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Top-level
 If you use email, then you’re using the Internet technology with the greatest network effect on the planet. Not even Meta can compete with email. Better yet, just like the Fediverse, email is federated. Anyone who says that social media won’t work if it’s decentralized and requires multiple servers is lying: they use email. And email is why it was so easy for me to delete my Facebook account. 27 comments
If we only include modern technologies, then the Fediverse only has 12 million users. But I also think that email, NNTP, finger, etc. should be considered part of the Fediverse. If we consider *everything* federated as part of the Fediverse, then the Fediverse has billions of users. In fact, it’s weird to think that anyone would not be part of the Fediverse.  @atomicpoet because as with all #MultiVendor / #MultiProvider & #OpenStandards, #ActivityPub and thus the #Fediverse, everyone can build Backends and Frontends and not rely on the whim of a commercialized #API...  As much as people say they need Big Social, that’s actually not true. If you have email, you have an easy migration path away from Big Social. From there, it really is just a matter of filling in the blanks. Need a blog? WordPress. Need a microblog? Mastodon. Need a photo gallery? Pixelfed. So on and so forth. In fact, if you want to bring people over to WordPress, Mastodon, and Pixelfed, use email to spread the word! @atomicpoet I mean, there are a feckton of options for all the #GAFAM's services and products. And sites like https://alternativto.net and @european_alternatives make it easy to find options... What most people need to know is that they social network without Big Social every day. I’ve already mentioned email—which is a social network. But also any kind of address book with calendaring is social networking. Document collaboration too. IRC and SMS as well. Once people become aware of this, the notion of a Fediverse isn’t that big of a leap.  @atomicpoet Even Signal groups, or iMessage groups have take over the role of secure private social networks for some clusters of family and friends... @atomicpoet Realistically, email is a euphemism for Gmail. Arguably Google isn't Big Social though given how bad they are at it  @atomicpoet I have deactivated my Facebook and only use it for Messenger now. I miss some family updates, but also have been free of the anti-trans sentiments of some of my former FB friends. Even getting rid of Instagram has been so lovely. I don’t miss either platform. @atomicpoet the last psychiatrist was talking about how the media presents you with a narrative about how to practice moderation on your social media habits, taking it as a foregone conclusion that you NEED to be wired in at least some fraction of the time. In this political mess I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to reclaim the power of the local and of word of mouth. There's been a kind of death of the local that makes it very hard for movements to plan without those plans getting coopted. @atomicpoet A lot of people I know are on Facebook. Is there a Fediverse equivalent? I don't know what features Facebook has, so I can't compare. I hope it's something a lot better than Mastodon. As that is very shallow and shouty, and poor for communities. @atomicpoet But then Cambridge Analytica won’t be able to use targeted ads to cajole me into supporting fascist politicians ☹️  @atomicpoet there are numerous ways to turn an RSS feed into an email (Mailchimp offers one and a quick search of rss to email turned up a lot of options. I’m fairly sure there has to be some decent open source tools out there that can accept an RSS feed in and output an email. The challenges including all the usual stuff about outbound email (so not simple to get mail delivered and not seem as spam but solvable) but also hopefully having the result render in a way that is easy to read   @atomicpoet  @atomicpoet very tempted to just go back to our old email group. Had the best interaction on that list and all our friends stayed in touch. Now I have to figure out eight different social media or messaging apps and who the hell is on what, and the best way to contact them. I had to set up a discord to talk to my kids cause that's the only thing they pay attention to. It's just nuts. @atomicpoet I worry that this decentralization may be at constant threat of becoming a monoculture due to the way big players like google and microsoft have influence on hosting your own email by being opaque and rejecting mail arbitrarily just because it came from outside of their walled garden. far too much spam that lands in my inbox is from gmail addresses and google doesnt lift a finger  |
Gregory's Server
I’ve actually had this thought for awhile.
If people could subscribe to your Mastodon feed via email, then you’ve greatly increased the network effect of the Fediverse.
Yes, I know that you can do this via RSS but why not email too?
Not everyone uses RSS but everyone uses email.
If frequency of Mastodon messages is a problem, just send a daily email digest once a day.