Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
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@ChrisMayLA6 it might or not stay niche but for commercial media, there's no way to monetize and sell data from fediverse / mastodon, so no interest. The most important job that a media has is to sell ads.
@mojala @ChrisMayLA6 it will remain a niche I think, but as long as the niche is large enough for the users involved, that is no problem
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 I fear the answer is as simple as they don't care.
Meta, Twitter etc, has deep claws in people because the harm is not visibly affecting them. And when it does, it's often "what can we do".
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 Mastodon had and has a big racism and abuse problem. When black twitter attempted to move over here when Elon bought twitter initially, there was a ton of abuse sent to black people who came over.
My understanding is there is still a big issue, and abuse problems are still not resolved. (Not only the culture of abuse but also the moderator and abuse blocking tools).
I imagine you can draw the connecting line from there to here
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 I have typed with several people who 'tried' the fediverse.
Their main 'problem': you have to select a server.
No way that it's possible to explain that all servers are connected; their brain are monolith platform based. "Network" doesn't click with them.
Also: change is scary. New is scary. And "all my friends are on <insert platform>."
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 in addition to the significant racism/abuse problems we see on a platform with distributed, often unpaid moderators, Mastodon will forever be unappealing to the type of people who use Twitter and imagine that it is their key to fame and virality, because a nonalgo timeline means that they cannot squat in the mentions of famous people hoping that a pithy reply of theirs gets a million retweets and lets them hock dropshipped garbage in the secondary replies.
This is also why the lack of quote tweeting was seen by some as a dealbreaker, because it denied that "callout" aspect of Twitter that was the most common way for mid-level accounts to elevate their status and try get a big viral moment.
It's just not compatible with brains that have been rotted by social media into desiring "fame moments".
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 Has Bluesky improved by getting those X users? If not, then i don't see any point in even trying.
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@ChrisMayLA6 Mastodon had and has a big racism and abuse problem. When black twitter attempted to move over here when Elon bought twitter initially, there was a ton of abuse sent to black people who came over.
My understanding is there is still a big issue, and abuse problems are still not resolved. (Not only the culture of abuse but also the moderator and abuse blocking tools).
I imagine you can draw the connecting line from there to here
What is interesting is due to Mastodon's federated character I *never* seen any of this (but then again I'm a elderly white man, so it wouldn't come my way anyway I suppose?)
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 to apply Occam's razor, I'm going to guess it wasn't an option offered.
(Tried to find the survey on Hundredx site but couldn't find it.)
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 Mastodon skews techy, and in a bit of a self-flagellating way. Like a top post will be, "I'm installing NetBSD this weekend to do penance for my sins. Any bets whether my TRS-80 emulator will work on it?" Could be worse. Could be Matrix.
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What is interesting is due to Mastodon's federated character I *never* seen any of this (but then again I'm a elderly white man, so it wouldn't come my way anyway I suppose?)
@ChrisMayLA6 well yes. Part of the problem is, it is very easy to target in a sneaky way, on this platform.
There is a lack of black voices on this platform, there is a lot of history here about it if you go looking.
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@ChrisMayLA6 well yes. Part of the problem is, it is very easy to target in a sneaky way, on this platform.
There is a lack of black voices on this platform, there is a lot of history here about it if you go looking.
@ChrisMayLA6 it is not just the federation which enabled this, to be clear.
There was a lack of interest in the development of suitable moderation tools at the time, a lack of black voices as part of the development and leadership of Mastodon.
A culture of telling people "they were doing it wrong" even though they were the victims of racism. There's a lot.. federation was a part of it, but a solvable part of it. In other words, to be clear, it was not a technology problem at it's heart
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Mastodon still has a major profile deficiency among social media users (particularly those on X).
For many of us this might not be seen as disadvantageous (who wants people still on X to come here?), but Mastodon's absence remains notable.
The Q.is: is this because people are unaware of the fediverse or is to part of a deliberate (perhaps implicit) move to obscure a non-commercial alternative?
Or perhaps Mastodon & its values is always going to be niche social media?
@ChrisMayLA6 since Mastodon/the #Fediverse are not even featured in the survey results even at a minimal level I wonder if we were even included as an option in the survey questionnaire?
Of course anyone with any sense or awareness that we exist would have already switched long ago.
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@Arapalla @ChrisMayLA6 of course it's not as if it has to be an either/or thing. It seems a lot of our users still keep an, often quiet, presence on the commercial platforms such as Facebook or X just to keep in touch with their family or acquaintances who are stuck there.
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@ChrisMayLA6 I have typed with several people who 'tried' the fediverse.
Their main 'problem': you have to select a server.
No way that it's possible to explain that all servers are connected; their brain are monolith platform based. "Network" doesn't click with them.
Also: change is scary. New is scary. And "all my friends are on <insert platform>."
@paulk @ChrisMayLA6 I agree that having to find a server is probably the biggest blocker - I was "lucky" in that being a Vivaldi user I was gifted an account when they created a Mastodon instance.
My dad actually came to me asking about Mastodon one day, so I helped him to join and all the questions and frustrations about where and how came up during those days.
Ironically, I hadn't really got into it before then but that kicked me into being more active. On the other hand, he joined but never committed.
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@ChrisMayLA6 it is not just the federation which enabled this, to be clear.
There was a lack of interest in the development of suitable moderation tools at the time, a lack of black voices as part of the development and leadership of Mastodon.
A culture of telling people "they were doing it wrong" even though they were the victims of racism. There's a lot.. federation was a part of it, but a solvable part of it. In other words, to be clear, it was not a technology problem at it's heart
yes, I can see that....
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@ChrisMayLA6 since Mastodon/the #Fediverse are not even featured in the survey results even at a minimal level I wonder if we were even included as an option in the survey questionnaire?
Of course anyone with any sense or awareness that we exist would have already switched long ago.
Yes this was raised a bit back in the thread; was Mastodon included in the menu of survey options... likely not, and without a 'write in' option even those who had heard of us, would not be able to register that
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@paulk @ChrisMayLA6 I agree that having to find a server is probably the biggest blocker - I was "lucky" in that being a Vivaldi user I was gifted an account when they created a Mastodon instance.
My dad actually came to me asking about Mastodon one day, so I helped him to join and all the questions and frustrations about where and how came up during those days.
Ironically, I hadn't really got into it before then but that kicked me into being more active. On the other hand, he joined but never committed.
Yes, but as is often pointed out, given the guidance easily on offer actually this is more perceived barrier than *actual* barrier, although I accept the perception doesn't make it any less real for the individual
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@ChrisMayLA6 I have actually written several extensive 'manuals' in webpages for people, pointing them at the pages, and for some reason it remains a scary thing. It's easier to complain about the 'current place' and stick with it than going to a good place where things are new...
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@ChrisMayLA6 @paulk @FediTips I think a big part for many is if any friends and family are there. My dad was trying to de-Meta and I think if my sister had come to Mastodon he would have stuck around. She went (briefly) to Bluesky (boo!), and despite me working out the Bridgy path neither of them were interested.
Me, I am happy to return to the original early 1990s days of bumping into random strangers on here and just picking up what's on the breeze.
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@ChrisMayLA6 I have actually written several extensive 'manuals' in webpages for people, pointing them at the pages, and for some reason it remains a scary thing. It's easier to complain about the 'current place' and stick with it than going to a good place where things are new...
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