That's why Fediverse apps are awesome, 99% of regular social media users are not there. But seriously, I believe their strengths are what will make them win in the end:
- Rapid pace of development.
- Focus on users instead of ads or investors.
- You can become a dictator of your own instance, but no one gets to be dictator of the Fediverse.
- Bad instances will get shunned by the rest.
Of course, their biggest weakness if funding. So far donations can keep up with the small userbase, but the userbase will keep growing. Some popular Lemmy instances are growing at almost 100 GB per day already.
I remember when we talked about Reddit the same way. We’ll see if it lasts. I say this as someone who uses Kbin in particular a lot. I like it now but we’ve been down this road so many times. It’s hard not be skeptical.
They also need to make the relationship between these different apps and how it all works easier to digest. And some quality 3PA’s to fill in the gaps. I think Sync has plans to point at Lemmy so here’s hoping we see that soon!
You mean third-party apps? The passion with which developers have been working on Fediverse apps lately is humbling. On iOS, the ugly child of open source apps, just for Lemmy there's Memmy, and in TestFlight, Mlem, Thunder, and LiftOff!. These last are still beta/alpha, but Memmy is mature enough to compare with the former third-party Reddit clients.
The official Mastodon app recently got a much needed upgrade, and there are other good clients like MetaText, Ivory, and many more. If anything, there are too many choices now, the dust needs to settle.
It's refreshing to see a fundamental questioning of the status quo (corporate lordship), and a disrupting and viable technology (Fediverse) making strides in the right direction.
I might be biased because I remember a diverse Internet from before the corporate takeovers, and it seems like the Fediverse is attracting older adults who got to experience some of that diversity too: https://mastodon.art/@jsstaedtler/110668308409683502
Like I said, I am regularly on Kbin now. I like the fediverse concept as well. I’m just somewhat jaded because like you I remember and enjoyed the more “diverse” internet, warts and all. Being a bit cynical doesn’t mean I think it’s doomed.
- Rapid pace of development.
- Focus on users instead of ads or investors.
- You can become a dictator of your own instance, but no one gets to be dictator of the Fediverse.
- Bad instances will get shunned by the rest.
Of course, their biggest weakness if funding. So far donations can keep up with the small userbase, but the userbase will keep growing. Some popular Lemmy instances are growing at almost 100 GB per day already.