With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!!
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@taylorlorenz one thing, the decentralized nature means there is perhaps too much choice. Do you get an account on mastodon.social, mstdn.ca, mastodon.com, tusky.whatever.... And also what app do you use to access it? When there was Twitter, there was one official app. With Mastodon, there are a multitude. Sometimes too much choice is counterproductive.
@hfinyow @taylorlorenz There is a Mastodon app though. I'm on it atm. Just not one Fediverse app. Or am I mistaken?
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For one thing, if your app is popular it can be because the UI is easy to use and the design is excellent.
Equally important? You can only build diverse, resilient communities if you can bring a wide range of users together. That cross-pollination between otherwise desperate communities is the magic of social media for me.
I often call the fedi "a nice college town" and it even has an HOA (an HOA that gets huffy and offended if you point out they are acting like an HOA)
@futurebird My personal reason for wishing Mastodon was more popular is I believe we could maybe bring people back from the brainwashing-mashines. Sadly those who need it the most are addicted to being spoon-fed with brain-rot I believe. @bovaz @aurochs
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@ryanc @taylorlorenz im waiting for actual people who are visually impared to ask for it. because so far all the screaming is done by dipshits doing virtue signaling - and its those virtue signaling dipshits that are chasing people away
they think theyre "helping".
they arent.
#BlindAltBot (@anantagd@ieji.de)
I'm blind and for me alt text is the Big Special Thing about Mastodon. If someone posts a meme, I'm in on the joke. Someone shares beautifiul moss, or their cat, I'm in on the beauty or fun or whatever. I'm now 62, and this is the first time I entered a community and a culture where people grant me this kind of access and community. So grateful for people who do alt text.
ieji.de (ieji.de)
ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
As a Blind person i never thought i would be on social media savoring photos. But the communal Mastodon alt text game is so strong that sweet, poetic or silly descriptions abound on my timeline. Thanks to legions of people who take time to write a meaningful description of the ephemera they post, i learn so much about insects, plants, buildings, memes — all dispatches from a dimension of the world that i otherwise wouldn't experience. If you're wondering whether anybody reads these things: YES.
mas.to (mas.to)
I didn't hunt those down, they were just in my retoots ("blind alt text in:library"), FWIW.
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#BlindAltBot (@anantagd@ieji.de)
I'm blind and for me alt text is the Big Special Thing about Mastodon. If someone posts a meme, I'm in on the joke. Someone shares beautifiul moss, or their cat, I'm in on the beauty or fun or whatever. I'm now 62, and this is the first time I entered a community and a culture where people grant me this kind of access and community. So grateful for people who do alt text.
ieji.de (ieji.de)
ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
As a Blind person i never thought i would be on social media savoring photos. But the communal Mastodon alt text game is so strong that sweet, poetic or silly descriptions abound on my timeline. Thanks to legions of people who take time to write a meaningful description of the ephemera they post, i learn so much about insects, plants, buildings, memes — all dispatches from a dimension of the world that i otherwise wouldn't experience. If you're wondering whether anybody reads these things: YES.
mas.to (mas.to)
I didn't hunt those down, they were just in my retoots ("blind alt text in:library"), FWIW.
@ryanc @taylorlorenz @jima pretty sure the various alt text bots werent around in 2024
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@ryanc @taylorlorenz @jima pretty sure the various alt text bots werent around in 2024
ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
Blind people now have AI image description and these days a Blind person will send another Blind person just an AI description of a selfie, with no source photo. In the complex AI discourse i would just like to say that AI image description has changed the game for Blind folks. It's a hell of a ride at age 43 to read my first picture book and first graphic novel. AI is complicated but textualizing images is brilliant
mas.to (mas.to)
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ChanceyFleet (@ChanceyFleet@mas.to)
Blind people now have AI image description and these days a Blind person will send another Blind person just an AI description of a selfie, with no source photo. In the complex AI discourse i would just like to say that AI image description has changed the game for Blind folks. It's a hell of a ride at age 43 to read my first picture book and first graphic novel. AI is complicated but textualizing images is brilliant
mas.to (mas.to)
@Viss @ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet Cool! Thanks; I hadn't seen that development.
