🫧 socialcoding..

I see the #fedi announcement by a commercial marketing agency of a venture capital based app store joining the fediverse.

Is the #fediverse we have capable of avoiding #enshittification as it grows and attracts an increasing number of corporations, who make it their market?

Is our #ActivityPub landscape resistant to corporate capture and eventual takeover and domination? Just like the Corporate Web, also decentralized.

There are nice niches on the web, like a bloggosphere, bulletin boards, and news readers, that all still exist. But web as a whole is predominantly corporate, arguably not commons based, for the people by the people.

Social experience design defines "commons based" as "where people are in control of their future on a path of healthy evolution and natural growth". A core principle is being sustainable at all times, and timely acknowledge and mitigate risks.

Is fediverse commons based? Did we cocreate the Future of Social networking?

#SX #SocialCoding #poll #AskFedi

Yes, we're decentralized, no one can hurt us
24.4%
No, unless we carefully organize a good defense
57.3%
No unless with drastic reorg of both social + tech
13.4%
Other (please comment)
4.9%
Poll ended at .
Mar 12 at 8:16amWeb
Show threadapplepineMar 12

@smallcircles private property social media is *designed* to make you stay there as long as possible — creating familiarity and making you remember and think about it more frequently.

Since #fediverse intent to be healthier, it does't break your #autonomy about your time and probably never makes you addicted. The consequence is that it's harder to stay using it more than how much we used corporate social media. Plus, the fact that popular people aren't much here.

Both of the things we "lack of" are interesting only for #capitalism , not the liberating place we're making.

What I think can be done about Fediverse popularity is attracting more progressive and popular people here — by actually presenting it to them.

Show threadapplepineMar 12
@smallcircles What I mean is keep not immitating #twitter, but to keep maing it more healthy and to invite more people
Show thread🫧 socialcoding..Mar 13

@applepine yes. I held this poll a couple days ago, with delightful results on the social experience of the current #fediverse: Dispersed cozy villages with here and there a bustling city..

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116154415408228188

That is a great outcome, and something to cherish and protect.

Currently I feel the slow growth of the #ActivityPub fediverse is healthy and natural growth we can cope with. And #Bluesky being the lightning rod for corporate attention, borrows more time to mature and evolve.

The #SocialWeb dynamics will totally change if the technology adoption lifecycle gets beyond early adopter phase, and 1,000's of commercial vendors start to launch products in this new market space that we, pioneers, made available to them.

The question is whether we can handle that. I think currently we cannot and we have to hand over fedi's fate to the market and hope for the best.

Show threadClickyMcTickerMar 12

@applepine @smallcircles I don’t think intent really applies to addiction. I certainly believe it is possible for someone to become to social media of any kind, regardless of intentions or feeds or the existence of influencers. All it takes is a feeling of escape from reality and you’re hooked.

I think there are ways of monetization that we can’t even dream of, so capitalism will rear its nasty head if we are large enough and they find their way.

That said, look at the current web. While it has certainly centralized in most ways, there still exist smaller networks of people. Cut out the corporate webpages and people who only use those, then look the number of users and webpages today versus say 1995. I’d imagine there are simply a lot more people and webpages which simply get overshadowed. The web is still here if you get off the beaten path. Corporations win by making consumption easy.

Show threadapplepineMar 12
@ClickyMcTicker @smallcircles for-profit will ALLWAYS have more means to promote itself. That's why the rest gets overshadowes.
Progressivist spaces are pratically shadowbanned until capital exist.
Show threadClickyMcTickerMar 12

@applepine @smallcircles Absolutely.
Maintaining our networking and discovery (people and resources) is critical.

I am still wishing for an advertising/marketing collapse which brings down corporate social media, but I am not hopeful on that one. It would solve a lot of social issues, but it would have happened years ago.

Show threadDawaMar 12
@applepine @smallcircles You can have user retention without using dark patterns or doing everything to make people stay there the app just has to be fun and provide content the person may like
Show threadapplepineMar 12

@fwtl @smallcircles

Sure, it's just that X, #meta and etc exploit it. That's why thier work is easier.

Show threadDawaMar 12
@applepine @smallcircles of course my point is we can integrate things like algos that are designed to just provide a good experience, of course it needs to be open (so that we can see what they do and why they recommend certain things)
Show threadTill KleisliMar 12
@smallcircles I don't see where the problem for the fediverse should be.
I think it is always a win for the open internet, when open standard protocols like ActivityPub are used to publish and exchange data.
Show threadThiago Ferrer MoriniMar 14
@smallcircles Yes, if we never forget that the forces pushing for enshittification are immensely strong and endeavor to not depend too much of any tool we (as a community) don't control
Show threadNicolas FressengeasMar 14

@smallcircles

I almost answered yes. No one can hurt us. This is the answer I feel good, but it needs to carefully take advantage of it. An example is Thread, which tried, or faked to try, to join the Fediverse. At least Meta tried to take advantage of it.

So yes, decentralisation is a strength. It will not do everything though.

#fedi #fediverse #enshittification #ActivityPub #SX #SocialCoding #poll #AskFedi

Show threadTKzSingularityMar 16
@smallcircles push marketing will always be the bully in the playground. Keep the market place accessible for those who want it, like a school canteen, but separate from where the kids play in the playground