This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
Usually it’s Ravelry that provides that…
I see lots of knitting chat and advice here, but I don’t know of a specific server.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl But can the info in FB groups be trusted? Local clubs and communities in which people can interact in person are better than FB groups.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
Can you ask who provides the information?
If fellow enthusiasts, there are probably some here, and they’ll be fine if they come in a group. Or find a group:
https://about.fedigroups.social/directory
If knitting stores and manufacturers, there’s a tradeoff between the stores not wanting to do the socials on yet another platform BUT surely it would be nice to have a business channel not under the thumb of a platform trap?
If influencers… man, I don’t know, although also I don’t actually know.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl Here is a start. Because you need to join if you want it to grow.
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@randahl Here is a start. Because you need to join if you want it to grow.
@randahl There is more in the fediverse gruops directory. https://fedi.directory/tag/knitting/
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
I have a similar situation. I facet as a hobby. All I use facebook for is that. Both for access to the manufacture who seems to think that is fine for support and other hobbyist.
In a way I am a drag on facebook since I use adguard, privcy badger ublock and other items so I do not see most of the crap they want me to look at. And I avoid those reels things and such like the plague.
4 groups on facebook are all I use. If they moved offsite I would follow. There are a few groups on here but they are dead. Maybe a message every few months at most.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl I’m subscribing to internet fora again.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl
Also many small businesses (here, anyway) have fb but no web site. -
This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl I'm getting lots of knitting advice and support here! More than I do on FB.
That said, I'm still on FB for some particular groups. Weaving doesn't seem as strong on the fediverse as FB.
But knitting? Yup! There's a decent size crowd! -
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
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@randahl There are also a fair few spinners, but I'm not sure which hashtag is the best one to follow for that: #textilearts or #fiberarts or #fibrearts - maybe we all ought to switch to #textilearts simply because it avoids the confusion of US versus non-US spelling.
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@randahl There are also a fair few spinners, but I'm not sure which hashtag is the best one to follow for that: #textilearts or #fiberarts or #fibrearts - maybe we all ought to switch to #textilearts simply because it avoids the confusion of US versus non-US spelling.
@kerravonsen @randahl Oh interesting. I have noticed the spelling difference as well and always tag US based spelling….
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@kerravonsen @randahl Oh interesting. I have noticed the spelling difference as well and always tag US based spelling….
@kerravonsen @randahl I usually use #HandSpinning for my spinning tag… people also use #spinning (assuming it’s not a whole bunch of inside cyclists using that tag)
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl good question. There used to be forums for this kind of interaction, but they all died when ppl moved to FB. I didn't, never, for reasons, and lost contact to a lot of nice folks and there are topics I never found on t or anywhere here.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl The issue with staying on Facebook because of Groups is that the Groups affect other people. Some folks I know have Groups that went from Public to Private and then died off, and in that case it's not hard for a Group admin to just abandon the Group. People don't just up and leave active Groups, especially after years of membership. Mastodon might be able to establish something similar but it would all mean starting afresh; there's no moving an established Facebook Group to a different system no matter how good it may be. -
This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl it would help to probe more about what specifically they get on facebook. There's a big difference between hobbyists seeking advice, patterns, testers, local yarn store recommendations, social connection, inspiration porn, etc. Mastodon is good for some of those. Ravelry or Instagram are better for other facets.
If they haven't discovered Ravelry yet, I'd point them there first. Even after a huge loss of patterns and designers several years ago due to controversial policies, it remains the flagship social network / resource for knitters and crocheters.
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This week I talked to two different friends who are still on Facebook, and independent of each other they both said it was because of how the Facebook groups gave them easy access to information about their hobby, e.g. knitting.
So I need to ask: Can Mastodon compete with that and how?
@randahl Technically it can but the problem is the network effect: Mastodon is much much smaller than Facebook and so you have less users to chat with and less information.
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"Easy as that..." - was that a joke?
First, do an online search for Kbin. I get results for kbin.social and kbin.pub, both of which are defunct - one redirects to a non-existing subdomain, while the other is a test page at OVH Hosting.
OK, make a wild guess and search for Kbin on GitHub. Aha! Found it.
Scroll down to the readme-section and see this at the very first thing except the description of the project:
"Note: This is a very early beta version, and a lot of features are currently broken or in active development, such as federation."
If the choice stands between something that looks like a phpBB forum from 2005 and something that does not work, I'd say that the Fediverse is falling very short when it comes to replacing the functionality of Facebook groups.
So, to answer the question asked:
No, Mastodon can't compete with Facebook groups, and, frankly, neither can the Fediverse.
Lemmy is probably the best bet here, but the user interface will scare most potential users away. It's functional, but looks like something you can't take seriously in 2026.
