I asked around so-called influencers why they were not on #Mastodon . Here are the most common replies:
1) We can't go viral on Mastodon (read as we can't game the system because humans only boost good stuff)
2) They want a algo driven system (why do you want to see angry posts all day & night?)
3) You can't make money on Mastodon (WTF that even mean?)
4) It is way too technical & confusing. Which server to join? WTF is the server?
Only the last one is valid. The rest are all lazy reasons.
The disdain for anyone that makes money through content online, is palpable. I'm not trying to change your opinion on that. I'm just pointing it out.
Going viral doesn't mean gaming the system. Most content goes viral because it is novel, entertaining, and fun.
And as I've said on here many, many times, the most viewed content on social media by far isn't angry content. It's happy/funny content. Twitter and 4chan are miserable places. TikTok and Instagram are happier places.
I see a lot of replies of the form:
"You can make money on Mastodon! You just have to do A, B, and C! It works!"
And:
"We don't want influencers on Mastodon."
The thing I find funny about the "You can make money on Mastodon!" claim, is that it's almost always proclaimed by Mastodon dudes that don't make any money through their social media content, talking about people that do make money on their social media content. 0% experience, 100% confidence.🙂🙃
2/N
I've seen authors get roasted on here for promoting their own books.
I've seen server admins get insulted for suggesting moving to a subscription model rather than a donation model.
I haven't seen many (any?) examples of people being financially successful on Mastodon with a "here's how I did it!" tutorial with real numbers. I just see vague hand-wavings about "It's totally possible!" but when I ask for concrete examples, it gets real quiet. 🤷🏿♂️
@[email protected] @[email protected] Minimum wage in NYC is $16/hr. At 52 weeks working 40 hrs a week, that's ~35K a year. Is nixCraft making $35K a year on Mastodon? I hope so! But I doubt it. If they are, how are they doing that? What mechanism are they using to be paid for their labor and craftsmanship? Donations? Subscriptions? (And $35K is not enough to cover the average 1 bedroom rent in NYC. Let alone pay for food, health insurance, clothes, and utilities). People deserve to be paid for their labor.
@mekkaokereke @april @nixCraft I'm fairly financially successful with monetization on Mastodon, and do publish figures (but it's been a while since I've written an updated article)
YTD I've made €7,713.27 in gross revenue from the community, or between €500-1500 a month. That's across 3 channels, excluding GitHub Sponsors.
Last year was €8,497.03 from supporters, averaging €40 per transaction.
@mekkaokereke @april @nixCraft
This year between freelance work, grants, and community support, I'm on track to make €68,000 or there about. (really depends on how far I progress through the FediMod FIRES grant from NLNet.
€68,000 is what I need to cover all my expenses, afaik.
@mekkaokereke @april @nixCraft
Here's the 2023 report: https://medium.com/@thisismissem/2023-final-update-of-the-year-1e5d619dc756
nixCraft 🐧
mekka okereke 
April (@39c3) The Pink ⋆☾╶⃝⃤☽⋆ [AS208709]
Emelia 👸🏻