With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!!
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@hfinyow @taylorlorenz I think I'd suggest people to just start on mastodon.social. don't worry about instances to start with, as it's very easy to migrate later. And then once they got the basic hang of it, tell them like "oh, btw as you're really into literature/art/music/tech/... did you see this other instance? I think it'd match really well with your profile. And it'd help the network, too, if you'd chose a smaller, more individual instance!"
Keep it simple to start with, don't overwhelm.@T_X @hfinyow @taylorlorenz yes but, pick another instance to recommended so we can protect the integrity of the fediverse
https://fedi.tips/its-a-really-bad-idea-to-join-a-big-server/
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz Onboarding is still the biggest hurdle. Asking new users to pick a server, understand federation, and think about migrating later is a lot. Better defaults and clearer explanations would help without breaking decentralization.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz I love Mastodon just like I love my local owner-run vegan cafe. The decor definitely has a DIY vibe, the staff flaunt an array of tattoos and beanies, and who knows what might be on the menu on any given day. The coffee and cake is to die for.
Tried taking the family there once. The kids complained the hot chocolate was "too chocolatey" and the Quorn dippers weren't "chickeny enough"
So McDonald's it is still with them. Nothing like the buzz of a McFlurry and Chicken Select box
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@MamaLake @taylorlorenz is there some agreement that we can't do commerce here?
I just bought a custom, hand-made bicycle bag from a nice person, and I wish I could talk to him, and about his business on here.
(Bags by Bird)
That's a pretty slippery slope... every sleazy advertiser has started out with promises like "I just want to talk about my dear old mother's handmade traditional shaving cream is that OK?" and next thing you know we have 4 generations of Americans who have never heard of shaving soap.
The rule I go by is if you have to ask, then no you can't. I don't think you have to ask to talk about something your friend made that helps your bicycle.
CC: @MamaLake@beige.party @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social -
With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz I think it's because the fediverse, for me at least, works more as a social network than social media. And because of that it needs a network effect...but if you're joining without knowing anybody it's hard to get into a circle like that. It's a catch 22.
I was lucky on my main account to find a server for a common interest and everyone in that cluster of servers knows and interacts with each other. In a way it's ended up feeling more like old school facebook than twitter?
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz capitalist realism. People (even leftists) refuse to understand that these apps don‘t exist to "compete" with the big monetized platforms. This place has been so good for my mental health because it‘s designed with freedom in mind!
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Maybe change the name Mastodon to something lighter.
Compare the mental image Mastodon produces to TikTok, Twitter, BlueSky.
@douglasthiel @taylorlorenz Yeah, after many years here I still think it's a bad name from a branding perspective. Bluesky sounds inspiring. Mastodon sounds complicated and stagnant.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, people wanting to join need to drop the followers mentality and embrace the concept of an interactive audience. -
With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz the big two seen to be the decision paralysis surrounding choosing a server, and the mastodon hoa shaming new users for stuff
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz The Fediverse is impossible to censor, no one can buy it, no one can completely dismantle it. Imho, it's the future. The ability for anyone to spin up a server and there being no suggestion algorithm are features that ensure it will eventually dominate the web.
Bluesky and Upscrolled still have much of the same problems of the major SMPs. Centralization always ensures eventual enshitefication. RSS, Wikis, Federated Platforms, these are the true tech marvels of the internet.
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@taylorlorenz The Fediverse is impossible to censor, no one can buy it, no one can completely dismantle it. Imho, it's the future. The ability for anyone to spin up a server and there being no suggestion algorithm are features that ensure it will eventually dominate the web.
Bluesky and Upscrolled still have much of the same problems of the major SMPs. Centralization always ensures eventual enshitefication. RSS, Wikis, Federated Platforms, these are the true tech marvels of the internet.
@taylorlorenz Much like abusive past relationships though, we'll have to go through this a few times before we find the platform that only wants us to be freely ourselves.
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@taylorlorenz the big two seen to be the decision paralysis surrounding choosing a server, and the mastodon hoa shaming new users for stuff
@Viss @taylorlorenz I can't recall ever getting hoa shamed on mastodon, tbh.
But the decision paralysis is real.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz I think joining Mastodon is really easy, especially with all the amazing join(this, that) .org
What could be improved is making self hosting easier and more accessible. I think that will make this beautiful project more attractive to communities (local or digital). Small self-hosted instances of people who know each other will probably be more active and engaging and thanks to the fediverse they'll connect with inspiring skeletons and the rest -
@taylorlorenz Also, specifically for TikTok users, we actually do have a federated alternative, not sure if you heard of it, https://joinloops.org?
I wonder if Mastodon's reputation has been too tarnished by all the gatekeeping and scolding. Maybe we could get more people into the fediverse sneakily through another platform?
I've been waiting for the apps to become available in the default app stores before recommending that to anyone. Testflight and an APK download are a high barrier to entry for a lot of people and first impressions are important
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz
An advertising budget -
With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz In my opinion the major "problem" with Mastodon is the lack of many sources that are present on Twitter. I'm Italian and on Twitter I was following many journalists, newspapers and politics, while here on Mastodon there are really few of them. The same applies for other kind of accounts
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@taylorlorenz I just joined and I have no idea what I’m doing. So, there’s that.
You should check out http://fedi.tips
The most important thing you need to do is follow people and hashtags to make sure your home feed is full.
If you make a post with the introduction hashtag and say something about yourself there then you can get a lot of recommendations that way
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@taylorlorenz Have you heard/read about the Forkiverse? The Mastodon server started by three popular podcasters that has grown to almost 10k members in just about two weeks.
I actually put together https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/fediverse-an-overview-for-community-organizers/ using it as a case study, hoping to maybe start reaching out to people who already have a following and could be interested in replicating this experiment.
I think that the http://dropout.tv fandom would be a great one to try what the forkiverse did but don't know who to suggest it to.
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@jbd @hfinyow @taylorlorenz Counter to your counter: most people use one of, what, four different email services? Email hasn't been captured like social media was, but they're working on it.
I do agree, though. Mastodon is anti-commercial, and people are used to for-profit social media, which has its own structures. People are accustomed to that, and even if it's crap, it's what they know.
The reason people flock to a few email services is largely because they are bundled in packages or office suites, and used in businesses and therefore easily used at home. There are still many providers and even more clients, plus the option to self host.
I do not foresee businesses using Mastodon for internal or client communication. -
With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz People just dismiss it right away, and I never understood it why. Worst case they come up with excuses that they maybe heard from a person who heard it from another person's cat that it was cumbersome.
"It doesn't work, I hate it" has been a response from people with exactly 0 experience too many times and I cannot fathom why. They haven't even given themselves a chance to get angry at clumsy federation and they're already dismissive
