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Top-level
 No, the story about the Fediverse's growth isn't about MAUs -- not that MAUs can be calculated precisely anyway. The *real* story -- the one that the tech press should be writing about -- is the growth in: 1. Posts This is the beginning of a paradigm shift in social media and how it works. 20 comments
Once developers en masse start developing for a platform, that's when the fun starts. The iPhone didn't get interesting until developers made apps for it. Ditto with the web. We haven't even scratched the full potential for ActivityPub. Last week, I said that Twitter would regret screwing over developers. In fact, this is a colossal screw-up by inestimable orders of magnitude. This will be apparent when all those former Twitter developers start releasing Fediverse apps. It's not just going to happen -- it's happening! @atomicpoet Humans quickly forget and accept the easy way. Aren't the journalists starting to go back? @DarkWraithLord The only journalists who adopted the Fediverse en masse were adjacent to tech culture. And most of them just lurked a day then returned to Twitter. These folks are followers, not early adopters.  @ianbetteridge @DarkWraithLord Well, don't get me wrong. A minority of journalists aren't so willing to suck on Twitter's teat. @atomicpoet @ianbetteridge @DarkWraithLord I do not understand the Twitter Journalist. If the object is to get your work read, you establish yourself on all the platforms. You expand your reach. I don't understand 1/20th of whys of the fediverse, but I did this: it will get your work to a larger audience than if you post exclusively on Twitter. @Hey_Beth @atomicpoet @ianbetteridge @DarkWraithLord At least some journalists were sent back to Twitter by those in the community with a narrow vision of what Mastodon can and should be. Mastodon has not been entirely welcoming to Journalists. @stpaultim @Hey_Beth @atomicpoet @DarkWraithLord I'm not entirely sure that's true. I've found Mastodon very welcoming, generally (I've blocked a few asshats). But you have to engage with people, and not just switch into broadcast mode all the time. @ianbetteridge @stpaultim @Hey_Beth @DarkWraithLord There's lots of journalists on the Fediverse, but not all of them are cut out for it. In fact, there are dedicated journalist instances (ex: journa.host). However, some journalists don't exactly engage with the community in good faith -- and people know. @atomicpoet @stpaultim @Hey_Beth @DarkWraithLord I think a lot of it comes down to whether you are prepared to listen or not. If you listen ā even if you end up disagreeing ā I think it works. Mind you, that's true of life in general too :) @Hey_Beth @atomicpoet @DarkWraithLord Yes - Twitter provides a vanishingly small fraction of traffic and reach compared to Facebook. But journalists are often highly social and they flock to platforms where other journalists are. Twitter is that platform. It's not about the audience, it's about where your mates and sources are.  @Hey_Beth @atomicpoet @ianbetteridge @DarkWraithLord The real value of Twitter to journalists was realtime sources, not exposure. But the ones who got Twitter-famous from their interactions there but who aren't moving here are riding reputations while the sources dry up...  @atomicpoet "Twitter no longer supports extenal applications, including this one. Would you like our help to migrate to Mastodon?"  @atomicpoet It's like building your castle on quicksand. BTW that does not apply only to Web API. Think how many times Android or ios changed what is allowed. And if your use case does not fit the new rules your feudal overlord decreed, though luck. |
Gregory's Server
Look, if I'm a social media app developer, I'm going to look for something that offers me two things:
1. Network effect - something people actively use
2. Protocol and API stability - something that won't change due to someone else's whims
This means the Fediverse.