The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

  • @[email protected]
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    141 year ago

    This perfectly illustrates the problem with the Internet as a whole in the age of smartphones.

    Your idea of the “first step” is always “open app” but the Internet is not apps. The Internet is servers, and a web browser is the client app for most of it.

    Since I know how to use the Internet, it was simple AF to get a Lemmy account going. I went to https://lemmy.world and signed up. Now I’m on Lemmy.

    If all you know of the Internet is “open app” on your phone, you have a lot more to learn about the Internet as a whole.

    • @[email protected]
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      101 year ago

      I think most common people are accustomed to “being fed”, rather than exploring for themselves. That’s why most of the original platforms were just getting copy pastes from other platforms. Originality requires effort.

      I personally have been looking at lemmy thinking what’s new… Only to realise that maybe it’s time “I” create that new. :=

    • @[email protected]
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      71 year ago

      that’s a common problem. kids don’t know how to use computers because they’re so used to using apps.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      I am a former senior web developer and head of a web-based software company, I know how to use the internet. That is not why I use apps. I use apps because they fit into my phone’s ecosystem much better than websites. The flow I’ve illustrated is the most commonly adopted, as others in the reply thread have pointed out.