ChozoI feel like the reason #Mastodon, and the #Fediverse at large, aren't taking off has to do with the fact that they're actually social networks. People don't seem to want a social network anymore, they want content platforms. People aren't using #Twitter or #Threads or #TikTok to keep up with their friends anymore, they're using these apps to entertain themselves. And since #Facebook and every other platform that used to be a social network began pivoting toward content promotion, I think society has forgotten what a social network is supposed to actually be anymore.
Jerry on PieFed@Chozo Interesting thought
@Jerry Thanks! What prompted this for me was seeing how much #Misskey is blowing up in Japan right now, and I couldn't figure out what was making Misskey different from the rest of the Fediverse. And after taking a look around at how that instance is being used by its community, it seems like it's being used mostly for content promotion. Most people are using it to share artwork and videos, and there's more focus on reactions than actual, meaningful replies. There's definitely people still using it as an actual blogging platform, but looking at the global feed, you'll see that 99% of the activity is coming from shared media. Its use-case is being catered more similarly toward the mainstream, media-sharing-based platforms.
Just kinda interesting to see that what people say they want and what they actually end up using tend to be different, sometimes.
Matt@[email protected] @[email protected] Unfortunately the Fediverse has an interesting problem:
The biggest player (Mastodon) is trying to be a social network that has primarily attracted nerds, FOSS enthusiasts, and marginalised groups, but most of its popularity rests on being a Twitter alternative, of which people used primarily for content.
Other Fediverse platforms can absolutely serve the purpose of providing content (Lemmy and /kbin are primarily used for this, after all), but most people don't get how it all works - people only know that the Fediverse is Mastodon, and nothing else.
It's hard because people want Mastodon to keep to its original values, but then many others want it to change to be more like the big social platforms so it attracts more and more people.
I feel like the solution here may be to let Mastodon to use its success/popularity to become more "mainstream", and then have other platforms which can federate with it take up the mantle of more cozy spaces about networking with friends and communities, rather than content.
The biggest player (Mastodon) is trying to be a social network that has primarily attracted nerds, FOSS enthusiasts, and marginalised groups, but most of its popularity rests on being a Twitter alternative, of which people used primarily for content.
Other Fediverse platforms can absolutely serve the purpose of providing content (Lemmy and /kbin are primarily used for this, after all), but most people don't get how it all works - people only know that the Fediverse is Mastodon, and nothing else.
It's hard because people want Mastodon to keep to its original values, but then many others want it to change to be more like the big social platforms so it attracts more and more people.
I feel like the solution here may be to let Mastodon to use its success/popularity to become more "mainstream", and then have other platforms which can federate with it take up the mantle of more cozy spaces about networking with friends and communities, rather than content.