I’ve been around for a few migrations to the #Fediverse. They follow similar patterns.

First, some Big Social service does something bad, something so egregious it pisses off a vocal set of people on Big Social.

A bunch of people on Big Social realize they don’t want to be beholden to some company trying to get rich off their work, so they look for an alternative. They land on the Fediverse because it’s the one space that is resistant to centralized control. They want something specific: social media that is decentralized. This first group of migrants tends to be the most enthusiastic.

The next group of people who migrate don’t care as much about centralization or decentralization. But they like the first group, and they generally want to be supportive so they take the step of migrating.

After that comes a group motivated by FOMO. They see something happening, want to be part of it, and go where they perceive the crowd is going. They like the high of a mass movement happening, and love participating in something bigger than themselves. This group is very influential, as they generate hype and a sense that the Fediverse is “the hotness”.

Thereafter comes influencers, usually people who are influential on other platforms and want to go where they believe the audience is going. But not always. Some of them are wannabe influencers with dreams of grandeur, and want to be “first” at a space they perceive is in its infancy.

What’s next? Journalists. And to be specific, I’m not talking about journalists who are already active on the Fediverse, but those who come in cold, are already overworked, and are probably bitter about visiting what they perceive to be a convoluted nerd “site”. They don’t understand what’s going on, but they were given an assignment from their editor, and so they have to write something – anything – to explain it (what they perceive to be it) to the masses.

Finally, there’s the “mainstream”. These are people who read something in Android Authority or the New Yorker or the Washington Post, have minimal curiosity, and try registering an account. They give what they initially think is a “site” a glance, just so they can say they’re in the know. They now know what the big deal is, or think they do.

Most of these migrants won’t be here for the long term. And some of them might even become detractors, angry that the Fediverse doesn’t work like “everything else”. And that’s okay. The Fediverse can’t be all things to all people – yet.

However, there will also be some who stay because they realize there’s something about the Fediverse that speaks to them. These people become incredibly active, big evangelists for the Fediverse, telling people they know about its benefits.

Each migration builds the network effect of the Fediverse. Each migration builds awareness.

And more importantly, each migration builds further upon what is possible with the Fediverse.

Android Authority doesn’t get it.

Compared to #Reddit, #Lemmy sucks. And so does #Kbin. We all know that.

The #RedditMigration isn’t about any app being better than Reddit. It’s about a company that’s grown on the backs of volunteer labour now claiming ownership of that labour.

Reddit didn’t write those posts, draw those illustrations, make those videos. We did.

And Reddit sure as hell didn’t create those communities, nurture them, and moderate them. We did.

I agree with tech writers who say that the average person just “wants their memes”. But Reddit never made those memes. We did.

Content might be king. But who makes content? We do.

I have no doubt that the average person just wants content. But while we might be providing content for free, we’re not dancing monkeys. Who decides why content is made, how it’s made, and where it exists? We do.

The Fediverse doesn’t exist merely as an engine for content. It exists so that people can share what they love.

Why are people coming to the Fediverse specifically? Because we rightfully see ActivityPub as insurance for our content – which, again, is made by and for us.

Not Reddit. Not Big Social. Us.

If I’m giving my content away for free, then so long as it is federated, no one company can own it – putting up gates, demanding payment for my work. Instead, my work is out there, living on 24,000 nodes that presently exist.

Android Authority might dismiss this as “suffering the same fate” – what fate they perceive, I don’t know. But to me, the true “suffering” is when a company like Reddit claims ownership of my work, locking 3rd party developers out from API access.

For this reason, I’m locking Reddit out from my work.

Perhaps the author of this post, Dhruv Bhutani, doesn’t consider that he’s writing for a, well, blog. And that this blog exists on its own domain, with its own design, as its own property. He could have written this entire post on Reddit, but he didn’t.

Why? I suspect it’s because he believes his work has value, and Reddit simply doesn’t give him what he believes is his worth.

Same deal with me. I’m not looking to get paid for my work on Reddit. I do it for fun – always have. But if I’m doing something for fun, it’s still going to be on my terms.

Not all of us creatives are willing to be a cog in Big Social’s machine. That’s why I’m here on the Fediverse right now. I don’t give a damn whether the average person just wants memes. I create for me.

So yeah, Lemmy and Kbin suck. I can live with that – they will both improve. And I have no doubt that, with time, they might prove to be better than Reddit.

But this isn’t about how good Lemmy or Kbin are. Nor is this about the insatiable appetite for memes.

This is about my need to create on my terms – and I’m not alone here.

Decentralization is the killer feature here.

https://www.androidauthority.com/reddit-alternatives-lemmy-3335429/

@fediversenews

There’s a #RedditMigration to the #Fediverse happening right now. And many of those former #Reddit users are creating accounts on #Lemmy and #kbin.

Funny enough, last December, I predicted there would be another Big Social migration to the Fediverse. I even predicted it would happen in June.

I just did think that Reddit, of all platforms, would be the one to cause the migration.

