5 ms·

Mastodon clients are a fun UI playground, lots of indie apps (at least on iOS). Unfortunately Mastodon feels a bit empty, there's not many people on it yet.

amatecha 3y ago
I mean, according to the joinmastodon.org API stats[0] there are nearly 7 million users and wavering around 9-10k instances (servers). [0] https://api.joinmastodon.org/statistics https://api.joinmastodon.org/statistics
7jjjjjjj 3y ago
Mastodon doesn't have algorithmic recommendations, so you have to follow people fairly liberally to get a good amount of content in your feed.
- phs318u 3y ago
  This exactly. Furthermore, Mastodon rewards those that want to actively participate in communities. It does not reward lurkers who want to passively (doom)scroll.
  - gedy 3y ago
    That's... kind of dumb? What's wrong with lurking if you don't have much to say on a topic, but want to observe?
    - seanw444 3y ago
      Makes sense if the goal is to get content flowing. Doesn't make sense if you want the quality of content to be good.
  - cutemonster 3y ago
    How does that work? If Alice posted once the last months, and Bob 20 times, and they both post another post, then ... maybe Mastodon will promote Bob's post and demote Alice's because Bob has been more active? (I would have preferred the opposite, hmm)
    - brewdad 3y ago
      I don't think Mastodon has "promotion". If Alice posts once and Bob 20 times, you'll see Bob all over your feed and can easily miss Alice's post unless you seek it out. There is a retweet type feature (I forget the name) but I'm not sure it really does much to get Alice's message out to a wider audience.
      - cutemonster 3y ago
        Ok thanks :-)
Joeri 3y ago
It depends on what sort of community you follow. The ML and tech podcasting communities have largely moved over. The politics, journalism and celebrity part of twitter hasn’t moved over. The corollary to that is that much of the vitriol and random toxicity also hasn’t moved over. I have a more vibrant and more interesting mastodon feed than I ever had on twitter. And my twitter feed now is a wasteland, stripped of the good content but still filled with all of the bad content. Twitter is dead man walking as far as I’m concerned.
- thal3s 3y ago
  > I have a more vibrant and more interesting mastodon feed than I ever had on twitter. Exactly! I can comment on a post and have real engagement with someone which hasn't happened in years on Twitter.
- monocularvision 3y ago
  The problem I experience with Mastodon is it seems like a total echo chamber. Very little interesting conversation most of the time. I still find good links to content there though.
  - brewdad 3y ago
    Historically, before the "mass migration" most Mastodon servers were built around a specific community and their shared values of what was appropriate to post. Sure it was federated but many early users tended to stick to "their" server exclusively. It's no surprise that can end up feeling like an echo chamber. It's getting better than it was when I first started using it about six months ago but some of the posts people catch heat for seem a bit too over the top. One of my favorite examples was a user who posted a photo of their dinner. It was nothing crazy just like rice, veggies, and chicken. They were immediately accosted for not posting a trigger warning since some people have eating disorders. That's the type of community I have no patience for.

amatecha 3y ago

I mean, according to the joinmastodon.org API stats[0] there are nearly 7 million users and wavering around 9-10k instances (servers). [0] https://api.joinmastodon.org/statistics https://api.joinmastodon.org/statistics

7jjjjjjj 3y ago

Mastodon doesn't have algorithmic recommendations, so you have to follow people fairly liberally to get a good amount of content in your feed.

phs318u 3y ago
This exactly. Furthermore, Mastodon rewards those that want to actively participate in communities. It does not reward lurkers who want to passively (doom)scroll.
- gedy 3y ago
  That's... kind of dumb? What's wrong with lurking if you don't have much to say on a topic, but want to observe?
  - seanw444 3y ago
    Makes sense if the goal is to get content flowing. Doesn't make sense if you want the quality of content to be good.
- cutemonster 3y ago
  How does that work? If Alice posted once the last months, and Bob 20 times, and they both post another post, then ... maybe Mastodon will promote Bob's post and demote Alice's because Bob has been more active? (I would have preferred the opposite, hmm)
  - brewdad 3y ago
    I don't think Mastodon has "promotion". If Alice posts once and Bob 20 times, you'll see Bob all over your feed and can easily miss Alice's post unless you seek it out. There is a retweet type feature (I forget the name) but I'm not sure it really does much to get Alice's message out to a wider audience.
    - cutemonster 3y ago
      Ok thanks :-)

Joeri 3y ago

It depends on what sort of community you follow. The ML and tech podcasting communities have largely moved over. The politics, journalism and celebrity part of twitter hasn’t moved over. The corollary to that is that much of the vitriol and random toxicity also hasn’t moved over. I have a more vibrant and more interesting mastodon feed than I ever had on twitter. And my twitter feed now is a wasteland, stripped of the good content but still filled with all of the bad content. Twitter is dead man walking as far as I’m concerned.

thal3s 3y ago
> I have a more vibrant and more interesting mastodon feed than I ever had on twitter. Exactly! I can comment on a post and have real engagement with someone which hasn't happened in years on Twitter.
monocularvision 3y ago
The problem I experience with Mastodon is it seems like a total echo chamber. Very little interesting conversation most of the time. I still find good links to content there though.
- brewdad 3y ago
  Historically, before the "mass migration" most Mastodon servers were built around a specific community and their shared values of what was appropriate to post. Sure it was federated but many early users tended to stick to "their" server exclusively. It's no surprise that can end up feeling like an echo chamber. It's getting better than it was when I first started using it about six months ago but some of the posts people catch heat for seem a bit too over the top. One of my favorite examples was a user who posted a photo of their dinner. It was nothing crazy just like rice, veggies, and chicken. They were immediately accosted for not posting a trigger warning since some people have eating disorders. That's the type of community I have no patience for.