Comparing my list to followers/following here to what it looked like on #Twitter, I don't see a lot of people from #India, or that region of the world, here on #Mastodon? This is a bit surprising to me. I can't remember having seen any discussions on this either, so I'd be interested to hear why people think that is, or even better, that I'm wrong!
@anderseknert
Mastodon/The Fediverse is so far dominated by people primarily from western countries, esp. NA and Europe.
Africa is pretty much non-existant here, and SA/Asia does not see the same level of surge towards FOSS-driven SoMe.
I'm not quite sure why this is, but my guess goes towards greater focus on ethics, democracy and freedom in the West, while other parts of the world prioritize accessibility and ease? (The Fediverse isn't really representative for western soc as a whole either)
@cmyrland Thanks Carl! I do have a few mutuals from Africa, so not entirely non-existant, but I get your point. The reason why I mentioned India was due to the large discrepancy to here vs Twitter.
What does SoMe mean, btw? 😅 Lots of people from India involved in open source, so while the fediverse might but a greather emphasis on the "F" in FOSS, I'd still expect a greater overlap.
Lets hope the Fediverse spreads to other corners of the world soon. The real hurdle is reaching a critical mass within a culture, which starts to attract more people. I think the only way for that to happen is what we've seen in the West over the last few years, with increased focus on problematic ownership and privacy breaches.. But I have no idea how much attention privacy, Zuck/Musk & co etc gets in other corners of the world..
This aspect (quoted message from 2020) and also the random “…wish there was some algo to help me discover people”.
Fun story: massive influx of users from India recently and the timelines got flooded by posts indirectly asking: “what is the way to fame here? How do I get followers?”. Fediverse doesn’t work like that. You just… talk with others. There’s no “you and your followers”. There’s “us”.
You can migrate your followers when moving instances. Regardless if it is all or not, I don't think the point of moving instances is to have your followers follow you over but for your overall well-being. Follower count in my opinion don't hold much value here. I even hide my stats because the point is community engagement, not clout or vanity.
@shrikant@mastodonindians Thanks Shrikant! We're all chasing clout to some degree I suppose, but surely Twitter seems less and less appealing even for that purpose these days. Following you now, and I'll make sure to follow that hashtags to find more people in the tech scene from over there. Hoping some of my friends from Twitter will find their way here eventually too!
@anderseknert Yeah, true! Well, glad to have met you here! I'll keep an eye out for Indian accounts in #tech and recommend any that I happen to come across.
Hopefully, @mastodonindians also boosts these toots and they will reach a wider audience soon. :)
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