Mike Masnick ✅

Not that this means anything at all, but I just surpassed 50% of the number of followers I had on Twitter over here. Yet, people keep trying to tell me on the other site that no one is here.

(And, yes, follower count is a silly thing, and does not actually matter, just noting the milestone).

And, again, the conversations I'm having here are so much better.

Dec 14, 2022 at 12:54amWeb
Show threadJohn MinnihanDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick
YOU'RE WELCOME
Show threadXenoPhage Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I've had more engagement here than I ever did at the hellsite.. Very happy to be over here instead.
Show threadJoé McKenDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick How do the conversations you have here on Masto compare to the conversations you *had* on Twitter *before* the Muskr makeover?
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 14, 2022
@joemcken those had been trending bad for a while anyway
Show threadVissDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick heh, im at about 10%
Show threadTrading Places ResearchDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I have a third the followers and 5x the engagement over here
Show threadFeel the haidrationDec 14, 2022
@TradingPlacesResearch @mmasnick yeah but if you’re feed was noisy and crowded wonder how that feels
Show threadRobert GuillamDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick can I ask you if you have any thoughts on functionality like Spaces and how important it is to you?
Spaces seems like a great way to listen in and connect to useful conversations.

Over time, I seem to be using Mastodon more and more. The few threads that pull me back to Twitter are accounts that I follow but have not moved and also Spaces.

Show threadChance The Lawyer ⚡︎Dec 14, 2022
@RoboGorillaman @mmasnick I wish there was a good alternative, but being earnest about that wish would require contemplating going to clubhouse and I don't think anyone's up for that
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 14, 2022

@chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman I do find it funny that technically a16z now has a big investment in both of them.

Anyway, would be nice if there could be a fediverse version of spaces at some point...

Show threadNicholas WeaverDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick @chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman

A16Z investing in a company where they don't have a securities fraud by proxy, err, cryptocurrency token business model? Has the world turned upside down?

Show threadAshtonDec 14, 2022
@ncweaver @mmasnick @chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman to be fair, Marc Andreessen is personally invested in anything that’ll help focus more attention and narrative control onto people he likes.
Show threadAndrew FDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick @chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman They invested in Post too. I'm not saying it's a conflict of interest but, oh wait, yes, I am saying exactly that.
Show threadAlex CarterDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick @chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman not just that, a16z invested huge in both CH and substack, both of whose end game success is directly bottlenecked by consumer demand, in this case the twitter social interest graph. And now a16z invested in Musk’s twitter takeover

(But CH will fail regardless as live audio is a feature (w minimal demand) and not a platform)

Show threadmiketcopeDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick @chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman I’m old enough to remember “remember clubhouse?”
Show threadprivacyfocusedDec 18, 2022
@chancerydaily @RoboGorillaman @mmasnick Callin could also provide a useful alternative.
Show threadKevin HardimanDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Musk’s attacks on former employees and Fauci were a breaking point for many, me thinks. Adios.
Show threadNeo-Athenian EmpireDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick it feels close. Like a couple of other big names need to close up shop and move.
Show threadHereJustOnce 🕰 🚀Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick and 50% on the other site are probably bots :-)
Show threadRufus J. CooterDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I'm also finding the lack of spam & scammers refreshing!
Show threadBrian PJ CroninDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick It took me 13 years to reach 1,000 followers on the birdsite and six weeks to reach 700 over here, and while I agree that follower count is meaningless I can’t help but feel that difference is indicative of something (although I’m not entirely sure what that something is yet.)
Show thread🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I've had one negative conversation here in a month, vs. several a week over there.
Show threadJon WaltzDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick It’s also much lower key over here, at least for me. I took the occasion to really consider whether someone I was following there was a positive force in my life and if not, I’m not bringing them over here. I’m seeing less content, but it’s of higher quality.
Show threadDirk HohndelDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick
You really had only 50k followers on Twitter... that surprises me.
But yeah, I have 10% of the follower number and much more fun here :)
Show threadKyle HarrisonDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I literally created a Mastodon account today because I saw you moved here. This isn’t a fad.
Show threadKansas GrantDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick Good to hear. In my own modest case, I'm enjoying building a new "social graph" and meeting lots of new and interesting folks.

