Chris Trottier
Facebook has 2.5 billion active users.
Twitter has 340 million active users.
Regardless of network effect, I use neither of those services (for wildly different reasons).
Thus, if someone *really* wants to talk to me on social media -- and it's absolutely critical -- they will probably need a Fediverse account.
As far as I'm concerned, I don't care how many people use Facebook or Twitter.
What I care about is what I can use indefinitely.
Chris Trottier
Yes, proprietary social media has marketshare. We agree on that. But here's my question.
Between Twitter, post.news, and the Fediverse -- which of these services is going to have the most persistence and longevity?
I don't know if Twitter's going to be available tomorrow. They could be removed from the Apple app store tomorrow.
Post.news is very likely to become the next Color or Ello or Parler.
The Fediverse? Yeah, it will be here for decades.
Chris Trottier
From a user perspective, why does marketshare matter?
It mostly doesn't.
Obviously, size of network effect matters, but that's not the same as marketshare.
Even considering size of network effect, what's more important is *who* is using the network.
What matters most is whether a tool allows me to talk to the people I'm wanting to reach.
If a social media service only has 10 users but each of those 10 users affects my life in monumental ways, I will use it regardless of marketshare.
Chris Trottier
Today, someone said, "Decentralized social media is a failure because technology like IRC lacks marketshare."
Sorry, stop the bus!
Why is marketshare the key metric here -- and not persistence and longevity?
I've been using IRC for nearly 30 years. It still works.
How long will WhatsApp work? I don't know -- only for as long as WhatsApp serves Meta's bottom line.
If we measure by persistence and longevity, IRC is a huge success!
Chris Trottier
When considering *my* reasons for using social media -- not necessarily yours -- it should be obvious why I prefer the Fediverse over Twitter.
I cannot exist on Twitter, but I can exist on the Fediverse.
It doesn't matter if I can talk to everyone. The fact is that I can talk.
And not only talk, but talk indefinitely ?
Chris Trottier
I acknowledge that I'm an atypical social media user. What I value in a social network is wildly different from most people.
My motive isn't to talk to everyone.
What actually motivates me is the ability to:
1. Own my personal data
2. Run my own services
3. Build my own tools
4. Define my personal space
5. Say things in a transparent environment
Neither Twitter nor Facebook can give me those things -- hence why I'm here on the Fediverse.
Johnny Normality (Feral Mode)
@atomicpoet IRC is also the backbone of Twitch’s chat since it… works. XMPP is the backbone for stuff from Grindr to Cisco’s messaging solutions. Just because they fell out popularity with end users doesn’t mean that they aren’t still valid solutions for lots of problems that lots of people use every day.
Long after the dust settles, and the VC money has run dry these are the protocols that will still be around for us to use.
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