LogFAQs > #974683861

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I don't use social media and I've heard of precisely one of them - and that only because when all the Twitter drama started people in precisely one of the online communities I'm part of started talking about trying to jump to Mastodon.

And absolutely nothing came out it, because of the problem that this topic illustrates: normal people have never heard of any of these alternative services, thus aren't going to use them, which will always limit their value to anyone who is trying to signal boost to larger populations. It's basically a Catch-22 - no one will want to use them because no one else is using them. But the only way people will want to use them is if other people start using them.

There will always be that mentality of "Sure, Twitter sucks... but it's where all the people are." And if people leaving Twitter are going to dozens of different smaller alternatives, then odds are none of those smaller alternatives will ever grow large enough to actually become a viable alternative for the majority.

It also doesn't help that Musk actively censored discussion on Twitter of any potential alternatives, which threw a massive wrench into raising enough awareness for them to steal a significant portion of the user base. Champion of free speech and the free market and whatnot.