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Chris Trottier

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.

19 comments
Chris Trottier

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.

Chris Trottier

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!

Jon

@atomicpoet Humans quickly forget and accept the easy way. Aren't the journalists starting to go back?

Chris Trottier

@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.

Chris Trottier replied to Ian

@ianbetteridge @DarkWraithLord Well, don't get me wrong. A minority of journalists aren't so willing to suck on Twitter's teat.

Beth replied to Chris

@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.

Tim Erickson, @stpaultim replied to Beth

@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.

Ian Betteridge replied to Tim Erickson, @stpaultim

@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.

Chris Trottier replied to Ian

@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.

Ian Betteridge replied to Chris

@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 :)

Ian Betteridge replied to Beth

@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.

Rich Felker replied to Beth

@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...

Eliot Lovell

@atomicpoet it certainly is - Iā€™m testing three of them already šŸ˜Š

Paul Lalonde

@atomicpoet "Twitter no longer supports extenal applications, including this one. Would you like our help to migrate to Mastodon?"

Beth

@atomicpoet

"Twitter would regret..."

That is the best line in this thread.

Andreas K

@atomicpoet
The reminder is that privately owned APIs are exactly that. Privately owned. Any (commercial) success based on such a thing can be taken away at any time.

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.

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