2w ago

How do you introduce the Fediverse to other people?

Guys, when you talk about the Fediverse to friends, family, or colleagues, how do you explain it?

Do you call it a “decentralized social network,” an “alternative to big tech,” or “a collection of open-source networks”? And how do you convince someone to create an account on Mastodon, Lemmy, Pixelfed, etc., without them getting scared by technical terms like instance, federated, or peer-to-peer?

I’m asking because my so-called friends don’t believe me and even call me crazy when I talk about this “nonsense.”

The future is open source, decentralized, and federated!

28 comments

I don't. I passively mention lemmy when I'm discussing my activities, and if they show interest I go into further detail. They have never shown an interest past "Whats a lemmy"
- Yeah, I usually joke I’m too hipster for Reddit and use Lemmy when Reddit comes up, and nobody ever asks for more information. I feel like, at least in their current form, federated apps are too complicated/fussy for anyone who isn’t actively interested in moving away from centralized platforms.
I would not talk about the technical aspects of the fediverse at all. Most people genuinely don't care and they'll immediately ignore everything else you say if you start talking about what federation is.
Instead, the best introduction is to talk about what they will directly experience if they use the fediverse. I would say something like, it's basically reddit/twitter, but with no ads and not run by a corpo.
- I agree, no need to over-complicate anything. I think even describing the fediverse as being like email confuses people. I just say it's like old reddit but nicer and no ads.
"Imagine if social media were run by the people who use it instead of corporations selling ads through engagement at all costs."
- That’s pretty much the approach I use. Most people already know how terrible Meta is, so building on that sentiment doesn’t take much.
I say it’s like reddit when it was smaller and less obnoxious. If they inquire more, I discuss federation by describing email. I mostly try to sell that people are nicer and you start to know your netisan compatriots. I haven’t been successful in convincing anyone to join as far as I know.
Before anything, I would check if there is an active community they are actually interested in, and give them that. Otherwise, there's really not much reason why they should use it. It would be like gifting someone a box full of manga to someone who is not interested in Japanese stuff. I'm saying this because a lot of people including OP seems to think decentralisation/federation/FOSSness are some major selling points to a lot of people, but it really isn't. Content usually is.
It even applies to you too. If an instance banned you for mentioning Linux or FOSS, you wouldn't really care that they were running open-source Lemmy, you would ditch that instance. If that happened with every instance, you wouldn't use Lemmy at all.
- Before anything, I would check if there is an active community they are actually interested in, and give them that. Otherwise, there’s really not much reason why they should use it. It would be like gifting someone a box full of manga to someone who is not interested in Japanese stuff. I’m saying this because a lot of people including OP seems to think decentralisation/federation/FOSSness are some major selling points to a lot of people, but it really isn’t. Content usually is.
  It even applies to you too. If an instance banned you for mentioning Linux or FOSS, you wouldn’t really care that they were running open-source Lemmy, you would ditch that instance. If that happened with every instance, you wouldn’t use Lemmy at all.
  Now you made me think man!
Me: Imagine reddit for left wing, privacy obsessed, Linux nerds.
Anyone else: I really don't want to.
/scene
- Me: Imagine reddit for left wing, privacy obsessed, Linux nerds.
  Anyone else: I really don’t want to.
  /scene
  lmao
I have only mentioned the fediverse to one guy I know, and we have many intrest in common, hoe server lab, 3d printing, electronics, automations etc. He looked at me with a smile and called me a nerd...
So I have just accepted that maybe this place isn't for everyone, maybe they will stumble on to this place when the time is right.
- He looked at me with a smile and called me a nerd…
  That's the pot calling the pot "pot".
  hoe server lab
  I'm intrigued, do tell more.
This is how I do it.
Brief
Imagine if there were 5 clones of twitter, all owned by different companies, but they could all still talk to each other.
So, a person from Twitter could talk to people from threads and bluesky.
Why do it this way?
Each twitter clone could have its own quirks. Like one could have a dislike button where as the rest won't.
If one of the clone owners decides to become a nazi, we can just migrate to another clone.
This makes sure power is not concentrated in one place!
If the system is open source, you can even start your own version of twitter where you rule!
Don't care about talking to people on twitter!
But you say "I don't want to have to talk to people from Twitter!". Well, doing it this way allows you to choose not to do so. (There's an option to block clones you don't like!)
What is fediverse?
It's the network through which all these different but similar apps can talk to each other.
Social media formats like reddit, twitter and Instagram have been replicated for fediverse and available for people to join or create their own version.
Lemmy is a fediverse alternative for reddit, there are 100s of lemmy apps that can talk to each other (or choose not to if they don't want to).
Mastadon is alternative for twitter.
And there are more.
To get them to join
Join the biggest instance or join any instance! You can figure out what you want specifically later, easy migration allows that!
But if you want You can read about them before joining: Each is focused on different things like privacy, literature, tech, and even gaming.
Fun Extra
Unlike with instagram and twitter and reddit, fediverse apps like mastadon and lemmy can theoretically talk to each other. So you will be able to see your "tweets" with your "reddit feed".
Notes
Emphasize pain points and incentives like:
being banned for no reason
free speech
safe spaces
like minded people
Tighter knit communities
Decentralisation, if they're into some form of socialism or left leaning ideologies.
- This is how I do it.
  Brief
  Imagine if there were 5 clones of twitter, all owned by different companies, but they could all still talk to each other.
  So, a person from Twitter could talk to people from threads and bluesky.
  Why do it this way?
  
