Notices by Christopher Trottier (atomicpoet@firefish.city), page 3

Remember when we speculated about Mastodon stepping into Twitter's shoes? How times have changed!

Enter X, which didn't just try and fail to succeed Twitter—it spectacularly crashed and burned. Pitched as the new face of social media, X quickly revealed itself to be a disastrous replacement. Its inadequacies are glaring, its performance pitiful, and every sign points to its continued decline.

Mastodon, in stark contrast, was more than just a new platform—it was a revelation. While X floundered, Mastodon demonstrated the potential of the Fediverse, a once-obscure concept. Thanks to Mastodon, this decentralized approach to social media started gaining significant attention, not just among tech enthusiasts but in wider media and popular circles too. In a world where X faltered, Mastodon showed that a decentralized platform could not only survive but thrive.

Yet, as pivotal as Mastodon has been, it's clear that the true potential of the Fediverse extends beyond it. The horizon is vast, and the promise of what's to come is immense. Many talented web developers are already at work, seeking to evolve and expand upon what Mastodon began.

To sum up, while change is often gradual, the rise of the Fediverse, compared against X's spectacular failure, underscores a shift in the social media landscape. It's becoming increasingly evident that while Mastodon lit the torch, the journey ahead will be shaped by new, even more innovative platforms. The future beckons, and as things unfold, X will likely go down in history as just another misstep in the evolution of social media.

I'm not entirely certain if this change in the Fediverse is due to my own evolving use or if it's a result of everyone else evolving alongside me. Either way, I've noticed that the Fediverse now has a more "bloggy" atmosphere compared to how it used to be. People seem to be using it less as a replacement for Twitter and more as a platform to deeply explore their interests, rather than just churning out quick, reactive posts like Twitter is known for.

On the other hand, Bluesky seems to be designed as a replacement for Twitter, for those who actually enjoy using Twitter. It maintains a strict character limit and all.

I must confess something. After around 2010, I found myself not enjoying Twitter anymore. I didn't join the Fediverse with the intention of replacing Twitter, but rather because I wanted a better alternative to it. And up until November 2022, I would assume that if someone used Mastodon, it was because they didn't like Twitter.

However, more recently, as I've started using Firefish and Pleroma, I've come to realize something. What I truly desire is the ability to express myself without any artificial constraints. I don't want to be limited by character counts. I want the freedom to format my posts and share things that hold meaning to me, with plenty of detail and descriptive elements.

In other words, what I'm looking for is a form of federated blogging. And the Fediverse happens to provide just that, and does it better than any other platform out there.

Just came across an interesting blog post on the history of Infocom, the creators of Zork. Guess what caught my attention?

Mastodon comments embedded right in the post. How cool is that? It seems like the work of @carlschwan@floss.social's JavaScript snippet that’s behind this.

Personally, I've always imagined such integration happening with the Fediverse, empowering comment sections on various sites. And with the fact that WordPress already has a plugin for ActivityPub, more sites might have this capability. Since WordPress powers 43% of websites, a huge chunk of the web already has the potential for this.

Pretty amazing, don't you think?

The #TwitterMigration Report, made by @tchambers@indieweb.social's team, makes for captivating reading. They argue that three migrations are happening:

1. User migration
2. Developer migration
3. Technology migration

It confirms what I think many people suspected. The primary beneficiaries of the migration from X (formerly Twitter) have been Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads.

But also, the rebranding from Twitter to X has had a significant impact on migration. It not only resulted in a dramatic decrease in app downloads for X, but a drastic increase in downloads for Mastodon and Bluesky -- and opened the door for Threads' viability.

But also, centralized alternatives to X have now flatlined. Interest in Spoutible, Tribel, Hive, and Post.news has simply not been the same as Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads. It looks like the future might be decentralized social networks.

More curious is Nostr. While it is decentralized, it uses a different model entirely than Mastodon. While it has a small dedicated fanbase, it hasn't been able to break out of its bubble of crypto enthusiasts.

That's the picture for user growth. But what about developer growth? Well, to my eyes, it looks like the future is with ActivityPub. Automattic, Flipboard, and Mozilla are all supporting the technology. Jimmy Wales revealed that his next social media product will likewise support ActivityPub.

