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by mamborambo 1315 days ago
The "Twexit" event is a huge opportunity for Fediverse to pick up new users, but I fear it will be wasted because the Fediverse software is still not ready for prime time.

The concept of "instances", "federated feeds", "different software for different media types" are all complexities unnecessary for the newbies.
3 comments
friend_and_foe 1315 days ago
Instances, local and federated feeds are core to the architecture of the system. There's pros and cons to this UX, and just because it's not exactly like twitter doesn't mean it can't catch on.

Different software for different media types... you mean like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok? Different media are interacted with in different ways and are optimal under different interfaces. At least with ActivityPub you can interact with all these media across the spectrum of software as you desire. Try following a YouTube channel from your twitter account.

In truth, fediverse is mature and ready for prime time. And there's still plenty of novel UX approaches to be explored, and I hope people do that. But it won't pick up the steam needed to steamroll things like Twitter because it doesn't game your mind to give you the dopamine hit, and people can't ban those they salivate over causing trouble for, they can only block them. For those people using Twitter that disliked these things and didn't know there were alternatives or couldn't put their finger on what they didn't like fedi is going to feel like fresh air, for the rest "there's just something missing." I give it a month before most of the new users go home to Twitter.

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mamborambo 1315 days ago
No I mean the media-specific server app branching like pictures (pixelfed), music (funkwhale), live cast (owncast), video (peertube), links (Lemmy) etc.

How do a newbie to Fediverse sensibly choose the right instance to home on, when he has to decide what media type he publish in, at the time of server instance enrolment?

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friend_and_foe 1315 days ago
I know what you meant, my point was that the non federating internet has the same thing and it doesn't stop people from using it.

I'd say you do the same thing you'd do on the big tech internet: you open a YouTube account if you want to make videos, so have a peertube account. You have a twitter account for microblogging, so have a mastodon/pleroma/misskey account. You'd have an Instagram account if you want to primarily share photos, so open a pixelfed account. Open 3. Share your accounts on the others. this is not a new problem, we already do this on twitter, Instagram, reddit, etc.

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kzrdude 1315 days ago
mastodon can't pick up twitter users because it doesn't try to be twitter. Lots of people want the recommendations, virality and discovery of the algorithmic feed, that's what got them hooked in the first place. There is no fediverse equivalent. (That's obviously by design, but I think it's a mistake to think that it can compete. Just like carrots can't compete with sugar.)
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2Gkashmiri 1315 days ago
there is a concept of "humanizing the software".

we often use geek-accepted terms because that is what you and me are fine with but newbies see this as latin.

how about "instance>server", "federated feed>feed shared across servers" sound?

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