With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!!
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@taylorlorenz It lacks an addictive algorithm.
I think the way we make DIY discovery eg build your own algorithm so mandatory makes it hard for the fedi to fulfill the role of social media in many people's lives: a way to relax ... social media functions a lot like how people have watched TV for decades. "just to see what's on"
I think there is nothing wrong with algorithms as long as they are transparent, and created by users.
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With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!! I love this app and I really think the decentralized model is the best for social media.
Still, people don’t want to join! What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users? What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?
@taylorlorenz
“At this historical moment, I’d value the fact that Mastodon is made in the #europeanunion. I’m a new user myself who joined as part of a Trump-led US boycott campaign, so I was looking for a #EU-made alternative—Mastodon seemed like the most structured one anyway.
#EU #buyeuropean we should follow the Canadians’ example #buycanadian” -
I think the way we make DIY discovery eg build your own algorithm so mandatory makes it hard for the fedi to fulfill the role of social media in many people's lives: a way to relax ... social media functions a lot like how people have watched TV for decades. "just to see what's on"
I think there is nothing wrong with algorithms as long as they are transparent, and created by users.
What if we had a kind of mini-app where users could create their own algorithms and then share combine and trade them?
I might design a mix of hashtags, users, and hand picked posts and call it "Ant News" someone else might pick a group of users and hash tags and create "Italian Football Bloopers"
Then we could share and rate these feeds and new users could just click on the popular ones?
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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What if we had a kind of mini-app where users could create their own algorithms and then share combine and trade them?
I might design a mix of hashtags, users, and hand picked posts and call it "Ant News" someone else might pick a group of users and hash tags and create "Italian Football Bloopers"
Then we could share and rate these feeds and new users could just click on the popular ones?
I think this could possibly be built into the mastodon lists feature
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What if we had a kind of mini-app where users could create their own algorithms and then share combine and trade them?
I might design a mix of hashtags, users, and hand picked posts and call it "Ant News" someone else might pick a group of users and hash tags and create "Italian Football Bloopers"
Then we could share and rate these feeds and new users could just click on the popular ones?
@futurebird@sauropods.win @aurochs@todon.eu I like that. I think people should then also be able to opt-in to a "thing" where they also sporadically get posts that aren't in any of their chosen feeds, but are "related", for example by virtue of being in the feeds of the some of the people they follow, to give the sense of serendipitous discovery of new stuff. Maybe, a somehow tunable "serendipity factor" that widens the concept "related".
I think a tab like tab would usually be more useful/interesting than the local/global timelines. -
@futurebird@sauropods.win @aurochs@todon.eu I like that. I think people should then also be able to opt-in to a "thing" where they also sporadically get posts that aren't in any of their chosen feeds, but are "related", for example by virtue of being in the feeds of the some of the people they follow, to give the sense of serendipitous discovery of new stuff. Maybe, a somehow tunable "serendipity factor" that widens the concept "related".
I think a tab like tab would usually be more useful/interesting than the local/global timelines.I would love it if there were a feed with more funny posts. You know like dril tweet type content.
I'm very happy about the complex issues and deep discussions but sometimes I'd just like to see some nonsense.
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Curating content is real work. Tiktok didn't talk about it a lot but they put a great deal of effort into making the first experience users had with the app fun.
Showing them things they'd never seen before that were funny, or exciting ... using the spy data to tailor it to the particular user. Using the way the user scrolled to improve that experience.
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Curating content is real work. Tiktok didn't talk about it a lot but they put a great deal of effort into making the first experience users had with the app fun.
Showing them things they'd never seen before that were funny, or exciting ... using the spy data to tailor it to the particular user. Using the way the user scrolled to improve that experience.
I think most people here find that kind of tracking and filtering a little creepy? But, it was also very convenient.
Over here we are like "follow two-dozen hash tags, and 300 people and then MAYBE your feed will be kind of interesting." Alternately? Here is the fire hose of your server's feed with 200 posts from the same person. Or the global feed which is just chaos.
Can we respect the art and craft of curating content? Can we make it a human thing?
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I think most people here find that kind of tracking and filtering a little creepy? But, it was also very convenient.
Over here we are like "follow two-dozen hash tags, and 300 people and then MAYBE your feed will be kind of interesting." Alternately? Here is the fire hose of your server's feed with 200 posts from the same person. Or the global feed which is just chaos.
Can we respect the art and craft of curating content? Can we make it a human thing?
Yep I'd like my own private bird dog algorithm to sniff out feeds that match my tastes. It could even run on my own desktop computer and not bother anyone else. Trading them like baseball cards does sound fun.
Regarding OP question about why Mastodon is still small:
1. Obvious network effects. Nobody's there so nobody's there. This will slowly improve. (But the people who *are* here are really interesting!)
2. Not a business so no marketing.
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Yep I'd like my own private bird dog algorithm to sniff out feeds that match my tastes. It could even run on my own desktop computer and not bother anyone else. Trading them like baseball cards does sound fun.
Regarding OP question about why Mastodon is still small:
1. Obvious network effects. Nobody's there so nobody's there. This will slowly improve. (But the people who *are* here are really interesting!)
2. Not a business so no marketing.
The fedi is slowly becoming a NORC (naturally occurring retirement community)
Only facebook has an older userbase.
And being more old than young that isn't a personal problem. But I wish there was more interest in making it a place younger people would care about. And that would mean listening to them.
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The fedi is slowly becoming a NORC (naturally occurring retirement community)
Only facebook has an older userbase.
And being more old than young that isn't a personal problem. But I wish there was more interest in making it a place younger people would care about. And that would mean listening to them.
The young people I know are mostly about phones, multimedia and each other. Less typing, more video, and easy sharing. So TikTok was a good fit.
But when it comes to data privacy and censorship, they are unconcerned lambs to the slaughter. Fedi's #1 selling point is lost on most of them (and US adults too, to be fair).
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The young people I know are mostly about phones, multimedia and each other. Less typing, more video, and easy sharing. So TikTok was a good fit.
But when it comes to data privacy and censorship, they are unconcerned lambs to the slaughter. Fedi's #1 selling point is lost on most of them (and US adults too, to be fair).
I think "no ads" is a much more popular selling point than "privacy"
I mean ... even for me, it's the quality of the content and people (the fact that it's lively here) that matters most, after that? It's that there are "no ads"
The privacy is nice, but I don't think many people care about this much, or as much as we should.
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I think "no ads" is a much more popular selling point than "privacy"
I mean ... even for me, it's the quality of the content and people (the fact that it's lively here) that matters most, after that? It's that there are "no ads"
The privacy is nice, but I don't think many people care about this much, or as much as we should.
@futurebird@sauropods.win @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @aurochs@todon.eu Honestly, I love the "no ads" thing, but not everyone I know agrees. Sure, they complain about ads, but it's mostly where they interrupt what they are doing. Often, they don't mind, or even enjoy, well done ads that fit with the flow of what they are doing.
The ad industry thought that making people numb by forcing more ads at us from everywhere all the time was the solution, but in truth well made well placed ads turn out to be seamless, and people don't mind them.
