Mr. Funk E. Dude
Since the numbers haven't really changed over night, I think now is a good time to explain why I made this poll. (this may take more then one toot)
I saw someone post that mastodon.social was being defederated by a bunch of instances because it's too big blah blah blah.
Now I've seen these kind of toots before and they always say the same thing "Join a smaller instance or make your own instance so that your posts can be seen by other instances!"
And that got me thinking...
(p1)
Geof Hughes 🖤
@Mrfunkedude stop toots zooming past: On Mastodon, it’s possible to tame firehose feeds somewhat by switching on “slow mode”, which stops all automatic scrolling and only shows new posts when you manually click to see them. You can switch it on by logging in through the website, going to Preferences > Slow Mode, then tick the box and click Save changes. Excerpt from: https://fedi.tips/
Mr. Funk E. Dude
HOW OFTEN DO PEOPLE USE THE FEDERATED TIMELINE?
And the answer seems to be NONE to RARELY for more then HALF of the people who answered the poll with LESS THEN HALF holding onto another quarter.
I wont even get into the amount of people who DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS A FEDERATED TIMELINE!?!?
(p3)
Mr. Funk E. Dude
So if the argument is that the bigger instances are being defederated and you wont be seen in the federated timeline, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE IF LESS THEN 25% of people even LOOK AT the federated timeline ????
Wouldn't my content be seen MORE by staying on the big instance that I'm on???
Making my own instance the only timeline that would be active would be the Federated. Which even if they do look at, zooms by so fast you might not even be seen there!
(p4)
Mr. Funk E. Dude
There are three basic ways to be seen on Mastodon. People either see you in the local/federated timeline, someone boosts your toot, or thru a hashtag.
Let's look at the first two...
Smaller instances will have a smaller local timeline. Same for if you start your own instance.
Which means if you're on a different instance, the odds of your content being seen are slim unless enough people boost you enough times OR they find you on the FEDERATED timeline.
Which leads to my question...
(p2)
hannahshouse2 🇺🇸 California
@That_One_Guy @Mrfunkedude
I have a similar approach. I use the federated timeline to find the initial folks. I was looking for interesting things to follow or boost. Then I went to my local instance timeline and did the same. Once I had curated my home list of folks I started categorizing them into list for when I'm looking for something specific like #Photography #Funny #Favorites.
I did slow down the federated timeline but I rarely go there.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒓
@Mrfunkedude
I'm content with my feed and my instance. Though I look at the FEDERATED feed about once or twice a day it's not very much. I follow people across the world and many instances, so I guess my content is getting out there somewhat.
As they follow back and boost.
Mr. Funk E. Dude
Your only other chance is IF someone see's your post in FEDERATED and IF they boost you. How many people reading that boost will engage?
So bookmark this poll and the next time someone tells you that your instance is too big and you aren't being seen by other instances because of defederation, show them this poll and ask them how your content will be seen by less then 25% of the users and then MAYBE a small percentage of that will boost you, is going to help you get seen by more people??
(p5)
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