At this rate, they eclipse Twitter in mere weeks, and then the network effect turns negative against Twitter. So I expect everybody on Twitter to move to Threads in the next couple of months.
I’m sure it will also suck out some #mastodon users — after all, there is a promise of #activitypub.
So the #fediverse terrain has just shifted very considerably. How do we adjust and turn this to our advantage?
Many people here don't want to be part of any commercial social media, regardless of whether it's Twitter or not.
It doesn't have to be a winner take all competition. Twitter was never the largest SM. Also, most people here don't make money doing this, so no one here is being squeezed out.
If they do federate, people can interact with people there, but with no ads, and no invasive tracking. That may pull people here from there.
@mikey@J12t Interesting points, presented rationally, in a reasonable manner. I think this is one of the things I am savoring the most about Mastodon and the fediverse.
But, does Threads work that way? 🤔
This morning, checked out Threads. Almost the first thing up, I was treated to one poster calling another a “commie” which drew forth depreciation of Portland that involved the term “mudblood.” I immediately blocked both of these toxic MF.
But, I had honestly forgotten how toxic that FB side of social media has become. Even without advertising, are we all ready for that?
I, for one, have enjoyed my short sojourn in the world of Mastodon, and I thank all of you for that. 🍻
@Louis_Renault@mikey Mastodon would be the same if it had the same scale IMHO. We have not solved the moderation-at-scale problem, only it doesn't appear so in the Mastodon world because we depend on the heroic work of lots of unpaid volunteers.
@J12t@Louis_Renault Yes and no. You're right that moderation work is borne mostly by unpaid volunteers, but there's also a difference in type. Threads is taking a least common denominator approach. Other Fediverse servers often set stricter standards for their communities.
@J12t The best outcome would be to wait for ActivityPub and then move your social graph of all the cool people over to Mastodon. No ads, no data harvesting and still all the good stuff.
But I'm sure Zuck will have thought of that. No way they're gonna make it that easy for us.
@J12t Plausible. Now, will they slow-walk it and half-ass it to find the bare minimum regulatory compliance, or actually do a solid implementation, I wonder.
@rbos@J12t the engineers who are very active on Threads, seem both grounded, and excited about the Fediverse. They aren't letting the sign-up numbers get them too elated, because they are aware that signups and actual daily users are very different
@J12t IMO, someone needs to make a very beginner friendly and attractive video that:
-Explains Mastodon with the level of detail that is needed for a beginner (keep it simple but accurate)
Introduces different schools of thought for choosing an instance
Links viewers to the various tools that lets them see what instances exist so they can choose one.
We just need to de-mystify Mastodon and make the entry process easier. Everything else falls into place once someone's account is created.
@J12t yes but that's only because Threads only has one operating instance at the moment, so of course they don't need to explain what instances are and how to choose one. Everyone is just joining the corporate owned instance. They didn't deal with the fact that most people either never knew or have forgotten all about a de-centralized internet. Users have only had a flattened internet for so long that they will need a map.
@J12t I haven’t seen any shift here, just some posts about joining, seeing that’s it’s terrible, and being unable to back out without also leaving Instagram
@J12t threads will always be a hamstrung version of ActivityPub. That is our advantage.
We switch servers flagrantly because can, we vociferously complain to them about the lack of ads in our feeds, we tell them about the cool local feeds we have, but that we'd have to kill them if we told them what goes on there - just use the phrase "It's like Vegas, but better"
@J12t but it is still run by right wing biased billionaire. I don’t understand elite celebs and politicians giving in to just another hate filled space.
@J12t The way I see it, it's a great opportunity to create community and spread the word. Considering the birdsite situation it's inevitable that people move over Threads, so when Threads get Activity Pub support we can talk from here and keep that social graph active, so, when Threads screw up (and they will), people will consider the rest of the Fediverse as a real alternative.
@J12t Chill. We just keep doing what we're doing and hope the addition #ActivityPub will (1) actually happen and (2) be beneficial. And if not, we just keep making the #Fediverse the best place online.
@fell this is one strategy, and should certainly be the fallback, I’m not disagreeing. But can we do better? Can we leverage those changed circumstances in some way we didn’t think of a week ago because a week ago those circumstances didn’t exist?
@J12t if Threads indeed adds support for ActivityPub, then I see Threads and Mastodon as part of the same ecosystem and more helpful to each other than not. Perhaps like Chrome and Firefox, or IIS and Apache, Thunderbird and Outlook?
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