted in a digitally sovereign, independent and self-determined manner whilst respecting data protection and democracy?
The conference is organised by the Hamburg-based non-profit organisation “Save Social – Networks For Democracy”, in collaboration with the Berlin-based communications agency King Consult. The venue is the centrally located Bucerius Law School.
Voices
Time is running out for the networks run by Big Tech monopolies and ultra-wealthy billionaires who are undermining our democracy. There are many positive examples of how open, alternative networks can strengthen democracy. These are at the heart of our conference, as they inspire hope and demonstrate how networks can be socially beneficial in a constructive way.
In our consultancy practice, we are witnessing a growing dissatisfaction with major Big Tech platforms. These issues include declining and unreliable reach, low conversion rates, high advertising and visibility costs, legal uncertainty, a decline in the quality of communication, a limited scope for technical innovation, strong dependencies on content and technology, an unsatisfactory service and platform features that often contradict one’s own goals and values. With 2MR, we demonstrate how things can be done better!
Funding
Thanks to generous funding, the festival is able to showcase excellent examples without charging an admission fee. The festival is supported by the Mercator Foundation, the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, nextMedia.Hamburg, the Schöpflin Foundation, 3Q GmbH, Mastodon GmbH, The Newsmast Foundation, WEtell GmbH and ZDF.
Media kit
Sharepics and logos available for download:
download.2mr.social (external link)
Press Contact
If you are interested in covering the event, would like to attend and meet the speakers, please get in touch in good time:
- Save Social – Networks for Democracy gUG Björn Staschen presse@savesocial.eu
- KING CONSULT | Kommunikation Florian König presse@king-consult.de
