If we want the Fediverse to be sustainable and to emerge as the ethical alternative to Big Tech's social platforms we need to actively help it out. From the bottom up.
I mean, I feel it’s a misunderstanding of what users actually use social media for.
Just of top of your head, can you list three reasons they want to join the Fediverse for a “normal” Reddit user? Because I struggle to name one, nevermind three. There’s all the technical reasons, ethical stuff, etc. But that’s all something that enthusiasts would consider, and it goes against how the vast vast majority of users use social media where the more centralized the better as it multiplicatively expands the pool of content and interactions to have everyone centralized.
The Fediverse shows this, in fact! Note how resistant users are to spread over instances, in fact being always after centralizing on the bigger ones. But this isn’t a bad thing really, as it’s simply the nature of social media. Of course far less necessary on federated stuff, but there’s also no reason not to (again, from the perspective of someone wanting to use social media, not advocate).
It’s not an easy thing to do to get users here. The place inherently doesn’t appeal to those it would need to appeal to.
The fediverse offers a noncommercial alternative and that can be a draw. A “normal” Reddit user might not want to join us, but there will be users fed up with all the ads on Reddit, some of Reddits policies, tolerance of nazis and abuse and so on. Mastodon always was in the shadow of Twitter, a nice, but blew up when Musk started to destroy it. It offered a way out and that is worthwhile. And if Zuckerberg is starting to transform Instagram into a rightwing horror show, Pixelfed is there as an alternative. And if you want out of YouTube, PeerTube is working and ready for you.
Just of top of your head, can you list three reasons they want to join the Fediverse for a “normal” Reddit user?
I agree, there is no reason for most of them to. Why leave a place full of conversation to join somewhere where there is hardly any?
That said, many people want to to abandon traditional social media sites like Twitter/X and Facebook - Bluesky has been a huge beneficiary.
If it did things differently, there is every reason to think the fediverse could benefit from that transition. This trend of turning against the old social media , especially as it has aligned itself with the far right, is only going to accelerate.
I agree with you, but I feel that you’re glossing over the bigger point. In my view, you’re right about the way most social media users behave, but that behavior is also bound to slowly change as people get a better grip on how it is effecting them in a negative way. We as a society are learning the hard way about how toxic social media can be.
Most people are dumb and they don’t have time to consider whether something is better or worse, especially something as new as social media. But when they start to notice other people (like us!) doing something differently and having a better experience, they eventually catch on and change their behavior.
It’s like how it took a long time for people to stop smoking cigarettes, but once the tide turned it happened within a couple generations. Or wearing seat belts, or any other new, cool technology/product that people eventually started to understand better and adapt to after a few generations. Social media is like that, and we are simply the early adopters of a more humane and healthy form of social media. It takes a long time, but people will eventually start to understand how corporate social media is an unhealthy and exploitative habit, and this decentralized, community driven model is a much better experience.
I mean, I feel it’s a misunderstanding of what users actually use social media for.
Just of top of your head, can you list three reasons they want to join the Fediverse for a “normal” Reddit user? Because I struggle to name one, nevermind three. There’s all the technical reasons, ethical stuff, etc. But that’s all something that enthusiasts would consider, and it goes against how the vast vast majority of users use social media where the more centralized the better as it multiplicatively expands the pool of content and interactions to have everyone centralized.
The Fediverse shows this, in fact! Note how resistant users are to spread over instances, in fact being always after centralizing on the bigger ones. But this isn’t a bad thing really, as it’s simply the nature of social media. Of course far less necessary on federated stuff, but there’s also no reason not to (again, from the perspective of someone wanting to use social media, not advocate).
It’s not an easy thing to do to get users here. The place inherently doesn’t appeal to those it would need to appeal to.
The fediverse offers a noncommercial alternative and that can be a draw. A “normal” Reddit user might not want to join us, but there will be users fed up with all the ads on Reddit, some of Reddits policies, tolerance of nazis and abuse and so on. Mastodon always was in the shadow of Twitter, a nice, but blew up when Musk started to destroy it. It offered a way out and that is worthwhile. And if Zuckerberg is starting to transform Instagram into a rightwing horror show, Pixelfed is there as an alternative. And if you want out of YouTube, PeerTube is working and ready for you.
I agree, there is no reason for most of them to. Why leave a place full of conversation to join somewhere where there is hardly any?
That said, many people want to to abandon traditional social media sites like Twitter/X and Facebook - Bluesky has been a huge beneficiary.
If it did things differently, there is every reason to think the fediverse could benefit from that transition. This trend of turning against the old social media , especially as it has aligned itself with the far right, is only going to accelerate.
I agree with you, but I feel that you’re glossing over the bigger point. In my view, you’re right about the way most social media users behave, but that behavior is also bound to slowly change as people get a better grip on how it is effecting them in a negative way. We as a society are learning the hard way about how toxic social media can be.
Most people are dumb and they don’t have time to consider whether something is better or worse, especially something as new as social media. But when they start to notice other people (like us!) doing something differently and having a better experience, they eventually catch on and change their behavior.
It’s like how it took a long time for people to stop smoking cigarettes, but once the tide turned it happened within a couple generations. Or wearing seat belts, or any other new, cool technology/product that people eventually started to understand better and adapt to after a few generations. Social media is like that, and we are simply the early adopters of a more humane and healthy form of social media. It takes a long time, but people will eventually start to understand how corporate social media is an unhealthy and exploitative habit, and this decentralized, community driven model is a much better experience.