I'm also finding that the federated timeline is a fun way to "spin the wheel" to find new folks at random who seem like good follows.

Show threadNonya Bidniss 🥥🌴Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I checked out of curiosity, I never cared about that twitter clout. I'm at 23% and it's already too much for me to keep up with.
Show threadAndy SternbergDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick glad to hear this. It’s been very hard/sad for me to steal away from that bird. Time to flip that perspective
Show threadpepellou $Dec 14, 2022

@mmasnick I'd love to see a social network without showing the number of followers.

When @lichess removed it from their site I thought it was a bold move and they certainly received some criticism but in my opinion it's pretty clear that it helped remove a bunch of toxicity.

You can have all the benefits of having a big number of followers without the number being shown 😬

Show threadCautionWIP 🎃+🇨🇦+🏳️‍🌈= Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Absolutely. I have real world friends on Twitter, but get into more real chats with random users here just because more people actually see my posts rather than being inundated by random posts promoted by the algorithm.
Show threadDavid ColburnDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick I had about 20x as many followers on Twitter as I do on here, but my posts here get far more engagement than my tweets used to, presumably due to the lack of algorithm here and the high number of abandoned or dormant or bot accounts on Twitter.
Show threadAlex KDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick

Sounds like a familiar meme...

Show threadrifterDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick hope it continues
Show threadFinn SmithDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Plus I doubt there are a lot of bots following you here
Show threadRJDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Love your work, Mike!
Show threadMike HuckaDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Plus, the follower count here is currently _probably_ all real people. (I do wonder how long that will last, though. Bot are surely coming here too …)
Show threadAI6YR BenDec 14, 2022
@mhucka @mmasnick Cross fingers that lasts for awhile.
Show threadLance HomerDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick That awesome and I am glad I found you one here. I actually never knew of you on Twitter. I wonder how many are like me in your 50%. My issue is there still isn’t enough of the content I really love from Twitter on here so I keep going back and feel moral guilt for supporting Elon’s numbers and revenue.
Show threadKudra Dec 14, 2022
@mmasnick did a poll here that got 30 votes the other day. That never would have happened to me on . I'm only a small account, but the engagement is just so much better.
Show threadShield MaidenDec 14, 2022
@mmasnick Quality is always better than meaningless quantity.
Show threadAT HayesDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick I can fix this, surely!

So, uh…. how do you like them…. things? With the stuff. You know the ones. They good?

Show threadkoberulzDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick Counter: 4% of my followers are on here, and conversation is nonexistent.

On the other hand, my experience with Twitter is no different now than it was six months ago.

It really depends what your network is centred around. I use it mostly for sports, so the league and team accounts are big. You're in tech, which strikes me as a demographic much more likely to move here (or even know here exists).

I'd love to move, but right now I'm crossposting all my tweets and getting almost zero engagement on here vs a much more active Twitter.

Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 14, 2022
@koberulz Yeah, definitely true that it works better in certain communities. Most of the infosec crowd has moved over here now. Plus a lot of tech reporting. Sports is still definitely on the other site.
Show threadkoberulzDec 14, 2022

@mmasnick Honestly the only reason I followed you on here was so my feed had *something*, otherwise it was completely empty. Over the other side I found @Popehat's retweets of your content sufficient for my interest level. With him here as well now, it's at least starting to build to something worth using. But it does mean juggling two apps.

I am glad it seems to have cohered around here though. Early on there was a split between here and CounterSocial, then Post started picking up steam...

Tagging people in mid sentence really is much less neat on here, huh?

Show threadMike Masnick ✅Dec 14, 2022
@koberulz @Popehat It definitely helps to follow a few accounts here that post a lot to begin to get into the flow of using it.
Show threadkoberulzDec 15, 2022
@mmasnick My biggest complaint so far is there's no scroll bar or "xxx unread tweets" type indication to tell me how far from the top of my feed I am, along with the fact that it only loads the most recent X tweets when I refresh and forces me to manually load more then scroll back down to where I was...which is almost impossible given the lack of scroll bar or "xxx unread tweets" indicator.
Show threadkoberulzDec 15, 2022
@mmasnick I'm sure this is app specific, though. Took me a while to find Talon for Twitter, no real idea what's out there for Mastodon but currently on Tusky as it seemed the most recommended.