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Virtue signaling, is based on the premise that talking is easy and it brings you a serotonin rush to be validated by other people that feel the need to show the

Virtue signaling, is based on the premise that talking is easy and it brings you a serotonin rush to be validated by other people that feel the need to show the world they think the same as you, but then, you don't really have to put any real effort to change absolutely anything, and it's even socially acceptable in your like minded circle, to continue your daily life disregarding or doing the opposite of the principles you voice. Moving away from Twitter would break both. 1st, you would have a lot less people validating you, breaking your serotonin rush. 2nd Actually changing platforms and building a new follower base involved some work. It was doomed to fail since start.

phs318u 3y ago
You make a lot of good points, but you fail to realise that your points make "failure" or "success" relative to the way people were using the platform. For a Twitter user that spends most of their effort posting low-quality content to countless followers, then your points 1 and 2 apply and a move to Mastodon would likely "fail". For a Twitter user that spends most of their effort infinite-scrolling through an algo-manicured feed of content, then they'll be sorely disappointed as _you_ have to manicure your own feed by finding people and hashtags to follow. This is a variant of your point 2. For those Twitter users that actively build little communities, where the connections matter, the content to/from each other matters, and they care little for the algo-feed, then Mastodon can, and has, been very successful. I know because I'm one of those, and the thematic server I've joined as a lot of like-minded members. We've created a lovely little community which I really enjoy, to the point of donating to the server admin to scale his infrastructure. But yes, this requires effort. For me the reward is worth it.

phs318u 3y ago

You make a lot of good points, but you fail to realise that your points make "failure" or "success" relative to the way people were using the platform. For a Twitter user that spends most of their effort posting low-quality content to countless followers, then your points 1 and 2 apply and a move to Mastodon would likely "fail". For a Twitter user that spends most of their effort infinite-scrolling through an algo-manicured feed of content, then they'll be sorely disappointed as _you_ have to manicure your own feed by finding people and hashtags to follow. This is a variant of your point 2. For those Twitter users that actively build little communities, where the connections matter, the content to/from each other matters, and they care little for the algo-feed, then Mastodon can, and has, been very successful. I know because I'm one of those, and the thematic server I've joined as a lot of like-minded members. We've created a lovely little community which I really enjoy, to the point of donating to the server admin to scale his infrastructure. But yes, this requires effort. For me the reward is worth it.