Having spent a lot of time on Mastodon… There are tons of people there talking about federated and self-hosted services, software freedom, censorship, encryption, tech regulation… A very narrow range of topics directly surrounding the fediverse get a lot of attention.
But nobody talks about anything else. Nobody goes to Instagram to talk about Instagram, nobody goes to Tiktok to talk about Tiktok, nobody goes to Facebook (at all). People use social media to either talk to their friends or talk about their hobbies and interests.
And if your hobby is tech, that’s fine, enjoy. I like tech too. But please, if you have anything else to say, say it. The fediverse will never appeal to the masses if we don’t embrace a wide variety of hobbies and interests.
We need people here talking about cooking. We need people here talking about fashion. We need people here talking about immigration policy. We need people here talking about everything people enjoy!
Yes, if you go to /m/fashion right now, it’s… barely there. You’re not going to get a ton of conversation when you post there. But that’s not the point. The point is to build out the community, so that, a year from now, as more and more people attempt to post and engage, there is a conversation. There’s a reason to be on the fediverse besides the meta circlejerk over how great the fediverse could be in theory.
This is the “content” people are craving. Find or start a magazine for your city, or your town, or your country. Write a post. Share posts from your favorite blogs. Comment on something, if you have anything to say at all. Share a youtube video—yes, a youtube video, I know, youtube sucks, but at least it gives us a path to a community here.
Once you realize that over 80% of the wolrd’s population are complete idiots, you’ll start seing things differently as well. Why do you think Reddit was at the bottom of the social medias when it came to the number of users? Because it didn’t attract those 80% of the population, that’s why.
OK, then try and convince them to come over here and open up shop. Don’t know what else to tell ya, I’m not forcing anyone to do or not do anything, if someone asks me on which social media I spend most of my time now, I’m not gonna lie, but if they don’t ask what Lemmy or the fediverse is, I’m not gonna start talking about it either. Apparently, they have no interest in knowing more about it, and that’s cool, I respect that. If I wanted to see more of this or that that Lemmy or the fediverse doesn’t have, I’ll just join a social media platform that does, end of story.
Well, I know you’re an idiot, since you seem to struggle with math. If your definition of “complete idiot” includes people in the 75th percentile of overall knowledge, and you don’t see how that makes your definition meaningless and makes you a piece of shit, I can’t imagine why you think anybody would want to chat with you.
I’m here for conversations. There’s no way for me to convince people to come to a social network to not have conversations. Nobody wants that. A very small number of people want to try to build this social network. Those people need to build it, topic by topic, rather than circle-jerking about nothing.
You’re young. I used to think exactly like you. You’ll start seing things more from my point of view as you get older.
OK, make content then. Show them there is content, just no one to talk to.
You want things to happen instantly, they don’t happen like that.
Exactly how young am I, o great omniscient lord on high?
SIX YEARS.
You’re in your 20’s, I can tell that much. Get to your late 30’s, then we’ll talk.
You started using Mastodon when nobody was actually using it. Things will happen in year or two from now. People are finally getting fed up with the nonsence and ads on mainstream social media. That coupled with bad decisions management wise will reduce the actual users on those platforms (bots don’t count). The time of growth is now, not 6 years ago.
Guess again, dumbass.
Maybe stop pretending you know everything about everybody. You took a stab in the dark and pretended it was knowledge. You don’t need to make assumptions about how old people are because you want to use those assumptions to judge them. You told me I’m too young to know anything, and that you knew better because you were older. You just don’t realize how stupid you are.
Nothing has changed in the past six years. We’ve had multiple moments that have felt like… oh wow, people are going to start caring about the fediverse! People are going to come join and it’s going to be a place where people do things! But none of those moments materialized into anything, because a million signups mean nothing if you can’t find anybody to follow, can’t find any followers, can’t find anybody talking about anything but the fediverse, and feel, when you post, that you’re shouting into the wind. You’re not going to post. You’re not going to come back tomorrow. You’re not going to come back in a year. You tried the fediverse, there was nothing there, you went back to the social networks where society resides.
For something to change, we’re going to need to have a conversation people want to join. We’re going to need to build communities that people want to post in, or vote in, or lurk in, or comment in, or share posts from, or talk about, or care about. We can’t just say “there’s no Zuckerberg!” That’s not enough.
You can pretend all you want, I know I’m right.
You never asked how I know that. The fact that you got fired up and started using curse words says a lot.
Please quote where I wrote that. I wrote older people are wiser. Not smarted, wiser. Why? Because they have more life experience. Not every older person is wiser, but those that have more than 2 synapses firing up there, usually are.
Once again, trying to make me look bad or get me angry (maybe 🤔) by saying things that I might take as an insult, says a lot.
Plase take a look at what has happened this year alone regarding social network platforms and you’ll see I’m right. Reddit’s API changes, Twitter limiting tweet views, Meta launching Threads and deciding to federate that platform with the fediverse. Please point at another year in which so many changes have been made on all social networks worldwide. Trust me, the time is now. If it doesn’t happen now, it’ll most probably never happen.
