A popular feature of BlueSky that really gets new users’ feeds going is their Starter Packs.
Mastodon Migration Blog is replicating this good idea for the Fediverse with follow packs. These are csv files that can be downloaded and imported into Mastodon to follow a bunch of users around a topic.
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Misskey and its forks have had user recommendations for forever now. Suddenly this is an issue for Mastodon, but it wouldn’t have been an issue for the fediverse if Mastodon didn’t have a functional monopoly over the conversation.
Bluesky’s success is really showing Mastodon’s shortcomings
It’s really showing the huge issues with fediverse monoculture, too, that is driven in no small part by Mastodon. Mastodon is designed with very limited theming, very limited ability to self-brand, etc. It’s designed so that every Mastodon website looks just like every other. This gives most people the impression that Mastodon is a place on the Internet, in the same way that, say, Facebook is, rather than a website platform like WordPress.
The magic of being able to see what people post on other websites from the one you’re using gets totally overwritten by the expectation that everything is actually the same place. And once you have that expectation, Mastodon kind of feels broken. “What do you mean I can’t see all of the comments? Why not?”, “What do you mean you’re denying me access to those people over there?”, etc.
And don’t even get me started on the people lobbying for limited functionality because they want to own the commons and dictate how people use the public and open communication protocol.
It’s all so frustrating, and sad.
very limited ability to self-brand
I mean, yeah. Especially when the content of your flawlessly customised site is federated to thousands other activity pub enabled sites with different stylesheets and aesthetics. That isn’t a problem with Mastodon per se, it’s just the nature of federation.
I do agree with your broader point that Mastodon has become synonymous with fediverse microblogging, which again is what most people associate with the fediverse, period.
The issue isn’t where the content lands, it’s the erasure of the local. The idea of branding is to help create a local community on the server that has access to the rest of the social web, rather than an impersonal general node on the network.
What we really want is people who are into, I don’t know, really into Mazdas coming together to talk to each other on MazdaFans.social, with bespoke theming and branding, while also having access to anything else that they want from startrek.social, weirdbugs.social, etc. What we have is everyone on generic omninodes looking for hashtag mazda, totally unsure if they’ll find anything.
I use misskey too, but I wouldn’t call user recommendations the same as BlueSky Starter Packs or this. It’s more of a starting point for specific topics rather than just generally popular users or algorithmically determined recommendations. Instead it’s a set of lists of curated users for people to get their feed started, who will then follow more people that those users boost.
Unrelated: Maybe it’s just my Japanese misskey instance and followings, but most people there just say they woke up, had a nice meal, came back from work, or just the random thought on their mind, and a lot of supporting reactions under each.
Not the same, no, but it offers enough to get people started, and keep them happy.
Which Mastodon just kind of refuses to do.
While I appreciate the idea, that is far too complicated for the average user.
This process is indeed much clunkier than bluesky and not really accessible to a new user, but it’s a good start and perhaps some servers or 3rd party apps could streamline this eventually? Even just going account-by-account in the list a dozen times and following each one manually would fill an empty feed pretty well.
The Pixelfed developer is actively working to get a streamlined solution for Starter Packs out for all kinds of ActivityPub servers that will use existing APIs and methods that already exist within the protocol. He mentioned it should be available in beta in a day or two.
@dansup is a fucking whirlwind; he’s been non-stop tinkering with both Instagram and TikTok alternatives. I can’t imagine what his work load is like 😣
Heck yeah! This is what I love about the Fediverse, we all don’t have to wait for one team to figure it out.
Since Multi-Communities seem a ways away, Lemmy could do something similar with Community Subscription packs, where people with different niche interests could follow a number of communities related to a topic. Right now it’s not always easy to find which instance has the most active ones.
PieFed already has categories of communities. It would be hard for Lemmy to copy the code into Rust I imagine. There is an open feature request to add API support to PieFed, at which point perhaps the same front end apps could serve both Lemmy and PieFed? I don’t know which ones may have categories of communities though.
It really is great! The amount of innovation and creativity in regard to the Fediverse is amazing. Although Bluesky seems to be blowing up big right now, I’m actually hopeful that it will motivate those of us within the ActivityPub realm to create even more and it seems to already be happening.
I’d love to see an easier path of entry to Lemmy as well. “Community Packs” would be a great way to help with that!
Awesome, thanks for the info :)
Why?
As soon as someone that is similar to most people in my life sees the words “.csv” and “hamburger menu” their eyes will glaze over and they’ll bounce.
Plus there’s step number 4 that I know will scare folks away…
Select Import and Export >>> Import >>> Import type dropdown: “Lists” (NOT “Following list”) >>> Verify that ‘Merge’ is selected >>> Browse >>> Select “[file name] – list.csv” >>> Upload >>> Confirm
I am that person.
I’m here out of sheer bloody mindedness, it felt like both Lemmy and Mastodon actively resisted me using them at. every. step. from discovery of service to accessing service to finding content
I’m trying but damn
Because this is the average user.
normies want easy starter pack with one click or tap like this
The Mammoth for Mastodon app has curated smart lists and a For You feed. It can also suggest people to follow based on your interests. I think that’s an easier way to get new users started vs importing a csv file which the average internet user will be too lazy to do.
Nice idea, will follow how this develops, but — FFS, the pack CSVs are all on Google Docs.
Independent, trustworthy repository, plz.
You’re free to rehost them somewhere and if you contact them, they might even mention it on their site.
I’m not criticising my right to put in extra work to make promising efforts available on platforms that do not track users; I criticise the fact that the developers didn’t do this in the first place.
But good work putting the onus on me, you complete corporate rando.
