Christopher Mimsbluesky is fun, threads is fun, but I don't think I'll ever forget the lesson of Twitter:
if you don't control your own social graph, someone else controls an increasingly important part of your life
Do NOT Fear|🇺🇸🇺🇦🐊🦉🌊💙@mimsical So we should all run our own Mastodon server? Kinda confused about what "control" really means
Aaron@hosford42 @mimsical I think you can guess how many people in the world are willing to do that based on how many Mastodon instances there are: ~11K out of 5B internet users https://mastodon.help/instances
Sounds great: but nobody (statistically speaking) wants to self-host a social network instance. Especially when easier to use centralized alternatives exist.
Threads reaching 20X Mastodon's size in no time is proof thereof
@jdrch @mimsical The rate of information spread is the limiting factor here. Threads is a money-making scheme, so to increase their profits, they advertise. Bottom-up approaches spread by word of mouth. It takes time. And it doesn't mean Threads is better because it spread faster. Just the opposite, because that's proof that Threads users are the product, while fedi users are a truly *social* network. We grow organically, because what we are doing is actually beneficial, not because there's a perverse incentive in it for us.
@hosford42 @mimsical Ideology doesn't draw users. Content & other people do.
This sounds a lot like the desktop Linux hype of the 2000s. Linux eventually "won" via being the most commonly deployed kernel (i.e. phones, routers, etc.) as opposed to dominating the desktop.
I see the same happening with ActivityPub. Mastodon won't win social, but AP may underpin a vast array of future services
@jdrch @mimsical Ideology does draw users, just not on the same level as content.
I'm in agreement with you about AP vs Mastodon. Mastodon is one piece of software in a whole ecosystem that is cropping up. I'll be here on the free, bottom-up social graph from here on out. I'm sure not everyone will fall inline with that, but I won't be alone. And I expect the number to grow. Unlike Linux, the fediverse adds to that grassroots appeal with the ability to connect to other people and share ideas.
If both coexist, and the corporate networks are federated, then that by definition is the fediverse winning. Corporations aren't going to go away. But if they have to play our game instead of vice versa, that's enough for me.
@hosford42 @mimsical Threads currently has no ads.
"Social" to non-ideologues means "where my friends are." It's why people have FB despite its numerous issues.
I don't think either centralized or decentralized models are going away; both will coexist.