Enjoying the Fediverse

At the moment I feel myself drifting away from Facebook because although I like seeing the hikes that people share and the potential groups I could join I do not like the leadership of that site. I also muted the two whatsapp groups that I follow from GoSocial because I want to go back to not using Whatsapp again, because it also belongs to Facebook. Finally although I liked the Threads community I feel myself drifting from that too, because I’m tired of seeing so much junk in my timeline. And now we get to the positive.

Recently I found that my posts on the fediverse are getting more likes and comments, and more follows. What I appreciate about this is that the signal to noise ratio on Mastodon instances, and the Fediverse, especially is good. By this I meant that I see interesting posts by human beings, rather than influencers. I see people who want to engage in two way conversation rather than monologues. To me, this has value.

For me social media is about connecting with people and their projects and ideas, and chatting with them. It is not about having content pushed on me. If I don’t go to threads and get replies it will push posts “picked for me”, on top of the junk already pushed on me by alorithms. The same is true of Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and Linkedin, but Linkedin isn’t a social network.

If I invest more time and attention on the Fediverse I believe that I can get more out of it, and without helping those that fear a certain leadership, than their own users. I want to break out of the Facebook monopoly.

And Finally

Social networks are often quite empty, until we devote time to finding good people. The other challenge is to have the patience, while waiting for the community to arrive. The Fediverse should see a boom, as more platforms become compatible, with time. I think the next four years will benefit independent social platforms.