[Opinion] Why The Fediverse is Not The Future of The Internet.
Twitter and Reddit. Arguably the biggest sources of fresh and current information at all. You want to know what is going on right now? Go visit one of the two and you’ll be up to speed in a matter of minutes.
Twitter and Mastodon
After Elon Musk made very controversial changes to Twitter, users started looking for alternatives. Many landed on Mastodon.
Mastodon was a huge success and millions of new users were brought to the Fediverse. Decentralized social media platforms without owners, based on free and open source software? Hell yeah!
Reddit and Lemmy
April 18, 2023. The whole Twitter situation had become fairly quiet. So, Steve Huffman decided to step up and be the next CEO to turn his platform into a fucking train wreck. [Reddit’s API Update]
The resulting API changes resulted in massive protests and thousands of users purging their accounts. Where did these users go? The Fediverse, of course! Many users joined platforms like Lemmy or Kbin. Others joined unfederated sites like Squabbles or Imgur.
Federation For Everyone!
This is great! Corporate platforms are being driven off cliffs, making way for federated ones! Awesome!
Well, yes and no. To be honest, most people couldn’t care less about all the aspects that make the Fediverse what it is. They want an app on their phone that let’s them scroll for an excessive amount of time. They don’t want to learn about Activity Pub, instances and all that.
Insert your email, put in a password and off you go. That’s what people want.
The Fediverse is not that. It’s kind of… different. I mean, the very first thing you get asked when signing up for a Fediverse platform is “Which Instance?”. The signup process in the Fediverse is more complicated than people are used to.
Make It Easy
The idea is simple: If we make the platforms easier to use, more people can be persuaded to join. Sounds good.
However, more users is not always better. This is – as always – because of
Money
The main reason behind Reddit’s API changes and Twitter Blue is money. This is and always will be the driving force for companies.
It makes sense. The people need to be payed, the servers need to be run. This isn’t entirely different for the Fediverse. Most instances are financed through donations. Donations are made by the vast minority of users. Mostly the ones who understand that financial support is needed.
Now imagine we bring a huge amount of new users to the Fediverse who don’t understand this. These users only want to have a place that they can doom scroll like Twitter, Reddit or TikTok. They are used to everything being paid for without them doing so. They’ll fill the site with content, just like they’re used to. This makes the site more appealing and is actually great! But if people don’t realize the importance of financing the platforms, it could end up hurting them.
Please Try to Understand
I am not gatekeeping the Fediverse. If you want to join, that is awesome! Go ahead, have fun, knock yourself out. But please try to understand it. Learn about the beauty of the Fediverse. Activity Pub, instances, communities, all that good stuff. Understanding it makes the Fediverse even more awesome and is crucial to keeping it that way.
It most certainly won’t be as bad as I make it out to be. For example, Mastodon is doing great with millions of users. So, go ahead! Give the Fediverse a try! It’s an amazing place. But please understand that nothing is ever “free”.
And even though it has experienced massive growth,
The Fediverse Is Not The Future
Over 2 million people are active on the Fediverse every month as of July 2023. In contrast, Instagram’s Threads has gathered over 100 million users in five days. It’s just so easy. You already have an account, you already follow everyone, it’s great. It’s great for 99.9% of internet users.
The Fediverse Is Not The Future…
…but it is a future.
If you think about it, all this is very similar to climate change. Everyone kind of knows that some stuff is bad for the environment. But how many people actually turn down the sweet, sweet sensation that is “doing fun stuff”? Flying, eating meat, owning a car, owning iPhones and Samsung Smart Fridges. It’s really, really fun!
Only a small amount of people resist that consistently.
I try to do that. I don’t go on vacation, I use public transport and I buy a Fairphone every 5-6 years. But the vast majority of people don't even know about Fairphone.
Sustainable options are mostly considered to be a downgrade. A pain in the ass.
Everyone kind of knows about climate change. But still, Fairphone will never be the go-to smartphone brand.
Everyone kind of knows that current social media is bad. But still, the Fediverse will never be the go-to option for the general public’s internet needs.
It will for us, though. But it will not be the main stream. It used to be the main stream, 20, 25 years ago. Back when the internet was care-free and not corporate yet, but we kind of lost that. Just like we lost repairability in devices and good public transport. Don’t get me wrong,
It's Not Impossible
It's just a fight against the mightiest people alive.
But for us. For the lucky ones who know about Fairphone. For the lucky ones who know the benefits. For the lucky ones who know the dangers of corporate platforms and the ways to circumvent them. For us, the internet will be a place of joy and freedom. Just like it was 20, 25 years ago.
We can improve our self-worth and standard of living by making future-oriented decisions. For us, this is great.
We can and should be happy about the position we are in. We are so incredibly fortunate to be able to make good, long-lasting decisions.
And we can never surrender. We will not give up making awesome software. We will not give up fighting for right to repair. We will not stop the urge to open up devices we own. We will not stop making the internet and the devices we use to access it ours. An awesome place. For awesome people.
This post is an opinion and should be treated as such. Always check sources and verify information.
Image Credit: fediverse.to
