Sounds crazy but... maybe you shouldn't delete Facebook just yet
-
My first thought was, how the hell are people still on Facebook?!
I see your point, but the most repeated reason/excuse for not leaving Meta (or other big tech platforms) is "I can't, all my contacts are on there". So the longer anybody stays on that dumpster fire, the more they add to the network effect.
My suggestion would be, announce that you're leaving, posting links to where people can find you going forward, and log off for a couple of weeks' grace period. Then login only to download your data and delete the account.
That way, you've given your contacts time to find your new profiles (and maybe their first glimpse of the fediverse), and you're off the treadmill — the contacts who will miss you enough to follow you off FB are probably the ones worth keeping
Edit: added a comma and closed a quotation for clarity.
-
Glad someone guided you back!
-
I lately stumbled over a discussion of Lemmy on Reddit (linked from [email protected], I guess), and some of the people in the discussion seemed to genuinely believe that Lemmy had completely died off following the first few days of interest from the Reddit community, similar to Tildes and whatever other services popped out through the years.
It's pretty fascinating, as I wouldn't think it takes that much to double check and realize the community on here is pretty vibrant.
I think part of the reason this happens is that the front page on Lemmy is less sensationalist and appears more slow moving, and there are of course fewer votes as we are not millions of users.
Which is where I spiral into checking what this comparison looks like in reality, and this comment becomes truly off-topic:
This is top five on the front page of Lemmy.world at the moment, not signed in:
- 1 day ago, 1.67 k upvotes: "Used to consume not produce". A meme about the kids not knowing what a C drive is.
- 13 hours ago, 570 upvotes: "Democracy is when the White House boasts about its king". Screenshot of white house tweet stating that Trump is now king.
- 2 days ago, 758 upvotes: "Europe preps huge defense package in boost to Ukraine: 'Never been seen'". An article about European aid to Ukraine
- 1 day ago, 469 upvotes: "So, is the USA screwed?". No stupid questions.
- 2 days ago, 868 upvotes: "Joe Rogan dethroned by anti-Trump podcast in the charts". Newsweek article.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, also not signed in and incognito for good measure:
- 2 hours ago, 15k upvotes: "The shower in the apartment I moved into self-destructs". A video of a shower that has been assembled wrong.
- 4 hours ago, 20k upvotes: "Thursday’s front page of the British Daily Star. Putin’s Poodle". The front page of a British tabloid.
- 20 hours ago, 18k upvotes: "What will Americans do if Social Security is reduced or done away with?". Ask reddit.
- 19 hours ago, 9k upvotes: "Trump finally calls out the Ukraine scam". Fascist propaganda from the conservative subreddit.
- 8 hours ago, 40k upvotes: "Trump can’t end birthright citizenship, appeals court says, setting up Supreme Court showdown". CNN article.
So of course, if you're used to the pace of Reddit, the Lemmy frontpage will appear slow, as if the site is half dead. Meanwhile, seen from Lemmy, the Reddit frontpage looks like it's a dangerous fucking tool made and controlled by capitalists to pacify and brainwash the masses, spewing out bullshit at an alarming pace.
But yeah, point is, no wonder they think we're dead, there's an article from two days ago on the front page.
Anyway, glad to have you back!
-
It is a matter of engagement. People like engaging with dumb meme more than data privacy stuff. Especially when people don't understand the ramifications of poor data privacy or understand fundamentally what the even means. Heck, even I don't understand what companies harvesting my data will mean for my personal life. I am guilty of ignoring data privacy posts in favour of dumb memes too.
It sucks, but thats why the term edu-tainment was coined. To educate people, you must also entertain them.
-
I still active on Reddit, Twitter, YouTube and sometimes LinkedIn for work (never used Facebook and Instagram) and I like Lemmy and Mastodon alot but I see no reason to restrict myself to only use Fediverse.
On a side note Maybe I'm out of the loop here but why do you guys call Twitter, Xitter? -
Tbf, my first foray into reddit-like federated alternatives was Kbin, and that did actually die.
Originally lemmy just did not interest me because it felt like the only early adopters of it were the CS and techbro crowd. But now two years later I'm seeing what seem like regular people that I'm more able to relate and discuss with, with more variety in content and communities available. Plus, I'm browsing lemmy using the old reddit format which I am still stubbornly using to this day on actual reddit. So now I am using lemmy in a format that is identical to how my reddit usually looks. I could have lemmy on one monitor, reddit on the other, and not tell the difference. Maybe petty, but its a big deal for me.
There is still a pretty big lapse on communities relevant to me tbh, but there is still enough to warrant me to visit lemmy more often. For example, I am a historian/museum professional, and the history communities heres are practically dead to non-existent. Many of the communities I am interested in are simply forking posts from reddit or simply posting news article links. But, I suppose that is the part where I stop being a lurker and be the change I want to see in the world. It is a bit more enticing and exciting to make posts knowing that a much smaller but more engaged community will see it. On reddit, it feels like pointlessly screaming at the void.
Regardless, after two years it is kinda clear that lemmy is here to stay. It seems to have survived the great filter that most other federated alternatives did not during the initial reddit api buzz.
Anyways, thats just my perspective as a completely random not technologically advanced person views and viewed lemmy.
