With all the tiktok drama I have been telling people Mastodon is still here and kicking!!

[brandonscript@appdot.net]

@taylorlorenz honestly? The chance of becoming a famous and/or wealthy internet influencer is much lower here. I think that is a big deterrent for people, whether they're willing to admit it or not.

As for what can be done about that? Nothing, really, because I think that's what makes it so appealing to the rest of us.

[elaterite@mastoart.social]

@taylorlorenz
"What do you think Mastodon’s biggest barriers are to courting new users?"

Their family & friends aren't here. Laziness to try something new. They don't know that the fedi exists.

"What could be done to improve the product and grow the user base in a positive way?"

The product ain't broke so don't brake it. I don't know if it's a positive pitch, but if big tech social media users loath billionaires, then they need to stop empowering them with their presence on their platforms.

[andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it]

@stefan @taylorlorenz Yeah, I think that's it. People want (among other things) community, and having an entire community move here at once makes a lot more sense than having individuals try to build up a community. That's why, when I tried mastodon in 2019/2020, it never took off for me; but during the twitter implosion of 2022, when a bunch of my twitter-using friends moved here as well, I stuck around. The forkiverse is just the latest example of that.

[oheso@ieji.de]

@ai6yr @taylorlorenz There's also more than a bit of tone policing and "here's the right way to fediverse" greetings to new visitors. And then there's the way minorities get treated ...

[bitpickup@troet.cafe]

You are reasoning against the constitution of the fediVerse and FOSS @hfinyow itself.

Dictatorship is way easier than a democracy, no elections, no choice, none of the troubles independence comes with ..
🤷

@taylorlorenz

[jawarajabbi@mastodon.online]

@taylorlorenz

I think the product is just fine. Wonderful, in fact. I'm glad that Taylor Lorenz and Corey Doctorow and George Takai and Lisa Melton etc, etc are the local celebrities on this site. I also think scarcity and "being cool" (in other words, not trying) are the ultimate signifier of where folks should want to be.

It ain't broken.

Let's not fix it.

#Mastodon

[osma@mas.to]

There really is a HOA here even if it's not fashionable to mention it. And there is a harassment problem that is made worse by no reply controls and the terrible, terrible misfeature of followers-only replies.
@taylorlorenz

[bitpickup@troet.cafe]

@NickGates
> Black users have consistently reported hostility

Is that still so @futurebird & @IveyJanette or is this a tale that persists because of events in the past?

The most important detail of the fedi is decentralization. Moderation problems increase with the size of instances. Communities protect themselves best by creating their own instances.

@taylorlorenz

[usul@toot.community]

@taylorlorenz I feel like the only way left is to set up huge armadas of influencer bots from the established social networks to draw people in and then delete them all once we've reached a certain threshold of network effect.

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@taylorlorenz Users of social media have been *deskilled* to the point where they expect a platform to essentially do everything for them: grab an app, put in your name, maybe tap some circles or something, and bang zoom, you get a feed.

The barrier is that Mastodon--and to a lesser extent Bluesky--are slightly less easy. Now, I'd argue that if you take five minutes to choose an instance that matches your tastes, it provides a feed right away, and then you can build your follow list, but...

[bitpickup@troet.cafe]

@ddiluted1

The slower we grow the bigger the chance we don't just morph into a copy of the asocial web out there.

@taylorlorenz

[nickgates@friendsofdesoto.social]

@bitpickup @futurebird @IveyJanette @taylorlorenz
But

Black users still consistently report hostility

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@taylorlorenz For a lot of people, "choose instance -> get feed -> build follow list" feels like it's in the wrong order. They're used to an algorithm "serving" them.

So. If the goal is to get new users onto the platform, then what you want to build is a gateway that says, "What are your interests?" and then new users put in three (let's say), and then it offers a few instances that match their interests, and they pick one. I think something like that would make them feel "served."

[stefan@stefanbohacek.online]

@Andres4NY Absolutely! It also helps with the choice paralysis of having to pick a server.

I think overall it just makes sense to promote communities rather than bog people down with technical details of how the fediverse works. (There's always time for that later.)

@taylorlorenz

[bitpickup@troet.cafe]

@marymessall

People don't understand the basics of a federated system. To boost is to spread content across the network, not just to share it with your very own contacts.

It's crucial for the fedi!

@taylorlorenz

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@taylorlorenz Also, one-button transfer of accounts from one instance to another. If it's not ultra-convenient then it's not really a feature.

That's assuming really do want Mastodon to get bigger. If what they actually want is for Mastodon to only be populated with people who "pass the test" of getting on Mastodon, then there's nothing to change. They don't want a gateway. They just want a gate.

IMO.

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@jbd @hfinyow @taylorlorenz Counter to your counter: most people use one of, what, four different email services? Email hasn't been captured like social media was, but they're working on it.

I do agree, though. Mastodon is anti-commercial, and people are used to for-profit social media, which has its own structures. People are accustomed to that, and even if it's crap, it's what they know.

[basil@defcon.social]

@taylorlorenz all of the above points, plus getting used to posting with ALT text or not being boosted as much.
I would not want the platform to grow in adoption to the detriment of accessibility.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@NickGates @taylorlorenz

I don't think this is the "biggest barrier" to reaching new users.

The biggest barriers are:

* Popular content creators who ought to care about building independent social media don't know it exists or why it's important. What if Emma from MR were here? For example.
* Sign up remains hard. I know why people don't want to integrate google auth... but if it were an option for some servers it'd make a big difference.
* UI needs more work.

[orionkidder@mas.to]

@hfinyow @taylorlorenz I hear what you're saying. You're not wrong about the "there's no one app" thing. But at the same time:

It's not an app. It's a web site. It works great on a browser. My solution, then, would be to make an "app" that's really just a web app. It leads you to a browser instance of Mastodon. Your app will get "upgraded" when Mastodon is upgraded because it's just a website. That should be the default.