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It’s not Mastodon, it’s never going to be Mastodon.
Several key design issues prevent that from happening. It’s just not built for that purpose. For one thing, a chrono-only firehose is a TERRIBLE fit for governmental notifications.
Also, nobody flocks to a social network for official admin accounts. That’s just not a thing.
Bluesky maybe, but people around these parts absolutely refuse to acknowledge why that is or any differences between BS and other social media, so this conversation will likely remain inside the weird Fedi echo chamber that missed that this debate is now over for everybody else.
I also think that Mastodon is not ideal for many people due to some fundamental design decisions and the lack of monetization possibilities, which I believe are necessary to enable content creators to earn a living (many operate as small, indipendet businesses).
Nevertheless, Twitter continues to be used — and this platform is no longer even fully publicly accessible since Musk’s takeover (since July 2023, most content can only be viewed with a user profile). As a result, you can only reach Twitter users and no longer the general public. This seems to me to be a very significant design flaw if you actually want to reach the general public.
I don’t know about monetization being the challenge. Most people creating Twitter content are not doing so to monetize it on Twitter.
It think the semi-deliberate inability to ride an alogrithm to any sort of sustained virality and the terrible moderation tools make Mastodon a very bad fit for anybody expecting a big following and to use it as an outreach or promotional tool. And yeah, those are fundamental design choices that make Masto a bad fit for public institutions, celebrities and brands.
Which, hey, that’s fine if that’s the thing you want to make. It’s just weird to then spend so much effort in trying to grassroots promote a thing not made for the thing you’re pushing.
I completely agree with you about Mastodon. I’m also not at all convinced that it’s a suitable replacement for Twitter for the masses.
When it comes to monetization, I just meant that I think it’s necessary for any Fediverse application if the Fediverse ever wants to have any chance of somewhat competing with mainstream platforms. After all, earning potential is, imo, the basis for professionally created content.
Not that the Fediverse necessarily needs all of that, but it does if you want to reach the masses, because they demand content in a quantity that simply cannot be provided free of charge (on mainstream social media it is paid for via ads).
It’s not Mastodon, it’s never going to be Mastodon.
Several key design issues prevent that from happening. It’s just not built for that purpose. For one thing, a chrono-only firehose is a TERRIBLE fit for governmental notifications.
Also, nobody flocks to a social network for official admin accounts. That’s just not a thing.
Bluesky maybe, but people around these parts absolutely refuse to acknowledge why that is or any differences between BS and other social media, so this conversation will likely remain inside the weird Fedi echo chamber that missed that this debate is now over for everybody else.
I also think that Mastodon is not ideal for many people due to some fundamental design decisions and the lack of monetization possibilities, which I believe are necessary to enable content creators to earn a living (many operate as small, indipendet businesses).
Nevertheless, Twitter continues to be used — and this platform is no longer even fully publicly accessible since Musk’s takeover (since July 2023, most content can only be viewed with a user profile). As a result, you can only reach Twitter users and no longer the general public. This seems to me to be a very significant design flaw if you actually want to reach the general public.
I don’t know about monetization being the challenge. Most people creating Twitter content are not doing so to monetize it on Twitter.
It think the semi-deliberate inability to ride an alogrithm to any sort of sustained virality and the terrible moderation tools make Mastodon a very bad fit for anybody expecting a big following and to use it as an outreach or promotional tool. And yeah, those are fundamental design choices that make Masto a bad fit for public institutions, celebrities and brands.
Which, hey, that’s fine if that’s the thing you want to make. It’s just weird to then spend so much effort in trying to grassroots promote a thing not made for the thing you’re pushing.
I completely agree with you about Mastodon. I’m also not at all convinced that it’s a suitable replacement for Twitter for the masses.
When it comes to monetization, I just meant that I think it’s necessary for any Fediverse application if the Fediverse ever wants to have any chance of somewhat competing with mainstream platforms. After all, earning potential is, imo, the basis for professionally created content.
Not that the Fediverse necessarily needs all of that, but it does if you want to reach the masses, because they demand content in a quantity that simply cannot be provided free of charge (on mainstream social media it is paid for via ads).