A million sign ups means a lot. If it means nothing to you, than I guess you’re just expecting for miracles, which is another thing that points to your age. Younger people usually believe in these things, that some sort of a massive global shift will happen in one direction or another. Even for Reddit and Digg that took years and years. Things will move even slower because of the federation aspect of the fediverse. Don’t think 1G users will suddenly shift in 2, 3 months, that is not going to happen. If the whole of the fediverse gets to 1G users in a decade from now, that should be considered a thriumph.
You’re interested in normie subjects/hobbies. That’s fine, no one says you shouldn’t be. Just don’t expect people in the fediverse to be interested in those same things. So, you’re interested in fashion and suits. Those are mostly things that people with no actual preference about the direction in which this world is heading to (in general, not just the internet, social media, etc.). They’re considered superficial. Not saying you are, but people interested in how they physically appear is something that appeals to status, which in turn tells a lot about how those people view the world - through status. Those are not the types of people that will usually care about the direction in which the social media platforms are heading. They usually care about how they appear in society. And that’s fine too. But, they don’t see anything wrong with how social networks work or where things are heading right. For them, things just work and they see no need to switch/change platforms.
You shouldn’t expect to see many posts related to the subjects you’re interested in on the fediverse. Those are usually not things that people who have a higher consciousness and decided to drop the mainstream social media will be interested in. Even if they are, they realize that this place will most probably never be a place where those kinds of interest will thrive, or at least not till corporate social media pose a real threat to the reputation of the fediverse (as is the case with Meta). So, they take their business elsewhere, i.e. to the social networks where these communities thrive. Hey, there’s nothing weong with that, I do it as well, I have no plans to delete my Reddit accounts, they serve a purpose now and will most probably do so in the future. Not use them as frequently, yes, no doubt, the fediverse is now the first thing I open, not Reddit, when it comes to social media that is. But out right completely delete them? I really can’t see a reason, there are still subs there that I know for a fact that won’t switch to the fediverse. Why? They have their reasons, and I get that. I might not agree with it, but I get it. So, no hard feelings, I’ll check up on them from time to time, and that’s about it. My point is, you should do the same and stop asking why years have passed and yet nothing has happened regarding having more people that are interested in this or that on the fediverse. Just deal with it. It probably won’t happen, so I’ll just use mainstream social media, but if it does happen some day, hey, how cool, finally ☺️.
Be that change. Start posting on a more a link like aggregator place, like KBin or Lemmy. Mastodon is more of a microblogging thing. From my experience, places more like Reddit sprout meaningful conversations regarding ceratin subjects. So, try and do the same on KBin or Lemmy, see how it goes 🤷.
My identity is not a secret dumbass, you can look me up. You can tell me how you “know” that I’m in my twenties, but you don’t, because I’m not. You “know” that in my twenties because you think my worldview is somehow less mature than yours, and that somehow explains my age. No, I’m just less of a dick than you are.
Oh, I see, so you’re wiser than me because you’ve spent more time in your mom’s basement than you think I’ve spent alive, huh?
You’re explaining why there’s an opportunity now. There’s still nothing happening on the fediverse. People are flocking to threads and ignoring the fediverse. I’m trying to argue that we should do something about that, make the fediverse a social network and not just a place to discuss the fediverse. You’re arguing that it’s probably already happened and I just haven’t noticed yet. I’ve been here for six years. A million signups sounds like a lot, but I’m telling you, nothing has changed.
It means potential. It means opportunity. It does not mean that we’ve arrived, or hit an inflection point, or taken advantage of the opportunity.
Not nearly as long as it’s taking for the fediverse. I don’t want to spend six more years crossing my fingers while Threads grows and the fediverse continues to stagnate, and then wonder why people didn’t bother.
I really… I don’t understand why you’re confused when I insult you. It’s hard to imagine that this isn’t an intentional, active attempt to be seen as a piece of shit. Do you not see how hard you have to suck to say something so stupid, so elitist, so wrong-headed as this? You do not have a higher consciousness than other people, you have one interest most people don’t have. Cooking and fashion and cat gifs are not lowly interests, they’re interests you don’t have. Your personal preferences don’t make you some kind of ubermensch, dumbass, they’re just preferences.
Yes, I’m aware that the fediverse is mostly techies and nerds. That does not make it better. Reddit has plenty of room for people with different interests. Twitter has plenty of room for people with different interests. Lemmy and Kbin are designed to support different interests. But you continue to express some kind of fear that, if people who like clothes come to the Fediverse, they’re somehow going to make your experience more like tiktok. Fuck off with that noise. Don’t subscribe to fashion magazines, problem solved.
I’m doing both. @malefashionadvice and similar communities are absolutely dead. I have found twelve accounts I want to follow on mastodon, half of them have never posted, and the other half are software projects. And I’m really pushing it, I’m really looking, there’s just nobody talking about anything interesting.
I really feel that’s the experience almost everybody on the planet would have if they tried signing up for and using mastodon. That’s why those six people don’t post—they came, they gave it a chance, they found a barren wasteland of nothing, and they left.
OK, you’re taking this way too seriously and getting fired up over nothing. This is not a courtroom and I don’t have to listen to your insults.
Take care.