Mastodon is interoperable, decentralized, operated by a nonprofit, lively, and, ACTUALLY, isn’t hard to use. So why is everyone championing Threads as the main Twitter alternative?

  • 1 part ‘Meta users ‘already have’ an account so getting into it is easy’, mixed with 1 part ‘The slightest possibility of inconvenience (like having to choose a Mastodon server) acts as a deterrent to most people when alternative means are available’.

    I prefer Mastodon too lol

  • Marketing. The reason it’s called a hype train is because everyone wants to get hitched to an engine that’s already moving forward. Threads hit the ground running because Meta files it with money. Mastadon is a slow moving beast.

  • Because Twitter replacement only works if it gets critical mass and Mastadon is not going to win that fight. You’re never going to see cities switch to putting notices on mastadon, but you might see them end up on Threads.

    • I wouldn’t say “never”. I’d say decentralised social media grows more slowly but it’s only a matter of time before threads does its own enshittification and there’s another mass exodus to Mastodon. Sites that don’t do enshittification because they aren’t centralised and corporate won’t have that kind of exodus, and will grow over time.

      If they become so ubiquitous that they’re the de facto standard, then cities will put their notices on them. You’ll probably get official civic instances for notices, maybe hosted on their regular website domains.

      I mean unless corporate social media finds some other way to subvert activitypub that’s more effective than “look at me I have money for developers and advertising”, then I don’t see this trend changing. Corporate platforms don’t seem capable of learning anything from their repeated failures, which is really strange. I think it happens because their hierarchies are inherently insulated against learning anything.