A polite reminder to people on here who like to proclaim:
"At this point if you're still on Twitter you are [some variant of horrible person]"
If you are a small creator - artist, writer, whatever - then right now Mastodon DOES NOT deliver equivalent reach-based income. People do not tip as much and the lack of QT significantly damages creator reach.
Being able to forsake income is a privilege. Your options are not someone else's options. Please be open-minded to that.
Best guess: leaving Twitter cut the Kickstarter on my most recent book by about 50%.
(Yes, yes, comparing one creative project to another is absolute foolishness, for reasons we both know. But I've run a few kickstarters and published many books, and this seems a decent back-of-the-envelope guess.)
I made the decision to leave Twitter with open eyes, knowing it would have a cost. But quite a few folks said they were remaining on Twitter specifically to get updates from me, so I decided to leave.
My bills are still being met, but I'm in the top 10% of writers.
LOTS of folks can't afford that.
@mwl my best guess so far is that a 'viral' thread on here will deliver me better interactions, but 1/3 of the revenue adjusted for boosts etc.
I do legit want to do a proper piece on this at some point. I very much enjoy Mastodon but I worry it's sleepwalking into a creativity cap that disproportionately impacts small creators who would be a wonderful part of this community.
Alright to ping you at some point about your experience, for that write-up?
Roughly matches my experience, I'd say. Much, MUCH better interactions, but Twitter seems to be where the rich folks hang out.
It might also have to do with my blocking. First thing I did when setting up my instance was block Gab and company. I'm surprised (and disappointed) at how many of my Twitter followers have fedi accounts in that space.
Ping me away!
John Bull
Michael W Lucas 