46
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
46 points (100.0% liked)
Fediverse
17 readers
2 users here now
This magazine is dedicated to discussions on the federated social networking ecosystem, which includes decentralized and open-source social media platforms. Whether you are a user, developer, or simply interested in the concept of decentralized social media, this is the place for you. Here you can share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage in discussions on topics such as the benefits and challenges of decentralized social media, new and existing federated platforms, and more. From the latest developments and trends to ethical considerations and the future of federated social media, this category covers a wide range of topics related to the Fediverse.
founded 2 years ago
Facebook bought the adoption, they bought the users.
You miss-represent the fediverse. Users aren't locked in. If someone buys one instance and you don't like it, you move. You still have all the same access, all the same content. An instance is only an access point, in many ways it is like an ISP, and people jump service providers all the time.
I can reply from here too, I don't need to use kbin.
Maybe you will but people in their majority won't do that. It's too much operations. Also they might not even be aware of the transfer. Plus if an instance offers good services there might be a technological price to pay for leaving, like leaving instagram. All instances are not equal, specially if there are more interfaces in preparation.
What services can they offer that aren't elsewhere? If it's unique, it won't actually be that effective. It can only be scoped to the instance.
Instagram isn't a comparison because it works entirely differently. By even saying "like Instagram" belies a lack of understanding of the topic.
It's true all instances are not equal. But your extension theory is not very strong. Nor is your instance-for-sale concept. They gain nothing from buying an instance. Users don't matter. They're just as reachable as another federated instance.
ok, cool.
remember how the lemmy.ml admin asked that people join other instances.
People want to be with people, if you don't get that then you don't get social networks.
The admin was trying to get people to understand how federation works though. Most of my interactions are on other instances. That you're even discussing another instance is the admin's whole point of how your perspective is outdated. You don't need to join populated instances. You could literally setup your own and still access other people. You can actually reach more people from an unknown instance than very large ones. Many instances ban large ones due to large ones having less moderation. If you wanted to be real insidious, a corp could create its own instance and just spread posts/upvotes/etc elsewhere on other instances. As long as they don't push too hard, it would go unnoticed.
You're entirely misunderstanding the lemmy.ml admin. Sure people might flock to large instances out of instinct, but it's misguided. The admin was trying to show that user count isn't the metric you want to look at for an instance.
So none of that applies to fedi then. Can’t buy up users because we’re federated and can’t buy up competition, because we’re a just fart in Sahara in comparison, both in numbers of people and in revenue dollars
And since there’s no privacy here he can datamine the shit out of content already
We have a login, that's all the requirement. We have adopted the platform and we are attracting more users by our numbers. It's all about adoption.
So was Instagram when it began.
If Ernest sold the platform tomorrow you wouldn't even notice it.
I’d just move to fedia.io and keep posting. My login isn’t worth very much
Buying one instance doesn't change anything though. Instagram was the whole kit and caboodle. It made a difference. Buying one instance, even a large won't doesn't give the same leverage. Plus, it doesn't destroy competition or anything. It's not equivalent.
Wait for more tools and instances, and the leaders will emerge.
And thinking any single instance can sway the entire fediverse, whether they're "leaders" or not is naive. You'd need to buy the top 100 instances at once to force any actual change in the fediverse and those top 100 were more than likely formed to avoid consolidation like that. You're worried about something that is so insanely difficult to happen and would have such a low ROI compared to Instagram and acquisitions like it. It's literally being shown that it's cheaper for a corporation to create its own. That's what Threads is.
Do you understand what siphoning business means? What business do you think Facebook is in? It wasn't users. It was ads.
There is only one metric for a social network, the number of users.
Youtube channel? subscribers
Twitch channel? subscribers
Twitter? Followers
That's about who gathers the most people, end of the line. If an instance managed to become a pole of gravity then it will be worth money.
And before you tell me that you can subscribe to a different instance, well, you can also subscribe to a different social network.
but fine, we disagree.
An instance isn't the social network though. The fediverse is. You're missing the whole point.
Well I can see one thing that kinda belies your point of view at present. Stability. Some people have presciently worried that their instance can implode, taking all content a user has made with it. Larger instances that are more stable, that have more backup infrastructure and ongoing commitment to operations, could out-compete smaller instances. Why this might arise, could be a historical accident of successful crowdfunding campaigns or something. I'm not sure how someone might do a better job of securing more server resources than others. Obviously a deep pocketed corporation who wants to influence the Fediverse, could do that.
But those are unrelated. We're talking about admins not acting in the best interest of the users so they can pump up numbers and sell their instances. You're talking about related concepts, but different motivations and intentions.