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@Viss @ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet Cool! Thanks; I hadn't seen that development.
@ryanc @taylorlorenz @ChanceyFleet @jima also i wrote a thing
GitHub - Viss/gptocr: a script that uses openai's gpt-4 preview to generate alt-text for images on mastodon
a script that uses openai's gpt-4 preview to generate alt-text for images on mastodon - Viss/gptocr
GitHub (github.com)
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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
1 Taylor Swift post -
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 One big one:
People want an app that gives them a sign-in right there, not an app that allows them to petition instances for an account.
TBF that part is kinda fiddly, but we wouldn't be very defederated if everyone signs up on Mastodon dot social (which unfortunately most people do).
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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 I think there is the perception that Mastodon is a bit difficult - the initial thing of having to pick an instance is a bit offputting.
But I suspect also that Mastodon having no company behind it means that there is no marketing department pushing it and that prevents people from being lured in.
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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 Ya probably the onboarding process, It’s cumbersome.
A few more celebrities onboarding and posting regularly would help.
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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 The reason I’ve heard is that: "On Mastodon, servers can easily end up blacklisted" (if you run your own instance), and "users may be silenced for expressing different opinions".
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@MrLee @taylorlorenz Despite what you may believe, it is the number one most frequently cited objection I hear when introducing people to the fediverse.
Also, the other problem as I mentioned is the network effect. All their friends are in the corpo-controlled silos. We can have a technically better product, but if they can't reach the people they want to reach, it's kind of pointless.
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@erikcats @taylorlorenz and add geography/region to that list. I'm on an instance specific to Canada, mainly mstdn.ca. I've flirted with the idea of going over to ottawa.place but for now, I don't see a reason to move....I'm too casual a user of social media for the server I'm on to make a difference.
@hfinyow @erikcats @taylorlorenz That does exist already just in different ways.
Fedi.Garden – An easy way to join Mastodon and the Fediverse
Highlighting nice servers on Mastodon and the Fediverse
(fedi.garden)
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.
We observe all Fediverse Sites. Find a Fediverse site to sign up for, find one close to you using a list, map or let us auto-pick one for you!
(fediverse.observer)
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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 Maybe by starting to talk to our friends offline again.
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@jill @hfinyow @taylorlorenz 4x4x4x4x4
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@jill @hfinyow @taylorlorenz Neither you mine
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@hfinyow @erikcats @taylorlorenz That does exist already just in different ways.
Fedi.Garden – An easy way to join Mastodon and the Fediverse
Highlighting nice servers on Mastodon and the Fediverse
(fedi.garden)
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.
We observe all Fediverse Sites. Find a Fediverse site to sign up for, find one close to you using a list, map or let us auto-pick one for you!
(fediverse.observer)
@jill @erikcats @taylorlorenz for those sufficiently motivated, this should be enough. I think I found my server through Twitter back before they started messing with the algorithm to suppress any Mastodon related posts.
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@taylorlorenz quote posts
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@taylorlorenz There is also the problem of retaining people. @davidallengreen, a UK lawyer with solid takes on pretty much everything, just went on an extended fedi break because the purity police didn’t like him using substack and he got bored of the hassling. Lovely own goal reply guys, the only behaviour you changed was his posting on the fedi. This is a people issue not a tech issue, which I’m not quite sure how to get around. He’s not the only one either.
@bjn @taylorlorenz @davidallengreen I think @TechConnectify raised the point some time ago that mastodon simply doesn't have the moderation tools for popular accounts that large platforms like Twitter have.
Mastodon needs to grow up from it's techy roots and start being far more pragmatic about supporting people, especially the sort of popular people who drive interest in joining the platform. Federation is grand and all but making something that isn't painful to use for key users is important.
