There are a bunch of other social apps, but to be honest #Mastodon for me seems to be the most polished & has the most users (so it's the most social).

If you can think of a good reason to check out the others please let me know why 🙂

Some aren't just microblogging, but do other things too.

These are the other apps available:
#Diaspora #Pleroma #Friendica #GnuSocial #HubZilla #Misskey

Mastodon has indeed done very well, and by hard work became as popular as they are now.

This is great, but has its downsides. Their dominant position, though deserved, means they increasingly dictate the direction of the fediverse, and other apps need to play catch-up (this effect is called post-facto interoperability). There's risk they'll be the (decentralized) GMail of the fedi. And there are other downsides as well. See:

mastodon.social/@humanetech/10…

PS. Pixelfed is very polished as well

Humane Tech Now (@humanetech@mastodon.social)

@Liwott@framapiaf.org @42GB@climatejustice.social @robkam@mastodon.technology @userthree@some.nrsk.no Unfortunately these breakages will become more common when the Fediverse evolves the way it does now i.e.

^Mastodon

That all makes sense, thanks for the insight.

I literally just signed up to Pixelfed and it is indeed super polished, the new dark mode UI is lovely too.

Just to respond to "(Mastodon) has the most users (so it's the most social)."

I know this takes a bit of time to get used to, but federated platforms aren't in competition with each other.

When one federated platform grows, that also increases the audience for the other platforms that federate with it. As long as cross-platform federation is maintained, then success of one platform helps the others.

Because of this co-operative nature, you really don't need to check which Fedi platform has the most users when deciding which one to use.

To take it to an extreme, if a developer created a Fedi platform for themselves that literally no one else used, but it was still compatible with Mastodon etc... well then, they can be just as social as anyone on Mastodon, because they can still follow people, people can follow them etc.

The Fediverse co-operates because because it helps us all, but sincere co-operation is a concept that doesn't exist in Twitter, Facebook etc.

Think you are making a reference to @aral (and by extension to @laura ) wrt #SmallTech and #SmallWeb here?

small-tech.org

The wonderful realization that #SmallIsBeautiful and in fact that #SmallIsHuge 🤯

Home

Hello! We’re a tiny and independent two-person not-for-profit based in Ireland. We are building the Small Web. No, it’s not web3, it’s web0.

^{Small Technology Foundation}

I focused on Aral because he is more prevalent in my perception.

Laura is giving more talks, it seems.
Hopefully I can meet her at a Smashing event one day.
@feditips @Ombra @aral @laura

Smashing Magazine is it?
Love there stuff!

Funnily enough they just moved from the city where I currently live (Cork), and are now only 2 hours away (in Kilkenny judging by their about page: small-tech.org/about/#small-te…) 😅

Small world.

About

We’re a tiny and independent two-person not-for-profit based in Ireland. We’re working on building the Small Web.

^{Small Technology Foundation}

sorry that Ireland’s shitty rental laws that favour home owners screwed you over.

You can get kicked out of your home rental here extremely easily.
Even just for “renovations”, or a family member wants to live there - are common ones.

Rentals aren’t really considered homes here unfortunately 😞

Thanks. And yes, it wasn’t fun but at least we were “lucky” enough to afford a nice place even if it was in a different county (and “lucky” enough that we could move). I can only imagine what people with fewer resources and/or kids in school, etc., do. It’s an unconscionable system.

(I checked a few weeks ago and there was 1 rental property available in Kilkenny. In a city of, ~22,000 people. At the Ana time, there were over a dozen AirBnBs.)

Families with young children are the ones who get most screwed over.

It’s why many people now live with their parents even with a child until they can afford a mortgage.

The housing crisis has really highlighted the poor rental rights in Ireland.

I’m hoping Eoin Ó Broin from Sinn Fein will make some radical change as the next housing minister if SF get in of course.