Chris TrottierApr 18, 2023

The Guardian wrote about Mastodon yet again today. I find @wilf’s reporting on Mastodon stats to be dodgy.

While MAUs are half of peak—to be expected when comparing to November 2022—HYAUs are at their current all time high of 4.5 million. That’s important because, as it turns out, a month isn’t enough to assess whether people use a service.

That said, kudos to him for actually interviewing real Mastodon users.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/18/mastodon-users-twitter-elon-musk-social-media

@fediversenews

Thousands fled to Mastodon after Musk bought Twitter. Are they still ‘tooting’?

The decentralized social network has seen user numbers drop in recent months, but tech-savvy users remain passionate

The Guardian
Show threadChris TrottierApr 18, 2023

As well, at least some of @wilf’s critiques are valid. Mastodon can feel like the Home Owner’s Association.

That was especially the case when the Twitter migration happened and old timers felt threatened.

However, the culture has changed.

There was a time when journalists were met with hostility. Now people really do want journalists to be on the Fediverse. This is a 180 degree change.

Show threadChris TrottierApr 18, 2023

That said, a few of the critiques in @wilf’s article about Mastodon also seem wildly suspect.

One activist complains that they cannot hijack hashtags.

Which isn’t the type of behaviour I endorse, and seems downright toxic and hostile.

Show threadChris TrottierApr 18, 2023

The Mastodon detractor that I have most sympathy with is @shengokai. He’s right. Search and discovery is terrible here, and I wish that was fixed.

However, he still continues to use Mastodon due to the Star Trek and cat memes.

Show threadChris TrottierApr 18, 2023

I also disagree with @wilf’s assessment that Mastodon isn’t “great”.

Mastodon is a non-profit made by a small team utilizing a technology that’s in its infancy.

Most projects like this never get off the ground. I should know this—I started one.

Judged by those metrics, Mastodon is great.

Show threadChris Trottier

Here’s the other perspective @wilf should have: Mastodon validated ActivityPub in the eyes of the public. Specifically, the notion that decentralized and federated social media can work.

Now that millions have used the service and it’s proven to scale, more software engineers are iterating on that concept.

Apr 18, 2023 at 7:22pmIceCubesApp
Show threadChris TrottierApr 18, 2023

Another thing @wilf needs to know is that, in the world of decentralized social media, Mastodon is the market leader.

There’s lots of competing software. Planetary, Nostr, and Bluesky are all competing with it—all made or funded by former Twitter employees to boot.

All those products wish they had Mastodon’s success.