Every day I’m more convinced that the Fediverse’s slow mainstream adoption isn’t really about usability.

Every day I’m more convinced that the Fediverse’s slow mainstream adoption isn’t really about usability.

People say it’s because it’s hard to join, the terms are confusing, or the apps aren’t polished enough. Maybe a little. But honestly… look at the platforms people already use.

Finding anything on LinkedIn is painful.
Trying to locate the original video on TikTok is a scavenger hunt.
Facebook is still full of weird bugs and odd UI choices.
Instagram hides posts behind algorithms.
Twitter/X constantly changes the rules of engagement.

None of these platforms are exactly “easy.”

People stay because their friends are there. Because the big creators are there. Because that’s where the conversation already lives.

And, if we’re honest, because these platforms are engineered around a very effective reward loop: notifications, likes, infinite scroll. A dopamine machine. You learn the confusing terms and awkward interfaces because there’s a constant reward for doing so.

So yes, making the Fediverse easier to join absolutely helps.

But what would help even more is something simpler:
more mainstream, recognizable, official accounts showing up here.

That’s how networks grow.
People follow people not platforms.

#Fediverse #ActivityPub #Mastodon

What if it didn't matter if the Fediverse grows slowly instead of quickly? What if that was better?

I would like to see more of my friends here, for sure. A handful of them anyway. The famous people, with the loud voices, not so much. The longer they stay away the longer I can enjoy the lady in Sweden whittling spoons from a piece of birch.

And I definitely don't want this little corner of the internet to turn into a dopamine factory. That's why I'm happy here, and not over there.

@ewen @mapache I completely agree.
This place is a refuge for me, my mental health is much improved since leaving the commercial data silos.
I remember the brief period when some of the most prominent Left-leaning British political activists (People like Femi, SuperTanski, SteveBray, etc) came over here, and expected everyone to love them the way they did on Twitter.
But they refused to engage, with their fiollowers, only with those they deemed worthy (each other), then flounced out declaring it was dead and went back to Twitter, where they carried on complaining about, erm, Twitter.
I've heard anecdotal stories about US activist-celebrities doing the same thing, which always leads me to doubt their credibility - are they doing this because they believe in their declared activism, or because they are building a brand?
Hint - it's the brand, it's always the brand.
Whereas here, it's always the connections and interactions, as well as the cat/dog/Moopsy pics, the almost indecipherable memes, the hashtagHashtagGames, and the community building.
The longest-running attempt to build a Twitter-style brand I've seen here is George Takei, which most people seem to ignore, and with good reaso - his team mostly post links to articles which are little more than a bit of text and a seemingly endless array of Twitter posts they have ifted.
Yeah, I don't need or want the big names here.

> @mapache@hachyderm.io said:
>
> Finding anything on LinkedIn is painful.
> Trying to locate the original video on TikTok is a scavenger hunt.
> Facebook is still full of weird bugs and odd UI choices.
> Instagram hides posts behind algorithms.
> Twitter/X constantly changes the rules of engagement.

Is this the case because the sites were built from the ground-up to be poor, or was it a result of enshittification after-the-fact?

The assumption still holds true that sites become popular because they serve a need... they do something well enough that users go to it for lack of a better option.

I think the limiting factor toward mainstream adoption is not merely that ActivityPub implementations are better than alternatives, but they are not 10x better than alternatives. Usability fixes are one aspect, we need to keep outpacing the competition.

@mapache That's true.

Even me, deleting my 'mainstream' social media took a lot of effort, mentally speaking.

It's a big decision.

It's like leaving a party alone while everybody is still having fun.

@mapache see also, the "But I don't know how to use linux!!" from people who have NO GODDAMNED IDEA how to use... windows.

The real question is, do we really want that type of growth, motivated by personality cults? It brought nothing but toxicity to past DTBO socmedia platforms.

Food for thought.

@frank @mapache It helps to remember that virtually everybody's fun is shooting up dopamine while shouting at each other.

@mapache Mainstream social media is easy for your mom to join and find what she wants. Fediverse isn't local enough.

@CrabbyIT but I think it should be.

@menos @frank I hate that.

@faraiwe I agree, I don't want personality cults here, but I wish I could reach out to more of my real-life friends here, tbh, even if just photos of people I care. And people follow people.

@mapache have you invited them?

I get it, most see CHOOSING a server is a daunting high peak to overcome, but a nudge and suggestion to prod them over that life-altering (...) decision will land them at the common "enter a login and a password here" part of the process.

FWIW, AYBABTU, etc, What I has been happening is, most folks are burnt out from DTBO socmedia platforms, and consider fediverse to be Yet Another.

Curiously, the same people ends up at blewski. Because cult of personality.

@faraiwe exactly! We need to start inviting more people here. @stefan created a nice tool for it: https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?server=hachyderm.io&apps=1,2,3,5

and also we can have a "Invite one person to the fediverse" day?

A day where everyone at the fediverse go and reach a friend, family, stranger, coworker, partner, mistress, neighbor, rival, coffee buddy, artist, business partner, etc... and invites them/onboard-them to any of the #fediverse apps.

@mapache my own hot take is that the slow adoption is because there is a weird anti social streak going on here, a significant amount of the starter user base despised the preexisting social networks so they avoid engaging other user which is great to avoid the noise and the rage but not so much if you make things and hope to build a community

1/2

@mapache For example If you are a webcomic artist, come here, get a few hundreds of followers but they can't be bother to even press the like button you probably are not going to stay very long

2/2

@mapache the obvious elephant in the room: massive marketing.

@mapache Serious question, how would we accomplish that?

@mapache all it takes is a viral moment.

@claudius I know, I have think about it, but that means probably dirty money. Or regulations.