this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
140 points (84.3% liked)

Fediverse

28277 readers
617 users here now

A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to [email protected]!

Rules

Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration), Search Lemmy

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

This is a follow-up from my previous thread.

The thread discussed the question of why people tend to choose proprietary microblogging platfroms (i.e. Bluesky or Threads) over the free and open source microblogging platform, Mastodon.

The reasons, summarised by @[email protected] are:

  1. marketing
  2. not having to pick the instance when registering
  3. people who have experienced Mastodon's hermetic culture discouraging others from joining
  4. algorithms helping discover people and content to follow
  5. marketing

and I'm saying that as a firm Mastodon user and believer.

Now that we know why people move to proprietary microblogging platforms, we can also produce methods to counter this.

How do we get "normies" to adopt the Fediverse?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't work in tech and I'm not a video game player. Am i a normie? I stay on Facebook because of the things you mentioned - i want to know how my old aunt is doing, get the link to my cousin's music performances, see what play or concert is showing this weekend, and post to my neighborhood when my dogs escape. I only used Twitter to follow local bars, restaurants, and music venues for happy hours and event info. That kinda died with covid so i closed my Twitter account. I don't really understand influencers. I'd love to see more local content here but I'm not sure we have the people to support it. I guess the way to start is to share the local info i get from Facebook to the Texas and dfw communities here, but that doesn't draw more people. Among my friends, r/ is sort of made fun of as something their husbands follow for jokes, memes, and boobs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I should edit my comment and add "post rage bait".

You're absolutely right. I'd describe myself similarly to you. I even created a local community here for my city. But it feels like I'm speaking quietly on top of a mountain while the nearest person is a time zone away. Perhaps a handful of people would stop by and subscribe to the content but this isn't about subscribing - it's about engaging. Communities are about exchanging ideas. Posting something that compels people to engage is one way to increase activity. As more people notice the community, they'll be more likely to engage when there's enough noise around that doesn't single them out too much.

The major social platforms know this. This is why they promote trash over quality information. This is why I get frustrated on Instagram because it continues to show me posts from two or three days ago notifying me that I missed an exciting event.

You can post all the great informative content you want on your little corner of the fediverse but without engagement, is it really there?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I even created a local community here for my city.

Which city is it?