mechtild jd
Mike Masnick ✅Anyway, now that a ton of journalists are flocking back to Mastodon... you should read my article about how all your articles about Mastodon "slumping" were bullshit. https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/08/lazy-reporters-claiming-fediverse-is-slumping-despite-massive-increase-in-usage/
Nick "Neiloch" 
@mmasnick Perfect hahaha
Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈@mmasnick #JohnMastodon moved quick! Twitter is DOWN!
brooklynmarie@mmasnick Get their asses!
David Field@mmasnick I don't know you, but I like you..
phatone@mmasnick It's the capitalist viewpoint of making a lot of money is not enough, you need to make all the money.
hammancheez@mmasnick @chadloder lmao get em
Jim Lillicotch
Disco Sexual@mmasnick
Nicely said. This part rings truest for me:
"""
The fediverse might not ever get as big as these other sites, and it doesn’t need to. It’s already hit critical mass to be an extremely useful site . . .
"""
I don't know if it's the Silicon Valley mindset or what: that if your tech offering doesn't dominate the world and earn fat returns for investors, that it's somehow a failure.
I know the fedi will continue to evolve, but for me and many others, it's already greatly useful.
グレェ「grey」@bezorp there is definitely some sort of monopolistic mindset that has infected the Bay Area. Where at least one billboard in recent years read: "One app to replace them all".
Somehow, invoking The One Ring, aka the Ruling Ring aka Isildur's Bane, was considered a "good thing" by a PR department?
I mean, I know I live in a ring of hell, but JFC, that billboard (and associated unnamed app[s]) had zero tact.
Then again, the Salesforce Tower was known to display the Eye of Sauron.;(
Karyl 
toolbear#🪧
Mike Fraser
Journalists, You’re Walking Away From A Gold Mine - The Canadian Online
UPDATED FEB 9, 2023: Added some great corroborating numbers from Martin Holland @[email protected] Let's time travel back to December, a time when Elon decided he didn't care for journalists anymore and laid down the ban hammer on a wide swath of the press corp. There were headlines (ironically) about the death of free speech on
Lee 🌏@mmasnick
I'm expecting to see a lot more stories like this.
As the corporations realise they are losing data, they used to capture on Facebook and Twitter. As they lose advertising opportunities. As they can no longer buy their way into top spot. As the Far Right realise, their hate is not tolerated and can't spread as easily. As Right Wing media struggles to get its favourite narratives to dominate the News cycle.
Expect to see more stories like this.
I'm expecting to see a lot more stories like this.
As the corporations realise they are losing data, they used to capture on Facebook and Twitter. As they lose advertising opportunities. As they can no longer buy their way into top spot. As the Far Right realise, their hate is not tolerated and can't spread as easily. As Right Wing media struggles to get its favourite narratives to dominate the News cycle.
Expect to see more stories like this.
Lee Fife@mmasnick I suspect the journalists were covering from themselves: both for not having the skills and attention to engage (most of what I saw) and for experiencing extreme dopamine withdrawal as they didn't get the clicks and RTs they live for ...
Cassandrich@mmasnick They're flocking back?
@mmasnick
Talking only of my experience, my use of Mastodon is most of the way caught up to Twitter in terms of fulfillment. Enough close friends are here. Enough parasocial friends are here.
The worst drawback thus far is a big gap in the journalists, bloggers, & regular folk I followed, especially BIPOC folk. #MastodonSoWhite
A few Twitter holdouts like Gaslit Nation & Rewire Newsgroup I subscribe to their podcast or support their Patreon. I miss reading their day to day posts, though.
Archin5000
ProgGrrlahhh man, you are the best 🍻
Patricia Kayden@mmasnick Good to hear.
a.Albi@mmasnick
Heh. That was fast.
Heh. That was fast.
Jimmy Barnes@mmasnick I've dumped Twitter and committed to mastodon but it's harder to use and hardly anyone says anything. I really thought subscribed to Ars and /. accounts would change that but no one comments on those articles either. Where are people talking?
@jimmybb you gotta follow more than 12 people, guy, before you can say "hardly anyone says anything."
Try followgraph and follow a lot more people. https://followgraph.vercel.app/
@mmasnick thank you, I didn't know who to follow. I'm like a new born babe 😂
KingStewart
Matt
Thierna@jimmybb @mmasnick look for hashtags of stuff that interests you.
And follow more people. You need about 100 people to follow to make your feed look interesting. We can't all post all the time. Follow people from different timezones makes your feed lively no matter what time you look at it.
Also go to local or federated timeline and follow more people. You can always unfollow later if they post stuff you don't like that much.
Leticia Báez Pérez
MyCart 🛒It was crap like these “slump” articles that made me think I shouldn’t invest myself or my time in the FediVerse/Mastodon.
Sean Tilley@mmasnick One thought that I have, in reaction to those other articles: publications like The Guardian have a vested interest in staying on centralized outrage platforms like Twitter, because that's where a huge amount of their traffic comes from.
In a space like ours, they are literally powerless.
