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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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Technology
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I genuinely believe this could be successful.
Mastodon STILL has UX issues, and the rest of ActivityHub and the Fediverse are impenetrable to the average person. That will change over time, but in the meantime, I can't even get people to use Signal for god's sake, let alone explain which Lemmy instance is best for them.
I still have an Instagram because my friends do. Without Instagram DMs and iMessage, I lose real life connections. If they fold in a Twitter-esque client to Instagram, that I can interact with from Mastodon if I want? That sounds like a really strong value proposition to me, and is the only way your non-techy friends are joining this parade any time soon.
But also, we've got to make sure these massive companies don't snuff out what Lemmy and Mastodon are building. There's a group of suits somewhere right now thinking of how to monetise this platform, and we need to be prepared for that.
I feel your pain 1000%
I tried for the longest time to get my wife, other friends, family, etc. to use Signal to no avail. Trying to explain Lemmy or Mastadon to them is like trying to explain the concept of fire to cavemen. (Not that they're dumb or even tech illiterate necessarily, I just don't think most folks care enough to bother with it sadly right now).
I at least succeeded with my partner, so the most private conversations I have are safe in Signal. But unfortunately Meta knows just about every party, dinner, or event I've been too for the last ~8 years from having planned it in either Messenger or Instagram. It's shame we have to choose connection over privacy, and I hope someday someone hits on the magical combination of privacy, UX, and blind luck and makes a service we can use without feeling like a product.
I feel the same pains with Signal, I was very lucky in the sense that basically everyone I needed to communicate with would join, however a few members, mostly my brother which is known to be very much a stick in the mud wouldn't join. While I love him to death, he can be very much a pain to bargain with. Maybe someday...
Wouldn't it make it so much worse? If getting people to sign up for a Lemmy instance is a hard sell, it would be even harder telling them that they've now got to choose an instance that doesn't federate with Meta stuff. (unless you're fine with letting Meta in, which I'm not).
Yes, to all of this.
UX people probably call this "friction" or something. I think the fediverse currently has too much "friction" for the average person.
Whereas with Threads it'll be as simple as tapping the "Continue using Facebook" button. 🤔
If people are ok with Facebook, why would they be not ok with Twitter?
Oh, I'm sure they are. I just mean, if The Masses are going to try anything, it's going to be the easier of the two options (with loads of marketing behind it). :)
Yep, I'm in a similar boat with real life connections as well as content creators I like. I'd love to drop Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, but so much of the people and content I enjoy are only in those places. I'd love to be a shepherd, but that's easier said than done with friends and family, let alone a content creator you'd be invisible to through no fault of your own.
I'd still like to minimize my presence in such places, and I'm actively working toward that. But I think it's going to be a long time before I'm completely out of there, if ever.