Universal Basic Friend4d ago

I keep hearing "mastodon isn't good for [type of celebrity], they have to go to [other platform] for engagement"

It's not the celebrity type [scicom personality, journalist, author] it's the attempt to run a celebrity account at all that doesn't work on the fedi.

There are heaps of well known people on the fedi. Either it's not obvious that's their day job or they're just quietly being that in among posts about walking their dog. Coming to the fedi trying to sell your day job and hoping people will 'engage' is odd. Like going to the playground or the museum and being mad that bystanders didn't engage your about your day job despite the sandwich board you're wearing and your refusal to talk about any other topic.

Going into a social environment broadcasting [📢this is my content, engage with it📢] is an obvious recipe for disappointment. No one cares about the things you're broadcasting. Show us your dog. Did they have a nice walk?

Show threadUniversal Basic Friend4d ago
/a well known figure in and national go-to for certain issues in a publishing based industry with no relevance to the fedi. Has two cats and a crochet habit that are very relevant to the fedi.
Show threadUniversal Basic Friend4d ago

This is what I mean when I say the fedi is a series of kitchen tables. Not a form of email, not a world of islands, just a lot of kitchen tables.

Everyone is happy to see someone rock up to the kitchen table with a bunch of cat pics, a recipe and a silly question.

No one wants someone turning up to the barbecue with a professional portrait of oneself with cat, a series of YouTube links to polished videos of yourself presenting recipes and constantly questioning why these are not getting enough attention.

Show threadUniversal Basic Friend4d ago

Accounts that claim there's no engagement on the fedi are, in my experience, some of the only accounts not engaging. The only ones not getting in other people's comments with similar interests and just shooting the shit with no other agenda.

You cannot go to a jamboree, sit around your own fire and complain that no other scout troops are coming by to hear your guitar. Your troop has to go to everyone else's fires, listen to their stories, sing along with their songs and of course answer enquiries about whether you can play Teenage Dirtbag.

Show threadUniversal Basic Friend4d ago
But of course this is not what's meant by "engagement". Much like "agency", this means something totally different in the tech world. Engaging does nothing for your "engagement".
Show threadOblomov1d ago

@coolandnormal it's hard to understand that the Fediverse gives what you put in it, when one's brain has been rotted by the kind of dopamine addiction the algorithmically manipulatable platforms can provide. If you abuse a platform as write-only medium, why would you expect anyone to READ you?

Ironically, the Fediverse can actually provides plenty of engagement. But one has to actually actively engage with it to get it back.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 

@oblomov @coolandnormal

That's really it.

They're expecting people here to fawn over them for their supposed celebrity status.

Nobody cares much about that here.

This is a place for humans to interact with humans as humans.

There are a few Subject Matter Experts like Baldur Bjarnason that I enjoy following on fedi, but they're rare because they do not *write like influencers".

They write like humans.

We're darn near allergic to that kind of self-gratifying stuck-up speech here.

Edits: minor diction and other corrections, sorry for the extra notifications

2:20amWeb