when you talk about the Fediverse to friends, family, or colleagues

Sorry, why would I do that? There might be 1-3 people who’d be “suitable” for something like Reddit before it became crap, and 0 for the Fediverse.

Simple.

Just like you introduce Linux!

“The memes and news site I use.”

That’s it. No infodumping, no explaining the technicalities, just tell them “just pick one, it’s basically like a username” and worry about it only if they want to learn about the underside of it.

We don’t “explain” email to people - they just pick a site, sign up, and move on.

Working in tech I learned to only explain the workings of something if they ask since most users are perfectly fine on a surface level and can intuit more than we credit them for once they know the basic gist.

“Lemmy is like Reddit the same way Linux is like windows. Its not really as good, but turbonerds will give you a thousand reasons why its better and you wont really understand.”

“Its not filled with wankers and bots yet though so its got that going for it.”

I normally just say, “I read [x] on Lemmy.”

If they ask and are genuinely curious what that is, I tell them it’s like a reddit offshoot, but the users control the network and servers with a high level of transparency in administration/moderation and run off software that can have tens of thousands of crowdsourced eyes helping to find and fix any bug or security issue.

My main talking points focus on the lack of personalized feed, no advertising, no one corporation with political motivation is in control of it, clear moderation log, etc.

I think the key is that you have to show them why the platform they’re already using isn’t in their best interest. Why use Lemmy when they already have Reddit? Why use Piefed when they already have Instagram? Most people don’t realize the surveillance social media puts them under or how its personalized feeds manipulate their state of mind.

Until you explain that, it’s hard to give any reason to try what they’re already used to.

I only do so if they talk about reddit, then I explain that it’s like reddit, but some subs are hosted on a server in Germany, and others on a server in Canada; regardless of where it is, any user form any of the servers can see posts hosted on any server.

I don’t really get into the non-federated details (like unfederating from hexbear, etc.) unless they ask.

Depends:
single platform: there i talk mostly about features like no tracking and no ads but also add that there are less people but its still lively

Fediverse: “imagine you comment under a youtube video with your twitter account”, then i add that i actuallynever did the equivalent but that its possible, then i rant about bsky not being decentralised (because DIDs) and its red flags, then go back explaining fedi and reference it to email

I don’t really bother until they’re looking for an alternative.

When I’ve put people on Linux, to make an analogy, it’s basically been because they entrust me with their choice of new computer, not because I won an argument about the relative merits of different software licences.

Most people IRL aren’t even on Reddit, so Lemmy wouldn’t make any sense for them. People might be on Twitter, but for whatever reason it hasn’t come up, so no Mastodon either. Mostly I hear about Tiktok and Instagram for the young, and Facebook for the old. Pixelfed is Instagram-ish IIRC, but I’m not sure how active it is.

Edit: And if people want whichever platform they have the most friends on, well, they’re obviously in the last 50% of the population you can recruit.

The whole thing with federating is irrelevant to most users.

I tell them it's a social media built in a way that makes it impossible for any company to take over it in order to make profit. And then I show them to some instance I've hand-picked for them, without really telling them there are other instances as well. It's not something they should worry about at that point. I can explain it later on, anyway.

I don’t bother explaining it unless asked. I just share content with them. They can figure it out if they’re interested.

If I am asked, then it’s “a decentralized platform similar to…” whatever. Most folks are “don’t know, don’t care” when it comes to anything technical.

I don’t. I say oh yeah I read that on Lemmy. They don’t ask, I don’t offer.

If for some reason they say what is Lemmy? I say just a community version of Reddit not run by companies.

They never ask further, so I don’t need to start explaining parallels to email.

Here’s a better link from mastodon. It gives you a preview and has no ads.

“I’m trying to cut down on social media.”

Great, mastodon isn’t optimised for engagement, it’s just stuff you follow in chronological order.

I don’t. It’s bad enough that people spend too much time on social media. Why the fuck would i introduce another one?

I’m practically only here because rif died. Its not because it’s enjoyable. I open the app to maybe see one good post among the thousands and thousands of “same”-posts.