Tbh I am on Bluesky more than Mastodon. Bluesky just feels easier to use. Normal users don’t care about federation. They want the app to work easily for them. Mastodon requires a bit to get a good feed etc. Bluesky you can be lazy. Wish Mastodon had like a default “what’s hot” or “Discover” feed. Really helps find people to follow as well.
The last couple mastodon updates made it easier to access the trending feed (which afaik has existed since 2021) and added features like quote posts. Bluesky starter packs and custom shareable feeds are definitely its major perks.
The odds though bluesky will get bought up by right wing billionaires in the next 10 years is almost 100% unless there’s a major change in media management laws so don’t get too attached to bluesky since there is like a nonzero chance trump jr buys it with his crypto bribes.
But can it really be addressed? Centralized systems will probably always be easier to use. For example, if you want to follow a lemmy community, it will be community@somewhere instead of just the community name, and it will be possible to have competing communities with the same same but different servers. This will always leave people confused, and it’s something inherent to the federated model
That’s part of the problem. Confusion like this just leads people to not engage with the platform. I suppose it is what it is and just enjoy this place while there are still people here.
To complement my previous comment, I believe the best course for us would be, instead of trying to address something that will never be better than in centralized networks, to try creating things that are great and exclusive to the fediverse. People can deal with minor inconveniences if they get some unique experience in exchange
Open source content serving algorithms? We’d need to classify the content and have a server that recommends based on the algorithm. Also, user tracking to some degree (but maybe that can be handled locally?)
I think a simple ‘popular’ or ‘trending’ feed wouldn’t need user tracking. Or if it was really needed to be customized maybe users could opt into share what topics they are interested in when they sign up
I don’t think that ease of use is the problem. The problem is, people want an exact copy. Most people don’t like changes, they just hope that the alternative is the same, just without the issues they leaving it. Same expectations for GIMP and Linux operating systems… (for the normie at least).
Amazing to see Mastodon instead of Bluesky there ! Too many people falling for the Bluesky trap…
Yeah, I’m surprised how many go to Bluesky. It’s just Twitter all over again, controlled by a single company.
The thing that make them move to Bluesky, its Elon, not the federation (Which is a shame tbh)
It wasn’t the “controlled by a single company” part that made me leave Twitter, honestly. It was the Nazi CEO…
that’s the best part, just as twitter was sold to a nazi bluesky can be sold to a nazi too!
that’s what can happen when it is controlled by a single company
Then we’ll leave Bluesky too. 🤷
And fly to the next private one that will be bought in time by another Nazi?
If it’s a good replacement, maybe. I’ll deal with that if it happens. One battle at a time.
no need to worry, at that point the new nazi owner already has all the data they got from the platform
I think they do actually want Twitter again though. Admittedly, what Twitter used to be was still much better than what it is now.
Tbh I am on Bluesky more than Mastodon. Bluesky just feels easier to use. Normal users don’t care about federation. They want the app to work easily for them. Mastodon requires a bit to get a good feed etc. Bluesky you can be lazy. Wish Mastodon had like a default “what’s hot” or “Discover” feed. Really helps find people to follow as well.
You mean like Mastodon’s “Trending” and “Discover” feeds?
The last couple mastodon updates made it easier to access the trending feed (which afaik has existed since 2021) and added features like quote posts. Bluesky starter packs and custom shareable feeds are definitely its major perks.
The odds though bluesky will get bought up by right wing billionaires in the next 10 years is almost 100% unless there’s a major change in media management laws so don’t get too attached to bluesky since there is like a nonzero chance trump jr buys it with his crypto bribes.
Ease of use is one of the failings of the federation that needs to be addressed or it will never have a larger pool of users.
But can it really be addressed? Centralized systems will probably always be easier to use. For example, if you want to follow a lemmy community, it will be community@somewhere instead of just the community name, and it will be possible to have competing communities with the same same but different servers. This will always leave people confused, and it’s something inherent to the federated model
That’s part of the problem. Confusion like this just leads people to not engage with the platform. I suppose it is what it is and just enjoy this place while there are still people here.
To complement my previous comment, I believe the best course for us would be, instead of trying to address something that will never be better than in centralized networks, to try creating things that are great and exclusive to the fediverse. People can deal with minor inconveniences if they get some unique experience in exchange
How can we create something exclusive to the fediverse?
Open source content serving algorithms? We’d need to classify the content and have a server that recommends based on the algorithm. Also, user tracking to some degree (but maybe that can be handled locally?)
I think a simple ‘popular’ or ‘trending’ feed wouldn’t need user tracking. Or if it was really needed to be customized maybe users could opt into share what topics they are interested in when they sign up
I don’t think that ease of use is the problem. The problem is, people want an exact copy. Most people don’t like changes, they just hope that the alternative is the same, just without the issues they leaving it. Same expectations for GIMP and Linux operating systems… (for the normie at least).
“Trending” gets you somewhat the way there to a “what’s hot.” Though I wish it’d update more often.
But, in reality, that just means I get off of my phone sooner because I’ve seen the same stuff so that’s fine.