  Each twitter clone could have its own quirks. Like one could have a dislike button where as the rest won’t. If one of the clone owners decides to become a nazi, we can just migrate to another clone. This makes sure power is not concentrated in one place! If the system is open source, you can even start your own version of twitter where you rule!
  Don’t care about talking to people on twitter!
  But you say “I don’t want to have to talk to people from Twitter!”. Well, doing it this way allows you to choose not to do so. (There’s an option to block clones you don’t like!)
  What is fediverse?
  It’s the network through which all these different but similar apps can talk to each other.
  Social media formats like reddit, twitter and Instagram have been replicated for fediverse and available for people to join or create their own version.
  
  Lemmy is a fediverse alternative for reddit, there are 100s of lemmy apps that can talk to each other (or choose not to if they don’t want to). Mastadon is alternative for twitter. And there are more.
  To get them to join
  Join the biggest instance or join any instance! You can figure out what you want specifically later, easy migration allows that!
  But if you want You can read about them before joining: Each is focused on different things like privacy, literature, tech, and even gaming.
  Fun Extra
  Unlike with instagram and twitter and reddit, fediverse apps like mastadon and lemmy can theoretically talk to each other. So you will be able to see your “tweets” with your “reddit feed”.
  Notes
  Emphasize pain points and incentives like:
  
  being banned for no reason free speech safe spaces like minded people Tighter knit communities Decentralisation, if they’re into some form of socialism or left leaning ideologies.
  awesome man, thanks a lot!
It's also a good idea to share content without additional context whenever possible. Just send them a link to an interesting post. The more people get used to seeing interesting content on Lemmy, Masto, etc., the more likely they are to think it's not "weird" and maybe make an account to comment on something.
I use email as an analogy. Most non-tech people are familiar with the idea of there being different email providers so I use that concept to describe the fediverse.
I say it's like Reddit but with more Star Trek and less everything else.
I share posts they'll like.
Or tell them about communities I've found I think they'll like.
If they ask how to participate I pick an instance for them and just link them direct to the signup page, then show them how to sign in in an app.
That way there is basically no jargon. No complexity. If they sign up, they do so out of genuine interest for the content. If they ask what federation is, I explain. But the neat thing is, you don't really need to know about it to have a good experience on the fediverse.
Plus when people see the @ with a url, they kinda just naturally get that it's like email. They notice that it's part of a users "address" and that it differentiates users, but they don't really think about it past that.
Us being here for ideological reasons is extremely unusual. Most people don't make decisions that way.
Besides. If you find good content FIRST and sign up to engage with it second, it is so much easier to become and remain a regular user.
It’s (insert platform here) for furries, communists and nerds. If I want to explain the basic concept, I talk in terms of phone carriers
I just message them links using simpleX messenger that they don't use.
It's like existing social media they are familiar with except there's multiple versions run independently which are connected together using a shared protocol.
I still don't really understand it tbh. I just know it's not a corpo and I've never seen an ad on it, and for me those are wins
Got my first ad (or at least, the first I noticed) after submitting this. How ironic
- Got my first ad (or at least, the first I noticed) after submitting this. How ironic
  lol
Most are too lazy/incompetent to inform themselves and stumble already on the 'having to chose an instance' as something to put into the too hard basket.

28 comments