This is a must-read!

https://www.deweysquare.com/digital/twitter-migration-report/

RE: https://indieweb.social/users/tchambers/statuses/111222375842227882

According to HackerNoon, they consider #ActivityPub as the "future of social networks". In addition, they have crafted an outstanding explanation of its functionalities and capabilities, accompanied by remarkable code-based illustrations.

It is highly recommended reading material for developers interested in constructing a Fediverse app.

https://hackernoon.com/a-brief-introduction-of-activitypub-the-future-of-social-networks

X (formerly Twitter) is introducing supposedly unblockable ads. They have also implemented a "feature" where you cannot report these ads.

Interestingly, X does not reveal the sources behind these ads. According to Mashable, the content being promoted in these ads resembles spam and low-quality "chumbox" advertising. These are usually clickbait ads found at the bottom of posts on content farm sites, as popularized by native ad networks like Taboola.

It seems that X is resorting to these measures because they are unable to secure premium advertisers.

https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-new-clickbait-ad-format

So, guess what I found out? The term "Fediverse" is now considered a marketing buzzword according to eMarketer. And you know what they say, when eMarketer says it's a marketing buzzword, it's definitely one!

(Okay, nobody actually says this -- except me right now. 🤓)

Anyway, the interesting part is why they think marketers should pay attention to it:Fediverse platforms are ad-free, meaning they probably aren’t top of mind for advertisers. But if fediverse platforms were to take off, brands would no longer be beholden to big social media companies in the same way.So, to sum it up for you, marketers might not be immediately interested in the Fediverse because of its ad-free nature. But you know what marketers really don't like? Depending on platforms like Meta (formerly Facebook) and X (formerly Twitter).

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/5-marketing-buzzwords-worth-knowing

PLEASE BOOST: I recently migrated from @atomicpoet@firefish.social to @atomicpoet@firefish.city, but unfortunately, I lost about 5,000 followers in the process. I knew that migrating would come with some risks, but I never anticipated losing so many amazing followers.

If you used to follow me but somehow got left behind, I would really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to re-follow me at @atomicpoet@firefish.city. Your support means the world to me, and I'd love to continue sharing my journey with you. Thanks a bunch!

Hey everyone, I wanted to give you a heads up that I've recently migrated my account from firefish.social to firefish.city. I thought I'd share a bit of background on why I made this move.

So, just to fill you in, firefish.social was actually the continuation of calckey.social, which I purchased last year. The reason behind this was that I was getting a bit frustrated with the number of people joining my original Calckey server, vancity.social, simply to try Calckey (now known as Firefish). You see, vancity.social was meant to be a community for Vancouver residents on the Fediverse. However, with so many non-residents creating accounts, I had concerns that it would lose its intended purpose.

To address this, I decided to buy the calckey.social domain so that there could be a general server for Calckey. This way, vancity.social could serve Vancouver residents, while calckey.social would be a place for those interested in trying out Calckey.

I shared this plan with the Calckey project and they were actually facing similar issues with other servers. They reached out to me and asked if we could collaborate on running calckey.social, and I happily agreed.

Well, to my surprise, calckey.social became a lot more successful than I ever anticipated. And its successor, firefish.social, continued that momentum. It's now the biggest Firefish server out there.

But now, I feel like firefish.social has outgrown me. It has different goals and needs, which is totally natural as things evolve. So, just like a proud parent, I'm saying goodbye to what feels like my child, with hopes that it will flourish and grow further in the future.

As for me, I'm moving on to a fresh new Firefish server. Similar to my personal server, atomicpoet.org, this new one will remain small and won't have open registrations.

There are a couple of reasons behind my choice to move to a new Firefish server. Firstly, I truly believe that the beauty of the Fediverse lies in the creation of new servers and the interconnectivity between them. It thrives when there are countless servers, each with their own unique communities.

Secondly, I simply enjoy the atmosphere of a small server. I've been operating atomicpoet.org, through #SpaceHost, for almost a year now and I find the cozy feel of a smaller Fediverse server quite appealing. Of course, this is purely a personal preference.

Lastly, I want to mention that I will continue supporting the Firefish project by making my monthly donations of $150. I hope that the development team keeps adding amazing new features to enhance the Firefish experience.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update, and if you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to reach out.