Notices by Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social), page 9

The only parallel I've ever seen to Twitter's current self-destruction was the Digg 4.0 fiasco.

At one time Digg had ~450 million users. Then they tried to push an extremely unpopular update that caused users to leave en masse.

Where did they go? Reddit.

And now Reddit is one of the biggest social media sites on the planet.

By the way, a whole lot of Internet users have forgotten about Digg -- or don't even know it existed.

Twitter could be Digg but on a much larger scale.

By the way, am I happy that Twitter is imploding right this moment?

As much as I'd like to celebrate -- and a part of me is -- I'm incredibly wary because:

1. Mastodon does not have the scale to successfully onboard users *that* quickly
2. The moderator-to-user ratio might be stretched too thin
3. Malicious actors might take advantage of the chaos, and undermine the Fediverse's longterm survival

Let's hope we survive this!

The silver lining to the #TwitterMigration: maybe this will result in more funding, more people willing to develop the Fediverse to its full potential.

As I keep telling you, there's more to this endeavour than being a Twitter replacement!

We have the chance to entirely re-make the Internet!

If you're new, I strongly urge you to migrate to a small instance.

It's likely to perform better than the larger instances and have better moderation.

Oh. My. God.

Every time someone on Twitter tweets a link to joinmastodon.com, the following message pops up:

"We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. Visit our Help Center to learn more."

See screenshot.

A History of Recent Twitter Migration to the Fediverse

1 month ago: Mastodon? No thanks. You have to have a Ph.D in Hackerology to use it.

3 weeks ago: I don't like this Mastodon... But if I have to... *sigh*

2 weeks ago: Wait. This does really cool things like let me edit posts. So genius. Is this free?

1 week ago: OMG! There's other apps! Now I know why there's a Fediverse!

Today: Comrades—let's fight for our freedom! Cast off the chains of Big Social!

Mastodon has a really nifty edit feature!

Here's how to use it.

1. When you click the ellipsis icon (...), you'll see an option for edit
2. After clicking "Edit", you'll be able to adjust the original message in the Compose box. NOTE: this does not delete the original message
3. In your feed, you can see which messages have been edited by a star on the upper right corner next to the time it was sent
4. You can also view logs of edits by clicking the ▼ icon underneath the message.

Journalists at mainstream media such as Vice, Forbes, and NBC have made their own instance. They can be found at https://journa.host

My toilet doesn't need to be connected to the Internet.

Nor does it need a touchscreen.

Hey all, I encourage you to donate to @dansup who is building Pixelfed.

Pixelfed completely replaces Instagram, and has some *big* improvements:

1. Unlike Instagram, you can upload photos through a web browser
2. Unlike Instagram, you can look at all photos and videos without being nagged to log in
3. Unlike Instagram, you can receive updates from Mastodon, Pleroma, and Misskey

I love Pixelfed so much, I've been running an instance (peerverse.space) for 7 months!

https://www.patreon.com/dansup

It's my birthday today! I'm now 41-years-old 🥳 🎉 🎂

And I gave myself a gift: freedom.

My Twitter account is deleted. I'm done with it forever. There is no going back.

Sayonara, Elon!

When interacting on the Fediverse, it's important to understand that interactions are not a game.

This isn't about metrics. Yeah, I showed you metrics -- but this isn't about numbers, it's about actual human-to-human (not bot) connections.

A big mistake a lot of people make when coming to Mastodon is believing their arrival entitles them to conversation.

No, it doesn't.

Fill out your bio. Upload a profile pic. Make an introduction.

LEARN about the people in your home feed!

Further tips to help your interactions on the Fediverse:

1. Read bios. They explain how people want to be approached
2. When in doubt, use a CW. You might think they're stupid, but they're important.
3. Don't go looking for dunks!

When looking to interact on the Fediverse, culture is something *important* to understand.

A big component of the Fediverse community has been LGBT+, furries, the neurodivergent, and tech workers.

These folks have built the Fediverse.

When I had 10 followers on this Mastodon account, I had more interactions than I had on Twitter.

On my other accounts, I have more interactions than on Twitter.

Most active users on the Fediverse have more interactions than on Twitter.

By now, you're all probably wondering, "What's the secret sauce to interactions on the Fediverse?"

Three things:
1. Keep posting interesting things
2. Reply to people about interesting things
3. Be generous and friendly

If you're new to Mastodon (and the Fediverse) you might have a lot of questions:

How many followers do I have on Twitter compared to Mastodon? 8,583 followers on Twitter, 1,324 on Mastodon

Are you more notable on Mastodon than on Twitter? No, I'm more notable on Twitter.

Did you do anything special to make people want to interact with you? No.

Is the difference always consistent? Yes, I always get more interaction on Mastodon -- even on small accounts with small instances.

There have been some blue checks on Twitter who claim there's no audience on the Fediverse, so don't bother joining.

However:

1. They're blue checks on Twitter, there's no blue checks on Mastodon
2. Most blue checks haven't actually tried

What Mastodon reveals about Twitter is a big lie: that follower counts is an important metric.

No, it's not.

If you have 1 million followers but no one interacts with you, what does it matter if you have 1 million followers?