I wonder if @dansup could have an “anti-spam” assembly with the various software developers using #ActivityPub‽ We could also checkout what #WordPress is doing with Akismet too.
Threads by Instagram will launch on July 6th (thanks for the heads up @dansup!) & I noticed Meta collects a lot of data. So much data!
Threads is rumored to adopt ActivityPub later on (in October maybe‽ We will see), but when it joins the Fediverse (if not on launch day), it’s data collection policies will make it easier to convince some (but not all) to migrate over to Misskey, Pixelfed, Mastodon & Pleroma.
Note: Uploading on Misskey as my Mastodon account @darnell is being fixed server side right now.
Just wanted to point out, with the ongoing #spam attack on #fediverse / #misskey / #mastodon, this kind of happens on every social network. The only reason you are hearing about it is because #moderation#staff is normal users who use the normal channels to talk about it, and we actually take it way more seriously than the corporate social networks do.
Like, this represents most of the traffic on #Twitter, and they don't seem to care, so it speaks volumes about the fact that you can see us talking about how we don't want that here.
Didn't think this would happen, but #Lemmy is now the 2nd most popular server software on the #Fediverse and is on the verge of cracking 400,000 accounts.
I'm actually shocked that it blew past #Misskey so quickly because the Misskey migration took three months to hit 300,000 accounts.
With all the drama happening elsewhere on the Fediverse, it important to remember that this is the biggest growth we've experienced in six months!
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.
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.
When you look at the MAU (monthly active users) for the top 5 popular #fediverse projects, you see just how many active users Mastodon has compared to the rest.
The flagship #Misskey instance is experiencing growing pains, but is also discouraging #Fediverse residents in #Europe (or rather the #EuropeanUnion 🇪🇺) from signing up due to #GDPR issues.
👉🏾 Misskey (https://misskey.io) signing up 20,000 new users per day
👉🏾 After consulting lawyers, Misskey.io will now discourage Europeans from signing up
👉🏾 #Firefish could fill in the vacuum in Europe
Antennas.
Antennas are effectively custom timelines. They work approximately like watching hashtags, but they can look for normal text as well. You can add as many phrases as you like and the results can be filtered with an ignore list.
You can make an antenna that just shows posts from specific users and notifies you when they post something new, you can make an antenna that collects posts containing or excluding certain key words, or you can make an antenna that collects only posts with files attached. You can even make an antenna consisting of “Posts from specific users” with “Show replies” checked.
Setting up
You can set up antenna by going to the More! section on your sidebar, and selecting Antennas. Press Add + to create your first. This is where you can also manage & edit previously created antennas.
Images:
Where to find More! on the sidebar (highlighted)
Where to find Antennas in the More! menu (highlighted)
My antennas page showing Add + button and my previously created antennas.
4 & 5) When you click Add + you get this page to set up your antenna. I've set one up as my Calckey antenna and another to alert me when PastaThief posts. There's a lot to go through here. Expect a separate post sometime soon.
6 & 7) What those antenna feeds look like.
On our progressive web app you can access your antennas by selecting the UFO in the top right corner.
Clicking on the UFO button brings up all my antennas and the link to manage/edit them
📞 Introducing voice & video call for the Fediverse ✨
Sora is a futuristic Fediverse client for Mastodon, Bluesky, Misskey, Pleroma all in one. Comes with local ML to curate posts and the For You timeline.
In the next update V10, Sora allows you to have a Peer-to-Peer call using Fediverse credentials.
💙 misskey does not have an algorithm like twitter and is sorted by most recent first, in order to grow and help each other grow, Renotes are vital so people can see a post circulated and other interaction are good to find friends. Renote posts if you like it, your reactions won't help something be seen
💙 you may need to tap the ellipses ... options menu and select Details to pop open the main post and see its comments / Renotes etc
💙 this is the AP fediverse so you can see posts of other servers and instances such as vt social (you'll notice people with different addresses from different home servers sometimes), timeline is divided in Home (people you follow), Local (local ex. misskey megainstance), Global (federated with other associated instances, servers can be associated if someone is following someone from a diff server or by server setting etc)
💙 you can have MULTIPLE pinned posts, yes. as I mentioned before, you can format your profile bio links under Additional Information
💙 posting frequently and renoting posts often is important because this is time based feeds. so posts won't continue to be seen over time. you can renote posts without limit unlike twitter where you must undo the RT
💙 make use of antennae (keyword feeds), lists, channels (communities), and clips (like twitter moments), and place them in your navigation bar (via settings) to have easy access to important content you wish to browse
💙 you may add up to 16 images in a post? but of course certain image ratio will appear on the feed larger
As far as admins being unkind to each other, I wonder if this is more of a #Mastodon & (to a lesser degree) #Pleroma cultural issue‽
I rarely see any hostility amongst #Pixelfed or #Misskey users, as both communities emphasize politeness & respect towards each other. I wonder why some platforms are friendlier than others‽
Sora, a futuristic Fediverse client, now features 🎬 Fediverse Watch tab 🎬
🌐 Mastodon, Bluesky, Misskey, Pleroma all in one
🔭 Watch interesting videos on the Fediverse
🌟 Explore more contents from Discovery view and hashtag timelines
👀 When you open a post, see similar posts of the same topic
👾 Local algorithm to rank posts and add additional interesting posts into your home timeline
"Calckey heißt jetzt Firefish, … sonst ändert sich nüscht." 😉
Hab die Meldung mal aktualisiert:
Alles was auf Mastodon fehlt: Firefish im Fediverse mit zig Zusatzfunktionen
Die Zahl der Twitter-Alternativen wächst und wächst. Während die meisten das Vorbild ziemlich stark nachbauen, gibt es aber auch Versuche, weiterzudenken.
After rewatching this video of #ElonMusk melting down, I realize that the #Fediverse may have a new problem: 300 million #Twitter migrants seeking out new home.
If you are on a #Mastodon, #Misskey, #Pleroma, #Pixelfed, etcetera instance, you might want to consider sending some funds to the site owner (& Fediverse platform creators) as they will need it sooner rather than later.
I expect the cost of instances to increase further once #Threads embraces #ActivityPub.