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NB: I'd meant to write Fediverse, not Metaverse. I'm referring to Mastodon and associated federated social networks, not the recent Facebook flop (well, one of several). There's been spam, and some attempts at other forms of monetisation such as sex-work sites. The larger issue for advertising is that the protocol and hosting model are such that advertising isn't integral, or supported, is seen as counter to the person-centric focus of the platform, and hence is pretty readily shut down. Contrast commercial social media which were envisioned from the start as ad-delivery mechanisms, with social interaction as a side effect. That isn't to say that the Fediverse isn't susceptible to some forms of advertising, only that that tendency runs counter to the dynamics of the platform, rather than strongly aligning with them as is the case on Google Web Search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, etc., etc., etc. Evidence is strong that people as a whole reject advertising. They may seek specific information or recommendations, but tend not to like getting spammed with irrelevant (and intrusive, invasive, and worse) messages. To that extent, so long as the Fediverse remains focused on its participants and not advertisers interests, it should remain fairly robustly resistant. See similarly The Well and Metafilter, both of which though small had or have user cohorts which are fairly attractive to advertisers and marketers generally (affluent, educated, influential). But not being ad-dependent or ad-focused themselves, they've remained largely free of gratuitously promotional content. By contrast, Google+, also quite small by modern standards[1], did find itself rather overrun by marketers and brands, at least for a time. Not ad-based, but Google pushed the marketing angle and branded content did become somewhat pervasive for a while. ________________________________ Notes: 1. I found a methodology to accurately measure active participation in the platform, I have quite a good sense of how large it was, roughly 5--10 million or so accounts posting monthly as of 2015. See: <https://web.archive.org/web/20150130125653/https://ello.co/d...> <https://kevinanderson.nl/how-many-people-are-publicly-using-...> <https://www.businessinsider.com/google-active-users-2015-1>. The methodology was replicated and validated independently a few months later on roughly 10x the sample size: <https://web.archive.org/web/20150419171939/https://www.stone...>. |