This is the thing.

Emily

@kissane @aetataureate This! And especially those doing it for cheap or free!

That's why when you have cash you hire all of the social-facing elements that tell you how to meet your audience's expectations. And maybe even someone to prioritize your development roadmap in an audience-maximizing direction.

BashStKid

@kissane I’d suggest targeting the universities, for several, hopefully mutually supportive reasons.

Set up non-commercial governance and moderation in a duty-of-care environment

Differing but substantial bases for diverse feature development

Form a portable academic communication, writing, publishing network that becomes the default

Give students relief from the anxiety of surveillance & algorithmic socials

Those students will spread the fediverse as they disperse

Jon

How can you leave out WEBP!?!?!?!?! This exemplifies everything that's wrong with social media today! In this thread I shall ... (1/275)

But yes, I agree. The fixation on the protocols overlooks what's really important.

And Erin I unsurprisingly agree with your points too!

@[email protected] @[email protected]

Cykonot

@kissane I have shared these before, because they're good and apply to good social media design. It's about fostering good interactions between people, not smoothly extracting value from users

Users as Co-creators: Player-centric Game Design

How a game design process suitable for Agile can be made user-centered and incorporate player feedback and real user input.如何让适合敏捷流程的游戏设计做到“以用户为中心”，并将玩家的反馈和由实际用户提供的信息融入其中。애자일 개발 환경의 게임 디자인 과정이 사용자 중심적이 되고, 플레이어 피드백과 실제 사용자의 조언을 통합하는 방식Como o processo de design de jogos adequado para o método ágil pode ser realizado centrado no usuário e também

User Experience (uxpamagazine.org)

https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/player-dynamics-design-looking-behind-the-curtain

Dubi is here :Dambo8:

@kissane But you're saying what we build doesn't matter - what matters is that your people are there. How do we beat that? We can't force people to come here...

Erin Kissane

@Dubikan That is not at all what I am saying, though. Read the whole thread? It's only a few posts long.

blaine

@jdp23 @kissane I thought about including WEBP, but we all know people who use WEBP are shills for Google. I also thought about bringing GIF into the debate, but I knew it would descend into a /ɡɪf/ vs /dʒɪf/ fight, and no-one wants that in 2024.

Dubi is here :Dambo8:

@kissane you're right, but there's a bit of a contradiction between how you state the problem in the first post, and the solution you propose, isn't there? Maybe I'm missing something

Ivy [_gay] Mae :fire_trans:

@kissane I've actually had a few irl friends try out the fedi recently and its been quite interesting to see just how much of a difference having someone actually guide them and get them set up helps

the empty timeline when you start is super duper intimidating and honestly without someone guiding them and recommending people for them to follow it would've been almost impossible for them to actually get situated here

Evan Prodromou

@kissane Is it really either-or?

Is the energy spent pointing out that venture-funded startups might not be working for the good of society as a whole actually transferrable to other work?

I think we can do both: talk about the superiority of open protocols as a societal good and also build great software and social experiences.

These enclosure startups want to frame the debate around UI. We need to keep it focused on governance.

Evan Prodromou

@kissane the fact that people from these venture-funded startups complain like a soccer player faking an injury any time someone replies to them on governance is a good sign that the criticism is very effective.

I don't intend to give up that effective tool unilaterally.

Evan Prodromou

@blaine @kissane @polotek it's not about the technology. That's a smokescreen.

Folks from these startups are trying to frame their efforts at enclosing the commons as a technology difference. So and so proprietary protocol is soooo much better than the open standard.

But it's not about the tech; it's about governance. VCs are betting their investment companies can sweep the board and own the entire ecosystem. That's how venture capital works.

Evan Prodromou

@blaine @kissane @polotek The fediverse has a different vision. There are over 100 known implementers of ActivityPub. Nobody is in charge; the technology is open and unpatented. Anyone can play.

That's not about bits on the wire; it's about people, social interaction, and frankly about control.

Evan Prodromou

@blaine @kissane @polotek our vision is better. Everyone gets to win -- not just a few series A funds on Sand Hill Road. That's why I'm going to keep fighting for it.

Evan Prodromou

@kissane Threads added 75 million new monthly active users since July 2024. The bulk of the people are actually on *this* network that we're using right now.

Evan Prodromou

@blaine @kissane @polotek one thing I do like is seeing hundreds of millions of dollars going into distributed social networking. It's unfortunate that it's done in that winner-take-all VC game, but it's a good signal.

Gytis Repečka

@evan @kissane Dear Evan, what do you think - should small instances choose to block Threads, or instead give it a chance, considering how many people are arriving? :blobcatthinkowo:

Evan Prodromou

@kissane startups have good marketing -- especially when they're trying to raise money. "Everyone is coming to our network" is marketing.

Evan Prodromou

@gytisrepecka @kissane I think small instances should exercise the control they have through open protocols to make that decision for themselves.

I strongly support the Fedipact, even though our coop isn't part of it. I'm so glad Fediverse instances can exercise that control.

Fediverse Report

@kissane