Dare Obasanjo

Quick thoughts on Mastodon as a Twitter replacement, it isn’t. It’s missing too many features and too many communities.

However it is an existence proof that millions of Twitter users are open to exploring an alternative.

It means a more complete alternative can grow organically and if it isn’t shy about paying for customer acquisition like TikTok did, could possibly take its place.

https://boingboing.net/2019/08/07/10000-censors.html

Tiktok is valued at $75b, is spending $3m/day on US advertising, and in China, it has been turned into a state propaganda vehicle | Boing Boing

It’s been a year since Chinese social media giant Bytedance relaunched its super-popular app Musica.ly as Tiktok; the company is now valued at $75b, and in the USA it has become a serious cha…

Boing Boing
Dec 21, 2022 at 9:03pmWeb
Show threadTimothy WolodzkoDec 21, 2022
@carnage4life it's open-source so maybe it'll catch up organically..?
Show threadAndrew FDec 21, 2022

@carnage4life It also makes user acquisition easier if said more complete alternative chooses to interop with the Fediverse.

Easy porting of all your Mastodon followers to whatever is a big deal.

Show threadRon's Computer Videos🖥️📼Dec 21, 2022

@carnage4life Mastodon feels like a place to build community, and then have those communities interact with other via the Fediverse. Quality.

Twitter has always felt like a place to try and extract clout from drive-by interactions that are superficial in the worst way possible. Quantity.

Show threadStabbyCutyouDec 21, 2022

@carnage4life I like trying to view these things as viable alternatives, but not replacements.

Maybe we don't need a second Twitter, but something else entirely.

Show threadDawidDec 21, 2022
@carnage4life Mastodon is not a Twitter clone, it doesn't have to have exactly the same features, but out of my curiosity, what are you missing here?
Also, if service needs money to grow, then why Mastodon is growing faster than Twitter did in when they were at a similar level?
Show threadIgor Brejc 🇺🇦 🌻Dec 21, 2022
@carnage4life you are mixing up three quite different social networks - Twitter, a niche network whose strength is being mostly short-text+links, Tiktok, which is a completely diferent beast (and with completely different audience), and Mastodon/Fediverse that is even more niche and has no inclination of being "customer acquired".
Show threadlgtmDec 21, 2022
@carnage4life as others have said, following more than 70 to 100 people transforms your experience drastically.
Show threadAlan HunterDec 21, 2022
@carnage4life Depends on what you use social media, for consumers Maston is pretty great, but if it's your job then maybe not. Twitter's real follower counts are way overinflated though.
Show threadNate RichDec 22, 2022
@carnage4life A lot of folks are going to drag you for that "missing communities" comment, but you're absolutely right. "Follow more people" is pretty lousy advice when the topics and hashtags you follow get almost no traction on here.
Show threadMatt DeSienaDec 22, 2022

@carnage4life I'm not convinced that some of the "features" Mastodon is missing aren't bugs.

Quote tweets are a bug. I'm quickly realizing that now.

Show threadFarid EspadasDec 22, 2022
@carnage4life I just read QuickTocks LOL
Show threadAccidental Resident (she/they)Dec 22, 2022
@carnage4life In 2007 Twitter had no communities. You couldn’t post pictures. You couldn’t link to anything at first. 140 characters. We weren’t sure what to do with it nut we liked Biz Stone and Odeo. I personally used it to find guests for my podcasts.
Show threadDawidDec 22, 2022

@carnage4life one more comment from my side. I read a lot of times that you have to take VC money to grow your company, because without that you are doomed and will bankrupt sooner than later. And yet, there's Zoho, who is successful and never toke any external money.

There are exceptions to everything

Show threadTessa 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 22, 2022

@carnage4life So what I'm taking from this is that some combination of specific client apps and large server instances are likely to centralize Mastodon because this sort of commercial approach is the only only thing that could fund customer acquisition.

That seems both frustratingly accurate and depressing.