@deadsuperhero
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Yes this.
Which implies, AFAICT, a winner-take-all dynamic regarding platform dominance.
Which then means, if true, that all of those aiming for getting another platform up there with mastodon may not realise the hill they’re trying to climb (thus my take that if you care about competing with masto you should be working together with everyone else that also cares).
For microblogging, I think it’s now too late. Mastodon is the fediverse (for microblogging at least).
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@maegul
For microblogging, I think it’s now too late.
I don't think it is too late. We are still in a transition period where people haven't fully grasped the concept of decentralized social media, so a lot of people still cling to the idea of one platform to rule them all. In time, that may change a bit when people realize they have options.
For platforms competing for attention, innovating and having something unique is important. Picking a niche or target audience also helps. You have to be more than a clone. You have to offer something unique or do something better than your competitors to gain traction.
Plus, one of the main points of the fediverse for many of us is independence and control of our data. So we run our own instances instead of creating an account on Threads or Mastodon. That is the type of audience that will embrace projects other than the dominant ones.
Plus, there are 8 billion people in the world. You don't have to be the biggest platform to attract millions of people. There is room for multiple platforms, as long as we remain interoperable. -
Maybe. Your arguments sound very "year of linux desktop" to me though.
Independent/single-user instances seem mostly irrelevant unless something unique pops up in that space.
Having enough for everyone to go round for everyone overestimates how many are actually interested in the nitty-gritty of the fediverse.
But, I hear you on the future should people want options and chaotic flexibility.
Otherwise, the reach mastodon has right now is long and wide and shouldn't be underestimated
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@maegul You also have to factor in that ActivityPub is being built directly into websites, and I think that trend will grow. You already have WordPress adopting the technology, and there are other initiatives to get ActivityPub into everyone's hands, and not via Mastodon.
And forum community software are jumping onto ActivityPub, since it gives them a chance to compete against the likes of Facebook.
The goal is to eventually make it as ubiquitous as email, where it does not matter if you are using Outlook or Gmail or something else, you can still communicate. Sure, there will still be big players, but that does not mean they will be the only game in town, especially when you get into niche markets. -
I hear you on the forums, coolest thing happening on AP right now.
But I see the value there being a rich non-microblogging/masto space. In part because I think mastodon will stubbornly create UI boundaries and will get away with it because of its size.
The dream of it not mattering which instance you're on is, IMO, a dream. It can probably be realised, but the current/mastodon approach to platform design has inherent issues IMO.
See one of my prior rants: https://hachyderm.io/@maegul/112319245679533802
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@maegul
The dream of it not mattering which instance you're on is, IMO, a dream. It can probably be realised, but the current/mastodon approach to platform design has inherent issues IMO.
Unfortunately, it will matter because of diverging feature sets.
One big issue right now is that the threadiverse (forums, discussion groups, and Facebook-style social media platforms) and broadcast social media (Mastodon and any platform based on pre-X Twitter) have different features and needs. It comes down to whether a platform supports threaded conversations and recognizes groups.
Many of the platforms that support threaded conversations are openly discussing how our platforms will communicate with each other over ActivityPub. It mostly involves sending additional meta data over ActivityPub so that other platforms that support threaded conversations can display conversations properly to followers in their inbox.
Platforms that recognize that meta data and understand what a forum is will give users a better user experience than those that don't. Platforms that don't understand what a forum is will still be able to participate, but they will be limited by their own UI, which is not our fault.
But, even so, anyone using ActivityPub can still participate even if they don't get all of the features, which is what is important.