I’ve been using Lemmy and learning the ropes of the Fediverse and I’m really impressed - especially using wefwef which has replicated my Apollo experience very well.
There are posts and everything, just a lack of comments to read for hours on end is the only issue I have, but I believe that with more users this really could be the replacement.
Are you guys thinking the same thing? Is there evidence yet that Reddit is slowly failing and power users are migrating?
I’m going to copy my post from elsewhere here:
Not only did we let them monopolize niche knowledge we also let them completely supplant forums and other methods for discussion on the web while letting them slowly poison the quality of discussion overall through the wide spread use of bot manipulation. Imagine an internet with reasonable, easy to access, informative and kind discussion. That is where we will trend without highly corporatized outrage driven content algorithms and it’s not just a completely different internet, but a completely different world.
Yea the internet definitely has taken that trend to the extreme in recent years, especially with businesses which don’t make their own websites anymore and host their social media on platforms like Facebook; of course along with individual communities slowly being herded into the corporate mega forum that is Reddit. Definitely not healthy to have all our human interaction/information controlled by these entities especially as we move into the age of artificial intelligence.
I don’t know about power users or whatever, but social media as we know it is literally imploding. It’s kind of stunning, and I think it’s the perfect opportunity for federation to take off.
Oh it’s imploding alright, just like that billionaire submarine
Too soon?
Well ok, Twitter and reddit are down for a round, but we still have Instagram, TikTok and ugh… Facebook.
But could lead to users realizing that these aren’t public service institutions to take for granted, but companies that can fold and take your network with them.
Facebook/Instagram (Meta) is one I am not sure how to get a read on. They are branching out a lot, but I have no idea what they’re doing to remain profitable. It seems like they’re in “Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” mode, hoping that they find a new niche before their sizable warchest from the 2010’s runs dry.
They severely downsized once this year already and I have a feeling that won’t be the end of the story. Wouldn’t surprise me if they sell off/shut down Oculus in the near future.
Tiktok, meanwhile…well it’s already undergoing enshittification (it is the subject of that original essay) and old people are starting to use it, so I feel like it’s only a matter of time before it’s no longer cool with kids and they lose a sizable chunk of their revenue stream and content.
Didn’t they spend insane amounts trying to convert literally everything to run in VR - like the whole of Office 365 for example. I can’t imagine them getting any return from that investment - why would someone at work want to wear a heavy headset instead of looking at a screen?
I don’t know if I’m ready to believe, but I hope decentralization is the next shape of the internet, as it was before.
For years I’ve watched smaller businesses give up on having websites in favor of just a Facebook page, or businesses built entirely on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook, with the very real risk of having the rug arbitrarily pulled out from under then for some dumb reason. It’s totally unsustainable to rely on the whims of these platforms to house your canonical home or as a base for your income stream.
Sure it’s nice to reach a wide audience by publishing to platforms with many users, but companies still need to be in control of their identity, so if some platform goes south, it’s not a catastrophe.
I hope so too. It’s frustrating when I look up a local business while I’m out, find only their Facebook page, and then it asks me to log in just to read it. I can’t/won’t do that. I’ve not been on Facebook for years, I’m not faffing about with that rubbish.
That’s losing money for these small businesses, because I can’t even check their opening hours or if there’s food I can eat. Meanwhile Big Chain Restaurant has everything on their own site. The small companies could be doing so much more, but they need to give up using Facebook as their sole website publishing service.
I know I’m getting off topic here but, that made me think of what’s going on with Etsy right now. A lot of small businesses just have Etsy pages and not their own website. I’ve been hearing from a lot of people that Etsy isn’t paying them or, holding their money for months before releasing funds.
All of that plus this really makes you think about being in control of your own things.
The problem is people will still just use Etsy rather than going direct to the business, even if going direct is significantly cheaper, because it’s easier.
You see it with fast food deliveries as well. People would rather just order through just eat or deliveroo rather than ringing the place up and saving quite a decent amount on their order for both themselves and the local restaurant.
Unfortunately people just want convenience these days.
Eventually the fediverse will grow. Maybe now or in 5-10 years when the rest of the internet users get fed up with the ads and subscription fees etc. on commercial sites. It seems like an inevitable evolution.
I don’t think reddit will necessarily fail big time, but it has changed into something that I don’t want or need to participate in, so it doesn’t really matter to me. I actually don’t want them to fail, because the users there who enjoy it for what it is now should be able to use it for …that.
In the last couple of years it grew too big for my taste anyway. The “Eternal September” phenomena hit it pretty badly. I didn’t enjoy the constant noise and immature arguing over semantics. It’s a different demographic than Facebook, but it’s about the same reason I don’t use that either.
I was skeptical of lemmy at first but it’s definitely growing on me. As apps and features mature I’m sure it’s going to be even better.
Was a chronic lurker on Reddit but hoping to contribute to communities here to help it grow!
