If you were to demo the #fediverse to somebody who...

If you were to demo the #fediverse to somebody who had never heard of it, and only had time to show one single feature, what would you demo?

I don’t mean a demo that focuses on #mastodon or #lemmy or #firefish or any other software, but that focuses on the special value that the network, the fediverse, brings.

One that gets the coveted “wow” in response to the demo. Thoughts?

Like 30 Dec 2023 at 4:50 | Open on social.coop

6 comments

Bob Wyman

@J12t
My "demo" would be showing them your post and the replies to it.

The Fediverse allows one to ask questions that may then be answered by people anywhere in the world and at any time in the future. That is astounding.

My first use of "discussion" software was back in the 1980's at DEC. As a Product Manager, I couldn't answer all questions 24-hours each day. But, our "VMS Notes" system allowed people around the world to answer questions. Today, that might not sound so amazing. But it is.

30 Dec 2023 at 5:20 | Open on mastodon.social

Johannes Ernst

@bobwyman wouldn’t the audience think “we’ve done this on Twitter and Facebook and bbss forever, no big deal”? I would think it would somehow have to drive the heterogeneous network home.

30 Dec 2023 at 5:26 | Open on social.coop

Bob Wyman

@J12t
If you want to show what is distinct about the Fediverse, you'd have to point out the diversity in people's addresses. "It's just like email. No one company controls a federated system."

We agree on common protocols, not common providers.

We can connect even though you're on social.coop and I'm on mastodon.social. But Twitter users can only interact with Twitter users, and Facebook users, only with Facebook users...

30 Dec 2023 at 5:35 | Open on mastodon.social

Adam Piggott

@J12t "See here in my home timeline? That person is on Mastodon, this one's a news bot, then someone posting long-form blog posts from their WordPress account, this one posts photos on their Pixelfed. All different people posting different things, right into my home timeline. Have you spotted any adverts yet?"

30 Dec 2023 at 17:09 | Open on fosstodon.org

Joanna Holman

@J12t @gombang for me it wouldn’t be a feature, it would be showing them the helpful people here who often give me more insightful in depth answers than I got on Twitter

31 Dec 2023 at 23:26 | Open on aus.social

Jeff Sikes

@J12t Showing a single feed with followed accounts from the federated versions of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit, all in one place. And without ads.

1 January at 5:47 | Open on mastodon.social