The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

  • BURN@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    100% this

    I’m a tech nerd and software engineer and even I struggled to figure out how to signup. Most people I know just want something that works. And those things tend to be centralized because of ease of use. The Fediverse isn’t easy to use, and makes the user make major decisions before even signing up or understanding the tech.

    Eventually there should probably be account migration and a somewhat “central” account management instance that most users are on, with the option to migrate their user to other instances.

    • Rannoch@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Yep. Certified non-tech nerd here. And not quite 30, either.

      I was awfully close to not figuring out Lemmy enough to make an account and participate.

      I still don’t understand exactly what’s going on, but I can confirm that my first time visiting was extremely confusing. So many terms I was completely unfamiliar with, and no clear way for me to jump in easily (like you were describing with having to make important decisions before signing up/understanding). Truly the only reason I ended up successfully making it here was that I saw a post on the instance I ended up joining, welcoming reddit refugees so I figured - well, I guess I could try this one. And that was after I had searched around online to figure out what the heck the fediverse, instances, etc, were.

      The barrier to entry is really high for those of us with little to no tech knowledge. And I was really motivated, I reeeeally wanted to commit to leaving reddit. I imagine those who are considering joining but aren’t quite as motivated just won’t make it. :(

      • jelloeater - Ops Mgr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I’ve been in tech for 25 years and it still took me a day or two to figure it out after I made a account. So no worries, you’re in good company 🙂

      • cybercitizen4@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        My experience was exactly like you describe, I see we even ended up using the same instance. Only reason I chose this one was because it was the top option in the Memmy app.

    • tiramichu@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      A central account instance rather defeats the point of a federated system.

      With federation it’s ensured that any single instance is only a small part of the whole, and that if any instance goes down (or worse, goes rogue and becomes a bad actor) then the impact of that is minimised. All users being registered on a single instance is akin to putting all your eggs in one basket.

      I do totally understand from the perspective of new users that it’s hard to understand what to do or how to do it but that is a problem that could be better addressed with clearer onboarding. e.g “Choose any one of these recommended instances to sign up. It doesn’t matter which - you’ll be able to see the same content and communities across all of Lemmy no matter which you pick”*

      *mostly, but close enough

      • BURN@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        To be honest, I’m still not sold on federation, and that’s going to be a huge hurdle to overcome with the general public.

        • mrmanager@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          I think its the only way to not be completely dependent on some single entity.

          So far we have seen all of them go bad with time. At least with federation, you and me can talk with no corporation in the middle, which brings me back to the lovely feeling of the 90’s with BBS’s and forums. Before the corps took over and put ads everywhere, and basically took the world hostage.

          If something big happens, ordinary people need to be able to talk without censorship. And its going to be very hard to censor a distributed network like Lemmy.

        • TheWoozy@dmv.socialEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Choosing an instance is no more confusing than choosing an email provider. I signed up on several right away. I figured I’d stick with the one I liked best, but since they all run the same software it makes little difference. One instance lost its domain, another is constantly being DOSed. Otherwise it’s simple.