-
I still active on Reddit, Twitter, YouTube and sometimes LinkedIn for work (never used Facebook and Instagram) and I like Lemmy and Mastodon alot but I see no reason to restrict myself to only use Fediverse.
I understand that - hopefully the fediverse can provide a viable alternative for all of those platforms in the future. Right now I don't think anything like LinkedIn exists on the fediverse, for instance.
why do you guys call Twitter, Xitter?
I think the idea of Xitter is to pronounce is as "shitter", because Twitter became (more) shit with Elon Musk's rebranding as X.
-
Is there any real benefit to deleting the account? I don't see what harm a dead account could do. I have a instagram account that has my real name on it, and I'd hate to have someone potentially impersonate me. I instead posted a link to my personal website and also linked my Bluesky account in the bio, stating that I will no longer be using instagram or regularly checking it.
-
Unfortunately I actually just joined facebook recently. My professional field is a rather small one, and there are strong and established profesional groups on there that greatly benefit me that only exist on facebook. The older people in my field are unlikely to switch to anything newer. Set in their ways and what not. I am desperately looking for a job at the moment so I'd something I sorta have to grin and bear. I have an ad block and I don't even post or engage with any of the crap on there though.
-
Can anyone explain to me what the primary difference is between Mastadon and Bluesky? I never used Mastadon but it is meant to be a twitter alternative correct? It seems like bluesky is gaining much more traction than mastadon ever did, based solely on how I literally hear nothing about it ever. If I am wrong on mastadon not being widely adopted, do tell, I am genuinely asking.
-
It makes you one of our brave heroes in the front lines. Come battle with me, and be lavishly permabanned for mentioning freedom social media!
-
Yeah, I also started out on Kbin, which might explain my handle.
I think one of the best things about this place is being able to stay with old interfaces. Sometimes what we're used to is what's best. I would have loved it if the old phpBB forums I used to frequent stuck around long enough to federate rather than disappear!
And we have plenty of tech nerds weighing in with their five cents, so at this point I'm more interested in hearing from "normal" users.
If you start posting history museum content I will be interested in following it for sure!
-
Maybe once I get a job first. I need to sell the idea of myself to my small field first before I start trying to convince them why a federated social media alternative would benefit them. Honestly, aside from sticking it to facebook, I don't think there would be tangible benefits. In all honesty, it would potentially fracture the field and weaken us even more by decreasing our professional network strength. I think if they migrate over here, it will have to be organically rather than coerced by me. Lots of people in my field migrating from twitter to bluesky though, so we take wins when we get them.
-
Right. In my opinion Twitter was a shitty place before Elon bought it and now is even a shittier place if that was even possible
-
I will toy with the idea of posting some content on the history communities. For my professional field the most popular subreddit is r/museumpros. It is a small but fiercely engaged subreddit, and I think there would be like minded people that could be willing to make the switch over. I'd be sorta worried that I'd be drawing the ire of the mods there though, essentially disrupting their community and pilfering their members. Plus, the subreddit has been a massive boon to the museum community and fracturing it by having half go on lemmy and half stay on reddit would weaken the field massively at a critical juncture, with the massive gov threats the field is facing with the grant cutting and what not in the US. While I'd love to see like minded history-focused faces on lemmy, I think having a similar community gathering here will have to happen organically. I will explore maybe cross posting both content here and on bluesky, and on bluesky plugging whatever history community I post in.
I think id be much better suited as a normal member anyways. I touch way too much grass to be a community moderator. I already surprised myself by volunteering to create the Canadian Windsor city community on lemmy.ca I plan on handing over the reigns to just about anyone if it actually takes off.
-
For the love of Christ, stop supporting these assholes.
-
You could PM the mods on Reddit, tell them you're worried about the direction of the platform, and ask if they want to join the effort/let them know the door is open. That way there would probably be little drama.
As for moderation, I don't think it would be a huge challenge. The biggest hurdle is in producing content to get the community going and to stick with it, which would honestly be too much work for me personally.
Regarding Bluesky: On Mbin (successor of Kbin) these days it's possible to post "microblogs" directly into communities, and have them appear organically in Bluesky as well. I have tested this a bit, but never posted anything interesting this way. Should try with an image post to a community.
-
what the primary difference is between Mastadon and Bluesky?
Mastodon is in the fediverse (like Lemmy, which you're using), while Bluesky is not.
It's also way older than Bluesky (2016 vs 2023). So recency bias might have played a role.
It seems like bluesky is gaining much more traction than mastadon ever did, based solely on how I literally hear nothing about it ever. If I am wrong on mastadon not being widely adopted, do tell, I am genuinely asking.
You're not wrong at all there. Mastodon currently only has 886k monthly active users, while Bluesky is in the millions despite its much shorter lifetime.
The fediverse is just unpopular in general. Mastodon is the most popular fediverse platform though, Lemmy has only 48k monthly active users.
-
Bluesky is not truly decentralized, in the same way that Mastodon is. Bluesky is effectively centralized and is still controlled by an american corporation and could in principle be bought in the same way that Twitter was. Lastly, Bluesky made their own protocol instead of using the already-standard ActivityPub protocol. That's why a lot of people are skeptical and recommend Mastodon instead.
-
Too late, (un)fortunately
