Which is why, if you actually want to discuss something, it’s better to tag a group. For example, if you want to be part of an actual PC gaming community on the Fediverse, it’s better to tag @pcgaming@lemmy.ca than #pcgaming.

This needs to be common knowledge because people new to the Fediverse do not know about groups. Hell, I’d say people who have had Mastodon accounts for years still don’t know. And that’s a shame.

@fediverse@lemmy.world

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[–] kudra@aus.social 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

@Steve agree about specialisation. Differentiation and evolution is natural and important. But even more important for the #Fediverse to remain /able/ to differentiate and grow instead of falling to the wayside like so many social networks, is *interoperability*.

I've been saying it since the #LiveJournal days: many tried to create something to replace it, the code was open source, and there are many sites that forked, but they were never interoperable. What makes the Fediverse special is not that there are many different ways people are specialising (currently to ape the forms of social media that became dominant ie Twitter, IG, Reddit) but that they all *talk to each other* using the *same protocol*, even if in ways that aren't ideal.

Remember #XMPP? #Google killed it, and I guarantee there will be challenges in future, just like #Threads, that will try to do the same thing to the Fediverse (pretend to interoperate for a bit, then take interoperability away once they are dominant)... the only thing the Fediverse needs to get right is to keep the #interoperability and enough people to have fucking woken up to not get sucked into a Big Player taking the bulk of users out of that, that is much more important than anything. So far Fedi seemed to be resisting Threads admirably, especially since Lil' Broccoli bent the knee to the Orange Orangutan.

So yes, each corner of the Fediverse has different form factors and focus, and that's great. But being able to do what I do, even if it's not ideal, is absolutely crucial.

I'm looking forward to Fedi coming up with an IM that will get us right back to the days of XMPP, too (I believe @dansup is going to build one but that doesn't preclude someone else doing it too).

[–] kudra@aus.social 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

@Steve also, I just reread your earlier comment. Sure, it's important that these different areas of Fedi have decentralised servers, but that they can cross the barrier between different apps is going to continue to be very important. Especially for real world friendships. If you can get over the barrier of getting people to try Fedi at all (we all know a TON of people that didn't use any social media before Facebook, and now they won't use ANYTHING except FB messenger or sms to talk to people) then you can demonstrate that "look! It's like I'm posting on Twitter and you're reading it on Facebook!". I think that's going to be quite important for adoption, once normies hear enough about it to give it a try. We don't have a ton of active celebrities here but there are a few, and quite the concentration of SF writers, and they are always the ones to see the future 😊