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Like the author, I never fully understood the EEE argument. The assumption is that if Meta convinces a large section of Mastodon users to use Threads, and then
by etchalon 3y ago
Like the author, I never fully understood the EEE argument.
The assumption is that if Meta convinces a large section of Mastodon users to use Threads, and then makes Threads incompatible with Mastodon, Mastodon, as a network, will suffer harm.
But Meta clearly doesn't need Mastodon users. They've built a network something like 5x larger than Mastodon in a handful of months. If anything, Mastodon needs Meta.
In my opinion, the worst case scenario (Threads becomes the defect Mastadon client/author and then drops support for Mastodon) just means Mastodon will end up back where they are today. A niche social graph for a specific set of users.
EEE works as an argument when the target is larger than the malevolent force, but falls apart when the target is so much smaller.
- black_puppydog 3y agoI don't think the assumption is that many peoe will migrate from mastodon to threads, but rather that people migrating from other platforms will migrate to threads over "really federated" services, stifling growth of mastodon and preventing it from becoming a serious threat. Which is exactly what happened with xmpp iirc. And yeah, my money is on threads cutting loose from AP at some point in the not so distant future, at which point the whole thing becomes indistinguishable from "mainland" Facebook.
- wilg 3y agoIf people move to Threads over Mastodon in this way it means that Mastodon isn't useful to people. The answer would be simply to improve Mastodon.
- simfree 3y agoThe network might be larger, but who is generating more engagement & content?
- etchalon 3y agoThreads is absolutely generating more content, at least in terms of volume. Quality wise, I think it depends on what type of content you're interested in.
- kevincox 3y agoI agree. Having Threads federated will make it much easier for individuals to pick Mastodon as they won't miss out on the network effects of a larger network. They can still follow their friends and be followed. I find it very unlikely that the number of people who sign up for Threads rather than Mastodon is is higher than the number of people that will be "able to" use other services because they can follow and be followed by the large community on Threads. It seems that if Threads is federated than every Threads user is a win for the Fediverse and every non-threads user is a big win for the Fediverse. The only "lose" case is someone joining threads that would have otherwise joined something else.