Eight years ago Lance Ulanoff had a problem. William Shatner could not find him on Mastodon. His distress is understandable, relatable even. Who wouldn’t want to be found by Captain Kirk himself! The
  • FrChazzz@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    I feel like the majority of people I see quit Mastodon do so because the platform (and Federation in general) don’t coddle their egos. With no algorithm to game and ingratiate themselves on everyone’s timelines, they make a public exit and talk about how broken Mastodon is and offer their takes on what it needs to be. Which, unsurprisingly, sounds like a non-Elon-ed Twitter.

    I love Mastodon. I love discovering new people and accounts by happenstance (and not spoon-feeding).

    • technohippie@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      We may have to just accept that it won’t ever be a big platform for this very reason and just have fun there as a niche site.

    • ArtificialHoldings@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      From a content creation standpoint, it does kind of suck. There’s no ego about it. The system doesn’t carry your content to nearly as many eyes, even accounting for the reduced audience. Discovery and suggestion algorithms are extremely effective, and if I’m trying to get my stuff to reach as much of my audience as possible, I wouldn’t only be on Mastodon. I’m not just talking about mediocre content either - even extremely motivating stuff in the niche doesn’t generate even a small fraction of engagement as regular social media sites.

      For some people, this is a benefit - it’s a poorly commodified system. For small content creators trying to build an audience and generate paid subscribers, it’s not enough. Most creators on Fediverse are contributing as a free or non-profit hobby.

      • synicalx@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’d prefer for my social media to not be full of ads for “content”.

        • ArtificialHoldings@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          I’m not talking about ads. Let’s say I’m a video essayist and I publish my essays on PeerTube. The recommendation algorithms aren’t going to show the free content I make to nearly as many people as if I put them on YouTube or Tiktok. And overall, that translates to fewer Patreon subscribers, FAR fewer.

          • synicalx@lemm.eeEnglish
            0·
            3 months ago

            That’s still an ad, you want money for a product you’re offering. The only difference is in your case there’s an extra step between impression and conversion.

            • ArtificialHoldings@lemmy.worldEnglish
              11·
              3 months ago

              Okay let me rephrase. I’m offering 100% of my work on PeerTube for free. They’re high quality, long-form video essays, and people clearly enjoy watching them. I link my Patreon in case people wish to support, but no other product exists on a subscription basis.

              Even if PeerTube were substantially more popular, the lack of recommendation algorithms would keep my content from proliferating nearly as well as YouTube. This translates to fewer Patreon subscribers which means less opportunity and funding to create high quality videos. No self-promotion, just content that can’t perform as well because it doesn’t get recommended.

              • synicalx@lemm.eeEnglish
                1·
                3 months ago

                This translates to fewer Patreon subscribers which means less opportunity and funding to create high quality videos

                If there’s an algorithm to game, and money to be made, I don’t see how that’s any different to self promotion. Boil it down and all that’s happening is you are performing an action, so that more people see you, in the hopes that some of them will give you money.

                The lack of an algorithm is a feature, I don’t want content I havent explicitly asked for to be shown.