My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things.
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@evan I'd say the social distance between participants of the Fediverse is far shorter than on centralised social networks, yes. I definitely found friends here. Friends as in people that are willing to work together on positive things. On centralised networks my experience always was that people connect based on being AGAINST something. Here, more often, people band together FOR something.
@jwildeboer OK.
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer Ah! Perfect description
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@evan I'd say the social distance between participants of the Fediverse is far shorter than on centralised social networks, yes. I definitely found friends here. Friends as in people that are willing to work together on positive things. On centralised networks my experience always was that people connect based on being AGAINST something. Here, more often, people band together FOR something.
That's the algorithms.
On the big corporate sites, everything is getting steered for "engagement" which usually means conflict. The divide and conquer thing, deliberately designed to be toxic.
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@jwildeboer I think my experience in local politics is very different from yours
@vicgrinberg My experience here in Munich, Bavaria, is that local politics is messy but also very personal. It's people that discuss, sometimes very heated, on local issues in pragmatic ways. Not hiding behind abstract party arguments. And at the end of the meetings, we all go to a beer garden and shake hands.
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That's the algorithms.
On the big corporate sites, everything is getting steered for "engagement" which usually means conflict. The divide and conquer thing, deliberately designed to be toxic.
@violetmadder Yes, that's for sure. But that argument doesn't really "stick" in my experience when talking to people about why they should give the fediverse a try. @evan
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer There are people who want community, and then there are people who want to monetize communities.
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@vicgrinberg My experience here in Munich, Bavaria, is that local politics is messy but also very personal. It's people that discuss, sometimes very heated, on local issues in pragmatic ways. Not hiding behind abstract party arguments. And at the end of the meetings, we all go to a beer garden and shake hands.
@jwildeboer my experience is in the same area (Augsburg & Munich) some ~20 years ago when a lot has been about "old boys" (and sometimes their proteges') networks and a lot of "this is how we have always done it".
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I am happy to hear in the replies that this visualisation resonates! May it help you all to find new fedinauts to join our street parties! And don't forget to share some food with the many cats that stroll around
I tried to find something like astronaut with Mastodon, mastodonaut?, but I don't know.
But I like fedinaut.
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@jwildeboer my experience is in the same area (Augsburg & Munich) some ~20 years ago when a lot has been about "old boys" (and sometimes their proteges') networks and a lot of "this is how we have always done it".
@jwildeboer ... which may also be a bit like fediverse, now that I've written it down.
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer Well said!
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@violetmadder Yes, that's for sure. But that argument doesn't really "stick" in my experience when talking to people about why they should give the fediverse a try. @evan
Because for some reason most people seem to have no clue just how pernicious and awful those algorithms are.
I left Facebook as soon as it became clear it was pushing in my face the exact types of things I'd rather NOT engage with. It was like watching sewage seeping in to fill the room, but loads of people are still standing around nattering while the rising flood laps against their chins.
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@jwildeboer ... which may also be a bit like fediverse, now that I've written it down.
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
I like this "lost cause" and the parties.
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer I see my Fedi experience as being local in terms of the like-minded people I follow, but not in terms of geography. I have only met face-to-face with a few people who I follow here and they are not very active. None of my relatives or in-laws are here. As a person in the US, regrettably, what I like is the cosmopolitan nature of the Fedi and my ability to follow interesting and kind people all over the world.
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@jwildeboer it was very much not "communities discussing" in my experience and made me step away from active politics for the next 20 years, so I very much hope the fediverse is not only like this
@vicgrinberg At least here in Trudering local politics have left the old boys network and backroom deals behind since quite some years. You do find that on the city council level, though. But my corner seems to prefer openness a lot.
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@vicgrinberg At least here in Trudering local politics have left the old boys network and backroom deals behind since quite some years. You do find that on the city council level, though. But my corner seems to prefer openness a lot.
@jwildeboer I'm glad there are better corners and that things have changed!
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer when I tell people there are no influencers, no algorithms trying to control them, no ads, and no one trying to sell their data, it usually gets their attention.
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer it sounds like you are describing Mastodon as an echo chamber
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My current way to interest people to join us: The Fediverse is more like local politics, with small communities discussing things. Centralised networks like Twitter, TikTok, instagram etc are more like national politics, with loud mouthpieces shouting over everyone else.
This mental image helps me in understanding why the influencers fail here and they of course think that means that the fediverse must be a lost cause while we commoners happily chug along and enjoy our little street parties
@jwildeboer
What's cool is that I see lots of posts about local or niche topics ("small communities") *and* posts about international news that I can't find in many of the mainstream news sources I follow. It's a very eclectic mix that depends on what users and hashtags you follow.It's so helpful to be able to follow hashtags, not just do searches with them!
