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It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

simonwillison.net

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Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#2
It is fascinating that people feel justified ignoring the user experience on Twitter when talking about whether to use Twitter.

I don't know what it "really means" when all the motivations, incentives and goals are unpacked, but there are surely some fascinating lessons here to be learned. Previously I've only seen social networks come under pressure when the user experience changed markedly so this seems new.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#3
Surely no one felt more desperation for Mastodon to operate as an adequate substitute for Twitter than GOP leadership in the aftermath of Trump's Twitter ban and the 2020 election. If those people, the most motivated people in all of time to make Mastodon work, can't make Mastodon work, then I struggle to see how the Musk-haters plan to switch over successfully.

I'd apply the same argument to every other platform - if someone could have done it better than Twitter, then you'd better believe that the GOP would have already been all-in on that platform long before you got there.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#5
post #4

The same kind of posts happened when zuck changed the private policy of whatsaap a few months ago, everyone was migrating to Signal. Who uses signal now?

This seems a bit different, given that Musk's leadership has a high potential to very radically change Twitter; he did just lay off half the company, for example.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#6
post #4

The same kind of posts happened when zuck changed the private policy of whatsaap a few months ago, everyone was migrating to Signal. Who uses signal now?

Technically I use it (although I haven't had a legitimate message on there since ... 2016?) but I'll tell you what I don't use any more - WhatsApp. It's either iMessage, Telegram, or for a (dwindling) handful of annoying people, FB Messenger.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#8
post #4

The same kind of posts happened when zuck changed the private policy of whatsaap a few months ago, everyone was migrating to Signal. Who uses signal now?

Quite a lot of people, i think. The google play app alone has been downloaded over a 100 million times.

All my family and some friends use it as our primary platform for communication.

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#9
It doesn't seem sensible to invest yourself so much into Mastodon without having thorougly explored it.

I too was fascinated with the fediverse, until I used it for more than a month and realized the people posting there were just as toxic and annoying as Twitters, not to mention the plenty of instances where the petty owners have made everything even worse

Re: It looks like I’m moving to Mastodon

#10
post #3

Surely no one felt more desperation for Mastodon to operate as an adequate substitute for Twitter than GOP leadership in the aftermath of Trump's Twitter ban and the 2020 election. If those people, the most motivated people in all of time to make Mastodon work, can't make Mastodon work, then I struggle to see how the Musk-haters plan to switch over successfully. I'd apply the same argument to every other platform - i…

Anecdotal - I had a account in one of the largest english mastodon instances for a few years now and have seen multiple waves of twitter exodus into mastodon. Server becomes extra lively for a few weeks and then it returns to normal. None of these people last.
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