The fediverse was created in 2008. Not 2022: 2008. Mastodon launched as part of the fediverse in 2016.

For most of the history of the fediverse, if you wanted to use a social media that was exactly like Twitter but not owned by Elon Musk, you could use Twitter. Many people did: at its peak it had around 300 million active users. That sounds like a lot, but it was less than 10% of the total number of internet users. Most people with internet access chose not to use Twitter, even before 2022. Those 90% of other internet users do not want to use a website that exactly replicates 2021 Twitter.

Where were those other internet users? Some of them were on Facebook. Some of them were on other proprietary social networks. Some of them used email but no other social networks.

But some of us were on the fediverse. We all had different reasons for being here, but I can assure you we were not using the fediverse in search of "something exactly like pre-Musk Twitter."

We don't have the same preferences for a social network as ex-Twitter users: an ex-Twitter user's idea of a good social network is very different from mine. I don't expect a social network that appeal to me to also appeal to most ex-Twitter users. That's okay! Having different preferences in entertainment is a good thing.

Many people who liked 2021 Twitter are leaving Twitter in search of an experience which replicates 2021 Twitter. Those people will be happiest on a social network designed to meet their preferences. Bluesky and Threads were both created in 2023 specifically to attract ex-Twitter users. The fediverse was not. It existed before, and its goal was not "attract users looking for a clone of 2021 Twitter."

The fact that lots of people searching for a clone of 2021 Twitter are using Bluesky and Threads but not the fediverse is not some moral failing on the part of the fediverse, nor is it a result of one social network being "better" than another. People simply have different preferences, and the fediverse was designed to appeal to people with different preferences than Bluesky and Threads.

We can improve many things about the fediverse. But the measure of improvement is not "how many ex-Twitter users can we convince to join."

#FediMeta #Fediverse #Bluesky #Threads #InstagramText

As masses of people leave Twitter due to Musk's decisions, a lot of them are turning to Bluesky or Threads due to those platforms imitating 2021 Twitter. But you notice where they aren't moving? Signal.

Clearly, this is a failure of the Signal developers and moderators.

I first heard of Signal in 2022, and everyone told me it was a brand new app meant to replace Twitter, and appealing to people who wanted pre-Musk Twitter back. Yet the Signal devs have failed to make their Twitter clone appeal to people who want a Twitter clone.

Meanwhile, the few of us who did come to Signal were met with hostility from the self-appointed HOA of Signal. They say nonsense like "We don't want this place to turn into a Twitter clone!" Some of them even make the preposterous assertion that they already disliked Twitter or weren't using Twitter before 2022. Impossible: everyone loved and used Twitter in 2021. I know because everyone I followed on Twitter said so.

The HOA accuse me of invading "their" community and trying to change it to be more like Twitter/Bluesky/Threads. They claim they like Signal more than pre-Musk Twitter. But if Signal is so much better, then why is it failing to attract former Twitter users looking for a Twitter clone? Don't the HOA understand that if they don't start preparing now, then, when Bluesky inevitably fails, the people looking for another Twitter clone might not come to Signal?

#FediMeta #Signal #Bluesky #Fediverse #Threads #InstagramText