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@hpod16 I agree 😁 I ended up on Reddit rabbit holes and documentation pages to learn some things. This user type will however not search and if they can't ask their friends or family for help, they give up.
Still, steps are taken to make this process more user friendly, which is great!
@hpod16 Well done, @EUCommission - now please tell all your press officers to post here. Many just have “X” on their profile pages.
@pini @hpod16 @EUCommission it makes no sense to me why X icons are plastered all over EU websites and hardly any Mastodon icons. Glad there is a reply to a post like this the odd time, but it would be hugely more impactful if all EU institutions replaced all X icons on all official websites with Mastodon icons. An icon on a website is marketing for a platform. Why don't you #SwitchTheIcons ?
@hpod16 @EUCommission many people use Facebook for the events and groups features, and a great Fediverse alternative is https://mobilizon.org/ @mobilizon . In my community in Cloughjordan Ireland I have got lots of groups into Mobilizon and using it as a community notice board. See http://mobilizon.ie as an example
@hpod16 The state of things. X has 650 Million Active users and Mastodon has 2.5 million. There is a reason. #Musk #Mastodon #SocialMedia
@MissWarcraft Where is this data from?
https://fedidb.com shows a bit over 1 million active accounts across all of the fediverse.
@MissWarcraft Ah, okay, it's referencing old data from https://mastodon-analytics.com/.
Thank you!
@stefan @hpod16 BlueSky has 4 Million active monthly users too. Lot of Gaming, Cats. And they cracked down on the hate. The moderators issued warnings about that and it slowly stopped. Companies do not like hate, they know people from all demographics use their product. That is something hateful people don't realize.
@MissWarcraft I think it's a combination of the fediverse attracting a more techy, less socially adept crowd, with no tools for defending against harassment and unhelpful comments.
There was a hope that at least some of it was due to Mastodon not showing all replies, so people would keep piling on, but I am not sure that was really the problem.
@stefan @hpod16 This is a 2025 report. And one from Jan 2026, Insta active monthly users over 2 billion. When I came here I wanted Cats, Science and Warcraft. I follow those but very limited activity, but lots of Politics. That might be part of the problem. People are burned out on Politics except for a few hard core people.
@MissWarcraft Maybe, but I don't think so. Political content seems to do really well on Bluesky, I see a ton of it getting shared widely.
I think it's just the toxic culture here. I've seen so many people driven out. There are too many self-righteous, gate-keepy people. On Bluesky, you can at least lock your replies, no wonder people feel safer there.
Compare the drop-off on https://mastodon-analytics.com vs https://bluefacts.app/bluesky-user-growth.
@hpod16 the problem is that the same people that don't know will run into lots of UX issues when trying Fediverse. I know a few sadly...
The Fediverse has a great collection of techies creating the protocols and infrastructure. What we're missing is the folks helping regular people use it.
Hopefully folks like Hannah will start creating that layer. Not just through advocacy, but by hiring staff dedicated to helping people use it.
@NatureMC @jztusk @FediFollows @lucien @hpod16
"What we're missing is the folks helping regular people use it."
I have been helping regular people use this place for over five years now, and I'm not the only one doing this! 🙂
My website at https://fedi.tips helps new non-technical people get started and I've done a list of links to other helpful sites at https://fedi.tips/what-do-i-do-next-are-there-any-other-guides-to-mastodon-and-the-fediverse
I also provide tech support directly if people have questions.
@AnachronistJohn @haubles @jztusk @hannah @lucien
Are we just tagging other Hannahs now? 😆 💜
@hpod16 @AnachronistJohn @jztusk @hannah @lucien
HANNAHS OF THE FEDIVERSE UNITE!! ❤️
should we do a meetup, like Ryans do?
https://www.ryanmeetup.com/
@lucien
I know, I know...
When I first started (a week ago), I struggled with understanding the federated nature.
But I just put out a post to ask questions, and people explained things to me, and I was amazed with the awesome community out here!
@hpod16 I agree 😁 I ended up on Reddit rabbit holes and documentation pages to learn some things. This user type will however not search and if they can't ask their friends or family for help, they give up.
Still, steps are taken to make this process more user friendly, which is great!
@lucien @hpod16 Mastodon is already preparing a better start for newcomers with a help structure. We also have the hashtags fedihelp and askfedi for finding people who help with any questions. And I warmly recommend @FediTips with their great guide https://fedi.tips - easy to understand!
If anyone has any questions about using this place, I'm happy to give direct tech support to them. I'm especially trying to help new and non-technical people.
And as Petra linked above, I've got a website full of non-technical easy-to-understand help at https://fedi.tips
@lucien also, you have to bear in mind that when we reply to public comments, it isn't just for the benefit of the one person who commented, but for anyone else who may be lurking in the comments sections.
And: usually you have to hear about a new product a number of times before you try it out. So, many baby steps, one big goal.
@hpod16 the world was not built in a day 😁 and there's certainly more interest from EU users these days, which is great!
@lucien @hpod16 Facebook users might also be more comfortable with Friendica rather than Mastodon.
Maybe collaborate with Friendica developers to get a good beginner's guide for Facebook users going?
When working on such a guide, it's always good to have the view of somebody completely new to the software like yourself.
