Bluesky now has 30 million users.
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But even then you have to explain the whole subscribed vs local vs all situation. Then defederation, so they know that there is stuff they can’t access without creating another account on another instance.
No matter how much we simplify it it’s simply not that simple. At least not compared to traditional social media. And we can sit here and call them lazy for not learning how it works or we can do more to try to meet people where they’re at
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I don't think 99% of people who have joined bluesky have any clue what federation is or means. They do know what "not twitter" is however.
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I think maybe I mis-conveyed my point. I love the way this is all structured. The problem is that it is not accessible to laymen at first glance.
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At some point I'm not averse to advertising. I'm fine with Burger King having signs on their buildings.
My water bill comes with a one page flyer from the town every month which announces things like planned road construction, the obligatory "as we enter [whatever] season, remember that it probably presents a fire hazard somehow" from the fire department (seriously I'm surprised they didn't warn against knocking candles over during Valentine's Day fucking) and a list of events that the town library, community college and other such organizations are putting on open to the public.
I see a place or even a need for a similar platform that operates at a national or global scale.
I'm reminded of the Bloody Board, which if I understand the story correctly was a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan site whose owner was kind of misusing a forum engine as an announcement board, so if you didn't know that bit of context it looked like someone going completely insane. A writer for Cracked.com didn't know that bit of context, and wrote an article about how someone was apparently going completely insane, and Cracked's audience took that at face value and basically broke it. Having a Twitter account, or a Mastodon account, that does the same thing, posting about a TV show (quotes, memorable scenes, interviews with cast and crew, appearances at conventions and stuff, fan meet and greets etc) would seem perfectly normal.
The thing I'm envisioning might be closer to an RSS feed except it's a platform.
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It actually does exist, at least on Mastodon, but is still very janky (e.g. old posts aren't moved over due to "technical limitations")
Automatically makes people unfollow your old account and re-follow your new account, then makes your old instance's link redirect to your new instance's one.
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Maybe the argument is that it "will be", but at the moment it is not
Hey, I have a couch you should buy, it isn't comfy right now but me a random human promises you on my word that after you buy it one day I will come back and fix it up so it is the comfiest couch ever!
Also maybe like somebody could make a non-profit to add features my business sold customers on with marketing hype!
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It is the path of least resistance because it just goes in circles
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Because they learned nothing
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Its also, honestly, just really hard to find people on Mastodon.
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Until there's overt advertising its unlikely to enshittify the normal way. That doesn't mean it won't, just that a different capital process is at work. Wikipedia has outlived most of "web2.0" because of its funding model.
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Good with some competition. We need much more in that area.
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then the Bluesky exodus will really have a solid reason to try to understand why decentralisation is so important...
or people will have lost the ability to imagine alternative and better places...
...which is where we come in to make sure they don't forget!
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Until there's overt advertising its unlikely to enshittify the normal way.
Trust me we will be deep into that territory so fast it is going to make your head spin.
Wikipedia has outlived most of "web2.0" because its funded by donations and run by volunteers.
Private equity and VC funding can't directly buy Wikipedia and dissect it because it is an at least somewhat functional non-profit organization. That is the only reason.
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I only use bluesky to follow a couple of ukraine war news accounts. It's very good for that purpose. I don't interact at all or read comments, twitter was always an absolute cesspool and I assume bkuesky is as well, or will be if it ever replaces twitter
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What would a comparable example be?
