There’s nothing inherently confusing about the protocol. It just needs UX improvements. Meta has a few billion in product research and experience they could use to improve the protocol immensely.
All good points. My prediction is that if Meta steps into the ActivityPub space (and I think they will, at least as a trial), they’ll spool up their own instance and direct all traffic there. The experience will be smooth and painless. SSO for their Meta login, clear community delineation, hyperlinks all working as expected, and superb discovery. All the things we’re lacking right now. Of course, I don’t want Meta to own this entire protocol, so I hope they federate widely, and the Lemmy and Kbin devs can piggyback off the Meta UX designs.
Interestingly, there has been some polls about the age of Mastodon users. Generally they point towards users being rather old for the standards of a new tech platform.
I would guess the average age of the Threadiverse might be lower, but it seems the Fediverse has some appeal across generations. I suspect that those of us who remember the indie internet from days of yore might find the Fediverse more intuitive than gen Z who are discovering the beautiful chaos for the first time.
Edit: Here’s another poll by @mcneely showing the same results with 26 750 respondents: Half the respondents are 41-60 years old, 10% are older than 60.
I agree. The main thing about the Fediverse is that the non-commercial nature of it allows it to be slow. Not only in terms of the servers (which has, admittedly, also been the case), but also in terms of how content is consumed and which type of engagement is encouraged. In an age when everything seems to be turning into tiktok, I think this is appealing to those who decide to stay, and possibly confusing to others.
I don’t think there are that many people who honestly give up on the Fediverse because it’s too complex, despite that being the common excuse. I think most of them simply don’t find it hypnotizing enough, possibly leading them to believe they’re using it wrong.
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There’s nothing inherently confusing about the protocol. It just needs UX improvements. Meta has a few billion in product research and experience they could use to improve the protocol immensely.
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All good points. My prediction is that if Meta steps into the ActivityPub space (and I think they will, at least as a trial), they’ll spool up their own instance and direct all traffic there. The experience will be smooth and painless. SSO for their Meta login, clear community delineation, hyperlinks all working as expected, and superb discovery. All the things we’re lacking right now. Of course, I don’t want Meta to own this entire protocol, so I hope they federate widely, and the Lemmy and Kbin devs can piggyback off the Meta UX designs.
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Interestingly, there has been some polls about the age of Mastodon users. Generally they point towards users being rather old for the standards of a new tech platform.
Here’s one poll by @futurebird, with 459 respondents. Half are gen X, and almost 10% are boomers.
I would guess the average age of the Threadiverse might be lower, but it seems the Fediverse has some appeal across generations. I suspect that those of us who remember the indie internet from days of yore might find the Fediverse more intuitive than gen Z who are discovering the beautiful chaos for the first time.
Edit: Here’s another poll by @mcneely showing the same results with 26 750 respondents: Half the respondents are 41-60 years old, 10% are older than 60.
I don’t think it’s really a tech savvy / age thing. I think it’s a commitment thing.
People looking for a forum and community are willing to put in the effort to learn regardless of how tech savvy they are.
Then you have people that just want to scroll memes on their phone to kill time. Those are the people that are likely not going to put the effort in.
I agree. The main thing about the Fediverse is that the non-commercial nature of it allows it to be slow. Not only in terms of the servers (which has, admittedly, also been the case), but also in terms of how content is consumed and which type of engagement is encouraged. In an age when everything seems to be turning into tiktok, I think this is appealing to those who decide to stay, and possibly confusing to others.
I don’t think there are that many people who honestly give up on the Fediverse because it’s too complex, despite that being the common excuse. I think most of them simply don’t find it hypnotizing enough, possibly leading them to believe they’re using it wrong.