this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Fediverse

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The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I'm 3 out of 3. Sorry I don't have a good answer for you.

My unfounded guess is that this demographic has seen the internet at it's beginings and is more willing to put up with the lack of bling and willing to discover/ build things from the ground up, just like the Forums of the Old in the mythological era were done. No corporations, no low effort rewards, no likes/ karma/ whatever. You have to actually get involved for lemmy to live.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

Branding is also another factor that comes into play here. Most regular users are used to having a more polished app. Simplicity is the driving force behind apps like tiktok and Instagram. They build on top of each other rather than reinventing the wheel. So it's just a transfer of skills and patterns. With the fediverse, regular users have relearn those patterns and skills, which most people just aren't going to do.

One way to solve this problem is to just abstract the idea of the fediverse. Rather than saying "join the fediverse, we're decentralised" we could say "we're a multiverse of internet communities".

I also dont think regular users care about whether a post is from another server or not. This can be abstracted as well by only showing the community not the server. What I'm trying to say is, even though the fediverse is a decentralised network, we need to treat is as a centralized one.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

Right now, the fediverse is not very user-friendly for non-tech people.

I mean, there's instances de-federating from each other, weird federation sync anomalies still going on between instances, users have to create and maintain multiple user accounts on multiple instances if those instances have defederated each other, even the 'official' jerboa app for lemmy shits itself if you try and connect in to an instance that's one sub-dot version lower than what it was built for - plus it crashes on 1/3 of my android devices, some of the best lemmy apps have been removed from app stores due to non-compliance with app store terms and have to be installed manually from github. It's all still very DIY right now instead of plug-and-play....and if lemmy is to appeal to anyone other than tech nerds, it needs to become much more user friendly and much more plug-and-play.

I tried explaining it all to my wife (who is still a Reddit user) and she argues that lemmy on fediverse sounds way too complicated...and she's not wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

Honestly wouldn't mind Lemmy being a 30+ monoculture. Let the kids stay on their TikBooks and SnapFaces where they make porn or whatever else kids do these days.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I think most people don't go to a platform because of how it is implemented but rather what content and what communities already exist there.

People on the fediverse now are using it not because of the content already here but more because of the promise of a platform designed in a different way that will ultimately enable a better internet experience. I think part of the reason why it's mostly techy people is that the sales pitch is complicated enough that mostly techy people will be able to appreciate it. Not to say that non-techy people are too stupid to get it, it's just that it requires a kind of abstract thinking that techy people are more used to.

It feels like lemmy seems to have a sense of nostalgia for old reddit in some ways, so I imagine that a lot of people on here where also on reddit maybe 5-15 years ago, which means that you are probably going to be older than the average reditor as well as techy. Can't speak for mastodon, honestly I find the culture on most instances I've seen to be kinda weird and unappealing but yes it seems to be older techy people as well there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I don't use Linux, but other than that...

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Yes. I have yet to run across 💀💀💀 or 🔥🔥🔥 in any reply thread as well as popular slang. Also AITA posts with some of the worst advice known to humankind. Thank god it’s over!

Reddit evolved into in something unrecognizable over the last 5 years as it’s popularity exploded.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

It's funny if so - I was so old on Reddit. But this means I'm old enough to remember Usenet so this platform is comfortable for me.

I don't think it was difficult at all to sign up though, doesn't seem like a barrier to entry.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

can confirm:

  • 28
  • DevOps Engineer
  • daily linux use
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I think that might be because most people who go through the hurdles of setting up an account and figuring out the entire frediverse are people who are much more interested in the tech and it's applications rather than your average social media consumer who can just get all they want in a single location with a easy to understand concept

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

sure. but i also can't help but feel like when history looks back on the fediverse it's more likely to be in the geocities and anglefire category than some seismic shift in social media.

I hope for the later, but realistically feel it will be the former.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I think that's probably accurate, but it needs context. When I discovered reddit, I was a teenager and I just lurked for a long time. At the time, the typical redditor was closer to 30 years old and a tech worker. I was a lurker because I didn't yet understand how to write a thoughtful, worthwhile comment. So there might be some lurkers right now because of that.

All kinds of people gravitate towards conversation, but older users will be more comfortable engaging in conversations at first. Reddit is not a good place to converse right now. We just need to focus on building community and encouraging conversations.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I kind of fit the description so I certainly can't argue with you.

I think a big part of the reason you're so spot on is because of the timing. Painting with broad strokes here, but the group you mentioned is kind of the group you need for something like Lemmy to be built in the first place. And I fully appreciate Lemmy had been around for awhile now, but let's be honest, it's only recently become 'popular' thanks to u/spez.

I hope the username will expand as more people find out about Lemmy. I think with that will come feature changes (more likle9in the form of third party apps) as a more diverse group of people start using Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (3 children)

24 yr old tech worker / Linux user checking in! I'm not old yet but I've got the spirit!

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

2* y.o. Linux user & sysadmin/sre/devops/younameit checking in.

I am still gonna use reddit for porn only, using patched Reddit app (by Revanced manager). 😂

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I feel it's complicated for the non-tech users but interestingly I have started to see some folks coming to Lemmy because I (a tech friend) started using it and advertising to them. I think it's these early adopters who play a major role in bringing the non-tech folks and people from other diverse culture.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (6 children)

I'm a 20 year old. I may be the only one in this thread unable to drink legally lol

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

Its the BBS era come again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

I am younger than that demographic and not the most techy person, so maybe not exclusively. But yes, in my experience with Lemmy and Mastodon that is the trend.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

Did you see the linux memes comments? It's full of windows users who are infuriating me.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

For everything except the memes I agree. The memes are clearly not generated by 30+ year olds though, and there are a lot of memes. (all of those 196 communities)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

I'm not that old! I'm still a linux user and tech enthusiast though, so you're not that off.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

No man, I'm 20 and I'm using this site

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Only 1 for 3 there myself, but I get the point.

One thing I have noticed is a big chunk of the memes posted earlier in June were very dated, ~2010-era Facebook style. Made me wonder if the crowd on here didn't at least initially skew older.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Absolutely It's really nice how this affects the tech related serious communities but damn is it heartbreaking how bad the memes here are

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