Post #1339785

2026-03-12 08:35 UTC

@smallcircles private property social media is *designed* to make you stay there as long as possible — creating familiarity and making you remember and think about it more frequently. Since #fediverse intent to be healthier, it does't break your #autonomy about your time and probably never makes you addicted. The consequence is that it's harder to stay using it more than how much we used corporate social media. Plus, the fact that popular people aren't much here. Both of the things we "lack of" are interesting only for #capitalism , not the liberating place we're making. What I think can be done about Fediverse popularity is attracting more progressive and popular people here — by actually presenting it to them.

Replies (3)

@applepine@todon.nl 2026-03-12 08:48

@smallcircles What I mean is keep not immitating #twitter, but to keep maing it more healthy and to invite more people

Open ##1339786
@ClickyMcTicker@hachyderm.io 2026-03-12 08:48

@applepine @smallcircles I don’t think intent really applies to addiction. I certainly believe it is possible for someone to become to social media of any kind, regardless of intentions or feeds or the existence of influencers. All it takes is a feeling of escape from reality and you’re hooked. I think there are ways of monetization that we can’t even dream of, so capitalism will rear its nasty head if we are large enough and they find their way. That said, look at the current web. While it has certainly centralized in most ways, there still exist smaller networks of people. Cut out the corporate webpages and people who only use those, then look the number of users and webpages today versus say 1995. I’d imagine there are simply a lot more people and webpages which simply get overshadowed. The web is still here if you get off the beaten path. Corporations win by making consumption easy.

Open ##1339789
@fwtl@mastodon.social 2026-03-12 08:56

@applepine @smallcircles You can have user retention without using dark patterns or doing everything to make people stay there the app just has to be fun and provide content the person may like

Open ##1339792