Post Mortem of Mastodon

Tech Talk Internet
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Ars Technica re-published an interesting blog about the failure of Mastodon to serve as a replacement for Twitter. Op-ed: Why the great #TwitterMigration didn’t quite pan out | Ars Technica

I had stopped using Twitter in earnest around a year before all the ownership drama kicked off, and while I’ve had a twit.social account since the dawn of that instance, I was never really a serious user in the way I was a Twitter user. So I didn’t really get swept up in the great migration. As an instance admin, I’d be curious if the synopsis tracks with your experience @Leo.

Aside from the commentary specific to Twitter/Mastodon, I think it’s a really interesting read about the tradeoff of a software/platform/product that is usable vs. one that is “good for you,” and why those two attributes seem to be opposed to one another.

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These articles make me mad but I’ll try to be calm. For many of us Mastodon is a great social network. I would say it’s best to judge a social network by whether it fits your needs.

These are the last 30 days numbers for TWiT.social.

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It’s not Threads but it’s a great hang.

Start the countdown for articles saying Threads is a failure. I give it six months.

Setting up a straw man then knocking it down is very poor journalism, in my opinion.

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Unfortunately it seems that based on the Twitter migration numbers, it did not fit the needs of the majority of that population. The point of that blog post was specific to Mastodon as a Twitter replacement for the “normals” who may not grasp or even care about the ideals behind decentralization.

I think you’re right about Mastodon being a great social network, but would you agree the onboarding process and other intricacies maybe aren’t suitable for the average Twitter user?

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Given that many left Twitter or joined Mastodon before the big exodus, to get away from the awfullness of Twitter, that is probably considered a good time…

I found the onboarding not really any different to Twitter, signed up with twit.social and I was away. The only “annoying” thing is having to know where your friends are, but if they are on the same instance, even that is pretty much identical to Twitter.

I suppose, if you don’t already know of a good instance (i.e. not recommended by a friend), finding a server might be daunting.

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It’s more than that. The companies, most journalists, scientists, photographers etc. I’m interested in aren’t on Mastodon. I started to use it, got impressive engagement considering I’d only just joined, but it’s usefulness is reduced without people to follow or interact with.

An example - I can tweet or DM my ISP, water company, electricity company and get quick customer service on Twitter.

So Threads federated, with me using Mastodon would be perfect.

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