Fediverse

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away?

The more diverse users are the ones that aren't realistically worried about their online privacy and are too used and comfortable with what the big names offer. They're more likely to be the ones that would only move once "everyone they know" moves.

Also, consider that the "advertising", the message and reason for joining the fediverse, It's like [Twitter/Reddit/Instagram] when they were good, minus the corporate meddling and greed and algorithmic shit shoveling!, only really catches the attention of a few types of people.

Average Joe and Jane won't move out, "there's nobody there (that they care about)". Internet famous Joes and Janes won't move either, because they will lose a significant portion of followers.

People are willing to put up with A LOT of shit to avoid moving out of places like Instagram, Twitter, Reddit or Tiktok, since the time spent there makes them feel like it's a place where they belong to.

I use arch btw

Gosh I feel like this guy called me out.

But then I saw the user name.

Hmmm.....

Working aged zoomer here, it's amazing how much my generation doesn't know about computers in some aspects and how much they know in others. It seems I was born in a sweet spot when things still difficult but not completely dumbed down.

This is also me: I'm a 39 year old Ubuntu user who has been excited about the Internet since the day I first learned what a modem does, in maybe like, 1990?

So far I think Lemmy's a bit too technical for regular people to get started with the Fediverse and to figure out how to find the right communities to join in order to have content show up in their feed comparable to what they're already getting at a commercial service, which takes no effort at all to continue to scroll. Why would a normal person want to use alpha release software? We're still in the early days, we're the early adopters.

Fit the first one. Not the other two 😂

23 year old electrician here. I'm pretty interested in dectralized tech. My first was Bitcoin

"You must be new here"

We're always the first adopters.

I'm normier than the listed demographics and find the Fediverse and it's associated jargon to be inline with 4 dimensional crochet in terms of ease of use

Picking a server is complicated... And I still don't get how to get content from other servers into my main feed.

But the other thing is monitization. If you build up a decent filling on TikTock for example, they pay you. My kids friends are all chasing that.

I fit the profile

You just described the demographics of the average early tech adopter.

Old enough to understand the importance of privacy and to care about the federation aspect of the fediverse, tech savvy and nerdy enough to not be discouraged by an unfamiliar interface and still developing environment. And apparently we like Linux too.

Hah, I fit the description perfectly. Not too sure how to take that. ☹️

Probably so. But then why are Android and Android Apps struggling for engagement? But more randoms, casuals, just a wider overall demographic will be needed for niche communities to become viable.

The communities I mainly communicated in on Reddit either don't exist, or have paltry engagement here.

This is why I am keeping my Reddit account active to make posts in these forums to invite others over here to build engagement.

I'm 19 if that works for you, just following wherever people go.

There are a many people over the age of 30 on Reddit as under. People like us make up 50% of reddit users.

I'm a 20 year old. I may be the only one in this thread unable to drink legally lol

I feel it's complicated for the non-tech users but interestingly I have started to see some folks coming to Lemmy because I (a tech friend) started using it and advertising to them. I think it's these early adopters who play a major role in bringing the non-tech folks and people from other diverse culture.

Branding is also another factor that comes into play here. Most regular users are used to having a more polished app. Simplicity is the driving force behind apps like tiktok and Instagram. They build on top of each other rather than reinventing the wheel. So it's just a transfer of skills and patterns. With the fediverse, regular users have relearn those patterns and skills, which most people just aren't going to do.

One way to solve this problem is to just abstract the idea of the fediverse. Rather than saying "join the fediverse, we're decentralised" we could say "we're a multiverse of internet communities".

I also dont think regular users care about whether a post is from another server or not. This can be abstracted as well by only showing the community not the server. What I'm trying to say is, even though the fediverse is a decentralised network, we need to treat is as a centralized one.

I am around 20 and use lemmy, but I agree my friends need instagram

Yes. I have yet to run across 💀💀💀 or 🔥🔥🔥 in any reply thread as well as popular slang. Also AITA posts with some of the worst advice known to humankind. Thank god it’s over!

Reddit evolved into in something unrecognizable over the last 5 years as it’s popularity exploded.

sure. but i also can't help but feel like when history looks back on the fediverse it's more likely to be in the geocities and anglefire category than some seismic shift in social media.

I hope for the later, but realistically feel it will be the former.

I'm 3 out of 3. Sorry I don't have a good answer for you.

My unfounded guess is that this demographic has seen the internet at it's beginings and is more willing to put up with the lack of bling and willing to discover/ build things from the ground up, just like the Forums of the Old in the mythological era were done. No corporations, no low effort rewards, no likes/ karma/ whatever. You have to actually get involved for lemmy to live.