Big Social has a habit of creating shitty user experiences, and attempting to squeeze every bit of ARPU possible.

Until recently, if you didn’t like it, your only option was to kick rocks.

Reddit doesn’t give a damn. There have been plenty of Reddit alternatives in the past, and almost all of them have crashed an burned.

Except this time, when people join #Lemmy and #kbin, they are interacting with a network of 10 million Fediverse accounts – possibly more. No Reddit alternative has ever had 10 million accounts.

Understand this. Even if Lemmy and /kbin make up and insignificant chunk of the Fediverse right now, everyone who uses those services can talk to 10+ million Fediverse accounts.

Which means that this time Reddit detractors have serious options.

And believe me, there will be another Big Social platform is going to cause another migration to the Fediverse. Each time this happens, that detraction will compound more and more.

Reddit probably doesn’t think this is a big deal. They probably think this is like the other times users expressed dissent.

But this time, these Redditors are discovering the Fediverse.

When I look at the most active servers on the Fediverse, Mastodon isn’t dominating.

Here’s the actual breakdown of the 10 most active servers according to server type:

1. misskey.io (Misskey) - 3.9M posts per month
2. mastodon.social (Mastodon) - 1.7M posts per month
3. pixelfed.social (Pixelfed) - 754K posts per month
4. botsin.space (Mastodon) - 648K posts per month
5. mstdn.social (Mastodon) - 634K posts per month
6. nijimiss.moe (Misskey) - 627K posts per month
7. mstdn.jp (Mastodon) - 588K posts per month
8. misskey.gamelore.fun (Misskey) - 497K posts per month
9. fedibird.com (Fedibird) - 431K posts per month
10. misskey.cf (Misskey) - 425K posts per month

Once you expand to the next 10 more active servers:

- 8 are #Misskey
- 6 are #Mastodon
- 3 are #Pixelfed
- 2 are #PeerTube
- 1 is #Fedibird

What does this mean?

When we measure for activity – not accounts – Mastodon isn’t even in first place. Misskey is.

Mastodon is in 2nd place.

And other server types, like Pixelfed, aren’t doing so shabby either.

But what’s more interesting is what this all means when you also take into consideration account sign-ups.

It’s true that according to total accounts, mastodon.social is the biggest server on the Fediverse with 1,159,110 accounts. In comparison, misskey.io only has 183,549 accounts.

However, misskey.io is producing 2x more content than mastodon.social.

Some people wonder if this is because of spam.

As someone who actively monitors both misskey.io and mastodon.social, it actually looks like mastodon.social produces more spam. I have yet to encounter spam on misskey.io, nor have I received spam from there. I can’t say the same about mastodon.social – seeing how I received crypto spam to my inbox from there twice last month.

What’s going on?

First, I must acknowledge a fact. The Fediverse is simply more popular in Japan. When I look at the 10 most active servers on the Fediverse, 6 of them are Japanese. Yes, even the Mastodon servers.

And in Japan, it looks like Misskey is overtaking Mastodon. This is not yet true in terms of sheer account numbers, but the fastest growing servers are clearly Misskey. In terms of raw post production, though, Misskey has already overtaken Mastodon.

Something I often hear is, “So what if something’s big in Japan? Lots of bands are big in Japan too, and we don’t hear a whisper from them here in the West.”

While comparing software to music is silly, it is a mistake for Westerners to ignore the cultural impact of Japan and other Asian nations.

We live in an era where many Western kids grow up with Japanese video games, anime, and J-Pop. Many of them don’t even look at Japanese media as “foreign”. It’s simply part of their cultural rubric.

Why do I bring this up? Because while the majority of Fediverse accounts are from the West, the majority of Fediverse content is from Japan. And while there is a language barrier, it’s only a matter of time before that content finds its way out West.

But if you’re a content producer making stuff for the Fediverse, I also think it’s important to ask yourself, “What are Japanese content producers doing right?”

As it turns out, a lot. The Japanese Fediverse is less focused on technology and politics, more focused on art. And there’s a ready community willing to interact with that art.

This is not so true for the West’s version of the Fediverse. Over here, the culture is to deem art “unimportant”. There have been times when I’ve shared thoughts on video games and music, and someone came out of the woodwork to tell me I was wrong for doing this since some political thing in the USA was happening, and I was insensitive for sharing my interests.

For the Fediverse to take root in the West, it must be as much about art as it is about politics and tech.

All this said, there is a further fact that likewise underlies my contention: the 3rd most active server on the Fediverse is pixelfed.social, Pixelfed’s flagship server.

Why is this? Because #Pixelfed is based on images, not text. Which also means that, as a result of content filtering, it is more focused on art than politics and technology.

Interestingly, pixelfed.social is focused on English speakers. As it turns out, the desire to share art is universal – not exclusive to people who speak Japanese. Most people like art.

Don’t get me wrong, politics and technology have an important effect on our daily lives. But it’s art that makes life worth living.

My takeaway: if we want the Fediverse to be as big in the West as it is in Japan, we need to share art.

Source: https://fedidb.org/

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