What could make Mastodon a more adopted platform?
A few thoughts as someone who has worked professionally in social media for a decade (and created several dozen social accounts over the years):
1. Content, make it easier for users and richer for readers
2. Community, with more big names and groups moving here
3. Paid support, including ads
4. Features, including the common ones (sharing!)
5. Policies and their enforcement
Each of those require a different approach: (cont'd)
1. Support more asset formats, display them in a more engaging way. Media are a natural part of social media, look at Instagram and Tiktok (or the evolution of Twiter and Facebook). Content diversity.
2. This is a hard one as you don't control communities. But community managers are skilled at engaging them! Social media is more than a tech platform, it's a way to serve communities. How can you facilitate grouping? And finding groups? Content together.
3. Unless you have a path to success via non-ad financial support, set up your platform for long-term success. Start small and be clear so you don't get ads to control your platform. Maybe consider things like Twitch/YouTube subscriptions or Patreon-like models. Paid content.
4. Another reason to get more users: make it familiar for them (don't get on a high horse with RT)! Social media has decades of experience, stop ignoring what others did and limit your potential. Content access.
StephaneWithAnE