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?
@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.
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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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"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.
@madsenandersc
I did not said you have to use these instances. I say there is option to do so.I can do groups in #friendica as well. People should stop ask what #Mastodon does, but look for possibilities across #Fediverse instead.
If you expect billionaire funded UX from free platforms, then think again - they also took a while to reach where they are now
@randahl -
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 Mastodon can't duplicate FB groups (still miss those, but not worth the FB agony).
Try these:
#spinning
#handspinning
#spindlespinning
#SpinningWheel
#spinningyarn -
@madsenandersc
I did not said you have to use these instances. I say there is option to do so.I can do groups in #friendica as well. People should stop ask what #Mastodon does, but look for possibilities across #Fediverse instead.
If you expect billionaire funded UX from free platforms, then think again - they also took a while to reach where they are now
@randahlI'd say that you're probably pinpointing the biggest weakness in the Fediverse right there: "look for possibilities across the Fediverse instead".
People have no idea what to look for or how to find it.
If you have a unified system that does everything that they want right now, you really, REALLY have to offer them something enticing and user friendly if you want them to move away from what they know.
Facebook offers a solution where one single login gives you microblogging, forums, chat and image sharing.
You just have to accept that whereever you go on the internet, you will have a small army of invisible Dolores Umbridges running behind you with their clipboard, noting every single action you do, probably smacking their lips disapprovingly as they go.
Mastodon seems like the most mature solution in the Fediverse, so I think it's fair for new users to ask if it can be a Facebook-replacement, given that this is actually what they want. Can it do microblogging, forums and chat as a minimum, and can it do it with an interface that is modern and useful, and with a single login?
Until the answer is "yes", moving people away from Meta is going to be very hard indeed. Telling them to search for other options on different services with different logins is not going to cut it.
