Will Mastodon, the platform that keeps the #Fediverse alive, miss a strategic opportunity to bring official institutions on board at scale?
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@julian
I think it’s both, but not in the way that people usually frame it.Mastodon now has a new CEO and resources. They're not VC-scale or profit-driven, but they still have real capacity.
Meanwhile, someone from EuroSky is in Brussels every week. The difference in behavior is clear: they are actively selling their project.
This looked like an important event, yet Mastodon didn't post anything afterwards. No note, no visibility. Honestly, that feels like a serious strategic oversight.
What makes this more frustrating is that there are plenty of passionate people in the Fediverse who would help - some already do as volunteers. However, it increasingly feels like Mastodon’s leadership lacks a business- and strategy-oriented perspective beyond building good software.
At this stage, software quality alone isn’t enough.
@mellifluousbox , I hope you take my criticism in a positive way.
@mellifluousbox I’m reminded of my early days at the Open Knowledge Foundation @okfn , first as a volunteer and later as an ambassador in Brazil.
After some time, I suggested forming a local group. Due to my involvement, I later worked as a consultant. A member of the core organization coordinated local leadership, supported ambassadors, and held open meetings periodically. That structure was important.
Out of that structure, I founded Open Knowledge Brasil @okbr , which I ran for years before moving to Europe. Being close to people with strong communication and advocacy skills was invaluable, that's where I learned the most.
Today, I see similar energy in the Fediverse, with accounts such as @FediTips and @mastodonmigration. There are also communication professionals, for example, @hpod16 runs a highly strategic account for the @EUCommission. Or people like @bjoernsta , leading the awesome campaign #SaveSocial .
Resources may be limited, but there is clearly a passionate and capable community.
It might be worthwhile to find ways to involve and coordinate this existing expertise more intentionally. -
Will Mastodon, the platform that keeps the #Fediverse alive, miss a strategic opportunity to bring official institutions on board at scale?
By watching how #EuroSky is being marketed compared to #Mastodon, it certainly seems that way.
I wish the folks at Mastodon would invest in more professional marketing, similar to what we're seeing from its rival, Bluesky.
There was a major meeting in the EU Parliament focused on this topic, yet there was no announcement or microblog post from Mastodon. Zero engagement.
Compare these two approaches:
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ituoear7k6qx3smjfoxhufm4/post/3me7pxwrgerri
Marketing for what though? There is no product to sell, nothing to recoup marketing expenses. There's no KPI to meet.
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Will Mastodon, the platform that keeps the #Fediverse alive, miss a strategic opportunity to bring official institutions on board at scale?
By watching how #EuroSky is being marketed compared to #Mastodon, it certainly seems that way.
I wish the folks at Mastodon would invest in more professional marketing, similar to what we're seeing from its rival, Bluesky.
There was a major meeting in the EU Parliament focused on this topic, yet there was no announcement or microblog post from Mastodon. Zero engagement.
Compare these two approaches:
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ituoear7k6qx3smjfoxhufm4/post/3me7pxwrgerri
RE: https://oisaur.com/@renchap/116012182192831326
@everton137 See this post, Mastodon's technical director was one of the participants at the very same event.
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@liaizon it's not the CEO, but a technical leader. That's just a photo shared by a person from EuroSky with a better marketing strategy.
I saw another debate with the chief of staff of Mastodon and this same person from EuroSky: the later sells it well.
@everton137 @liaizon so are you saying the photo being shared is what makes this better since the tech director did also post about attending the event?
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@everton137 will Eurosky have the same settings that force people to register, do you know that?
Official institutions should not be on platforms that require people to create an account before they are able to read posts.
@zollak @everton137 to be fair I do believe this feature is opt-in so it requires the user to actively choose to hide their profile for those without an account.
It is also almost useless and potentially misleading to people who think it makes any significant difference because there are tons of web apps that show Bluesky profiles and posts without enforcing this.
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RE: https://oisaur.com/@renchap/116012182192831326
@everton137 See this post, Mastodon's technical director was one of the participants at the very same event.
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@everton137 @liaizon so are you saying the photo being shared is what makes this better since the tech director did also post about attending the event?
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@everton137 @liaizon Ok, fair enough. But it's only been a few days so maybe one is coming.
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@everton137 @liaizon Ok, fair enough. But it's only been a few days so maybe one is coming.
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@mellifluousbox I’m reminded of my early days at the Open Knowledge Foundation @okfn , first as a volunteer and later as an ambassador in Brazil.
After some time, I suggested forming a local group. Due to my involvement, I later worked as a consultant. A member of the core organization coordinated local leadership, supported ambassadors, and held open meetings periodically. That structure was important.
Out of that structure, I founded Open Knowledge Brasil @okbr , which I ran for years before moving to Europe. Being close to people with strong communication and advocacy skills was invaluable, that's where I learned the most.
Today, I see similar energy in the Fediverse, with accounts such as @FediTips and @mastodonmigration. There are also communication professionals, for example, @hpod16 runs a highly strategic account for the @EUCommission. Or people like @bjoernsta , leading the awesome campaign #SaveSocial .
Resources may be limited, but there is clearly a passionate and capable community.
It might be worthwhile to find ways to involve and coordinate this existing expertise more intentionally.Bluesky is a for-profit corporation with lots of money on the promise to its VC owners that it will enshittify in the future.
Mastodon is mostly volunteers doing proper pro-user stuff, getting some money from donations and grants but nowhere near enough.
The problem is money not going to projects that serve the public interest. If we rely on VC money, it will simply lead to more Twitter/X style bait-and-switch enshittification, as that's their investment model.
