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Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

aus.social

61–70 of 136 posts

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#62
post #6

Twitter has one killer feature: lots of users. Everything else is just detail.

Twitter is easier for new users to join. If you aren’t on Twitter and want to be (or have left and want to give it another try), the flow to create a new account is really easy - go to twitter.com, and then the sign-up flow is pretty standard, something almost everyone nowadays is familiar with. Want to join Mastodon? First you have to choose an instance - there are so many to choose from. If you are joining Mastodon…

> Want to join Mastodon? First you have to choose an instance...

This is one of the essential problems that frustrates normal users from moving to another social network. We are yet to talk about the mediocre 'search' function, co-ordinated instance-level bans, rouge moderators, instances shutting down / falling over, etc.

Techies love discussing about how complex something is, where as the majority of users do not care especially normal users moving from Twitter to Mastodon which from the looks of it, was no 'mass migration'. As many instances have closed registrations, if the largest instances re-opened them it further defeats the purpose of federation and encourages instance centralization.

We haven't even mentioned the strong network effect of Twitter being the major reason why little to no-one other than the 'screaming techies of the Twitter apocalypse' got angry, packed their bags and moved to Mastodon. The event was as if it was a leaf falling out of a tree.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#63

Mastodon is a wasteland. It can't compete with the engagement and exposure you can get on Twitter. For a social network, any feature parity is irrelevant if it can't reach critical mass.

for you. Works fine for me and millions others.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#64

The amount of users who care about Mastodon is negligible when compared with the amount of Twitter users. People have already voted and Mastodon got the thumbs down.

As someone who almost entirely moved over, I’d say you are right on average and wrong in practice - most of the tech people I follow are more active on Mastodon, and right now there is only a handful of people I actively go back to Twitter to read.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#65

I created a Mastodon account, in some server that I can't remember now. I tried to follow people but couldn't figure out how to follow them if they were in different servers (back when the Twitter exodus happened, the main Mastodon server stopped new account creation). I gave up after a few more days of trying and went back to Twitter.

[flagged]

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#66
post #25
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the user's point of view really. Why would I spend time on a social network where few of the people I know or interested in are present?

> Why would I spend time on a social network where few of the people I know or interested in are present? Heard this argument more often. I find this a strange perspective. Say that you are living in a country with the same amount of population as the Fediverse has. Would you say generally speaking it is hard to get to know people you are interested in? Of course for niche interest areas mass networks help find a lar…

I'm probably too old, but I seldom get to know people on social networks. More often I know them from my offline life, or know their books or software they created, and use social networks to connect with them. When I do learn new people on social networks, it's through other people I already know.

I don't have a Twitter account though, so my usage patterns might not be relevant.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#67

I created a Mastodon account, in some server that I can't remember now. I tried to follow people but couldn't figure out how to follow them if they were in different servers (back when the Twitter exodus happened, the main Mastodon server stopped new account creation). I gave up after a few more days of trying and went back to Twitter.

[flagged]

People don’t have to be dumb to not understand complex UX.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#68
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter is easier for new users to join. If you aren’t on Twitter and want to be (or have left and want to give it another try), the flow to create a new account is really easy - go to twitter.com, and then the sign-up flow is pretty standard, something almost everyone nowadays is familiar with. Want to join Mastodon? First you have to choose an instance - there are so many to choose from. If you are joining Mastodon…

> Want to join Mastodon? First you have to choose an instance... This is one of the essential problems that frustrates normal users from moving to another social network. We are yet to talk about the mediocre 'search' function, co-ordinated instance-level bans, rouge moderators, instances shutting down / falling over, etc. Techies love discussing about how complex something is, where as the majority of users do not c…

Want to join Email? First you have to choose a server ...

No wonder email failed to thrive as an open protocol, distributed communication system. It's just too darned hard and unfamiliar to figure out how to join.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#69

The amount of users who care about Mastodon is negligible when compared with the amount of Twitter users. People have already voted and Mastodon got the thumbs down.

I doubt that the vast majority of Twitter users made an active decision of giving Mastodon the thumb down. They just didn't hear of it, or had no impetus to find a different option. I think that's an important distinction.

Re: Twitter lacks many features to be a true Mastodon replacement (2022)

#70

The amount of users who care about Mastodon is negligible when compared with the amount of Twitter users. People have already voted and Mastodon got the thumbs down.

The amount of people who eat wonderful, nutritous food is negligible when compared with the amount of McDonalds diners. But people have already voted and McDonalds got the thumbs up.
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