Jon S. von TetzchnerNov 26, 2024

When I talk about the importance of going all in on the Fediverse, I speak based on experience.

At Opera we built a massive user community. When I quit, we had something like 35 million registered users and 35 million monthly visitors.

The new Opera management did not see the value of that. They believed it was cheaper and better to just use Facebook and that investing in your own community was a waste of money. So they closed down MyOpera and built a following on Facebook and Twitter instead. Then they got caught by the bait and switch when Facebook changed and you would no longer reach your audience, without paying. Later on Twitter changed as well.

This is important to explain to companies and institutions as they go shopping for social media sites to invest in. The best investment is clearly in your own site, being part of the Fediverse. It is not even all that expensive to do. It may take longer to build, but at least it is your own.

Not saying you cannot build a following on those other sites, but your long term strategy should be the Fediverse with your own server.

We try to lead the way here and thus we build Vivaldi Social. Not just for our selves, but to make a point and support the Fediverse.

#fediverse #Mastodon #Twitter #Threads #BlueSky #Vivaldi

Show threadII_ARROWSNov 27, 2024

@jon Right, but with everyone jumping on Twitter 2, how do you do change that?
I can't follow those people and small organizations that are closing their Twitter accounts, unless I setup a Bluesky account and download the app.

There is a huge communication problem about Mastodon and ActivityPub. Less then one year ago there has been a similar situation, and people preferred to open an account on Facebook's platform Threads instead of the open alternative.

Not even tech channels and outlets are talking about it.

Show threadJon S. von TetzchnerNov 27, 2024

@II_ARROWS

In reality you can follow a lot of these people from here. Some are here already. You are also able to follow people on Threads. You can also follow Blogs and the like from here. There is a lot more you can do than you think.

The most important thing, however, is to convince people to join us. Convince them that it is worth it to set up shop here. Welcome them here. They may have their other accounts, but gradually they will see the value of being in a community that engages with them in a mostly positive manner.

Then when Twitter 2 goes down, they will thank you that you told them to join us, because here they still have their following.

Show threadII_ARROWS

@jon That's in theory, if those account opt-in to share with one bridge server.
But, leaving alone that as of now I haven't personally found one*, I suppose that doesn't happen because they don't know, care, or understand what either Bluesky and the fediverse do and operate.

* I admit it's a very small sample, butt I can't project 0 to anything big.

Nov 27, 2024 at 12:04pmWeb