LPS@mmasnick great article!
Lucius Annaeus Seneca@mmasnick
These journalists don't know how to look at data. Not only are only a small fraction of #Twitter accounts active, a lot of those active accounts are bots and trolls. I still have a #Twitter account, to interact with a group of dedicated pro-EU Britons, but I spend far more time on THIS platform. I find it to be time well spent, as opposed to arguing with faceless fascists who may be just bots. The right metric would be average account ACTIVITY by real users, excluding trolls/bots.
These journalists don't know how to look at data. Not only are only a small fraction of #Twitter accounts active, a lot of those active accounts are bots and trolls. I still have a #Twitter account, to interact with a group of dedicated pro-EU Britons, but I spend far more time on THIS platform. I find it to be time well spent, as opposed to arguing with faceless fascists who may be just bots. The right metric would be average account ACTIVITY by real users, excluding trolls/bots.
mashbooq@mmasnick yeah, the instant I saw the first "Mastodon is slumping" article, I knew it was because the authors were trying to go back to Twitter
Matt Bruce@mmasnick Incredible timing
anggiar 
@mmasnick somewhat agree with the slump tho. Especially when Twitter is stable-ish now (in term of controversy) things are defini looks slowing down.
@anggiar haven't noticed it at all myself. Not sure what I'm missing, but it's been pretty non-stop busy.
McNeely@mmasnick I will fully admit that I haven't gotten around to reading either article you mentioned but I would be curious to know if they have a methodology in place for handling users who move instances. If a user goes from one to another does that look like a decrease in usage to these counters even if it's only ever been one person the whole time?
And I'm sure they're not taking instances below a certain threshold?
Benjamin Leis ✅@mmasnick the mau drop doesn't seem to have bottomed out yet though so it's a bit premature to celebrate the long term growth. I wish there were more stats on overall traffic.
Thomas H Jones III left FB for Plus back in 2012. When Google decided Plus was one of their jillion failed experiments and shuttered it, I didn't return to FB. Similarly, if Mastodon fizzles, it won't mean going back to Twitter. I'm reasonably certain I'm not alone in the "once I've left, I don't go back" tendency. Which is to say, whether Mastodon fails to thrive, I don't think it returns any luster Twitter might have had.
Mark Darbyshire@mmasnick I also wonder if the peak could have been artificially inflated by users playing on multiple instances before deciding which one to stick with.
valkraider 
@mmasnick Your article makes valid points. But possibly the best part is in the comments, and the sheer number of “This comment has been flagged by the community” posts. Someone is fired up!
@valkraider that's our resident Musk bootlicker.
@mmasnick there are so many that scrolling through it looks redacted like the Kennedy assassination report.
Iron Curtain (Chiptunes)@valkraider @mmasnick except you can just click the button to see the hidden comments. I betcha can’t get that out of the Warren Commission report!
@valkraider @mmasnick but in all seriousness, Techdirt is one of those rare places on the internet where not only should you read the comments, but the comments section actually feels like a community rather than something unreadable.
Peter Skov Larsen ★I'm getting a distinct abusive relationship vibe from those who have left Twitter, returned, and are now leaving again.
I suspect this leaving and returning to Twitter will go on for quite a while.
I'm not joking or being smug here. It's an existential crisis for many of these people. The last thing they need is ridicule or scorn.
I AM BANKSY ☕ / 🗑🔥@mmasnick I just saw that Wired slump story this morning. Tired: Wired. Wired: Tired.
MC@mmasnick Define "ton". Picking up m a now that I've l-ed it o.
Yassie > moved to 0w0.is@mmasnick
Resding this article is chicken soup for my soul.
Resding this article is chicken soup for my soul.
newsorpigalThose are not journalists. Those are minor celebrities who happen to talk about current events.
Christopher Noyes@mmasnick love mastodon
Infrapink (he/his/him)@mmasnick
Tis interesting that even after #RegressionToTheMean is taken into account, the Fediverse has seen a meteoric rise. The mean itself has increased, which pleases me.
Tis interesting that even after #RegressionToTheMean is taken into account, the Fediverse has seen a meteoric rise. The mean itself has increased, which pleases me.
Ben, Writin’ Movies@mmasnick They should but they won’t. Journalists don’t like it if you call them out on their 🐂💩 which is why they get away with it so often. 🤨
@mmasnick I’ve started using this app daily after finally deleting Instagram and TikTok over the weekend. This is my first comment under any post on here.
@shecantech welcome!
Sean O@mmasnick Mastodon is boring because the algorithm isn’t fueling rage engagement which is a lazy reporter’s bread and butter.
“Somebody is mad on the internet”: fulfilling deadlines since 1994.
Scott D. Strader 😐"Musking up Twitter" lol. Definitely an idiom that should catch on.
"Don't be such a musk up! Stop musking around." "I installed the new version of the OS and now my computer is totally musked." "You can just musk off, buddy."
Robin from Colorado 🇺🇸🇺🇦@mmasnick love you Mike ❤️