Once again we see a flood of new accounts being created on Mastodon and PixelFed, and similar ‘alternatives’ to Twitter and Instagram. And once again admins need to remind new users not to flock to the bigger original sites, as federated social networks connect you from any instance to users/followers on all other instances. The idea is NOT to have one big central server requiring lots of expensive hosting, as there are no paid advertisers or selling of data to make money for hosters. You can join the niche instance of your own choice or even host your own instance for just yourself, or your family and friends, with your very own rules.
This got me thinking again yesterday as I post simultaneously to about 14+ social networks daily, and over time I get to observe where the most interaction is with my posts. Certainly based on follower count I suppose my MeWe Technology and Gadgets group with 47,000 subscribers will be the busiest. But yesterday I did a post about an obituary for Kathleen Booth and it gets only 1 retweet and no likes on Twitter, but 14 reshares and 19 favourites on Mastodon (the smaller network of the two, and where I have fewer followers). Same time of day, same post content and hashtags, similar number of followers.
But it is easier to compare my Twitter posts with Mastodon posts because firstly they are similar types of network i.e. micro-blogging, and I have 845 followers on Twitter and 767 on Mastodon, which is roughly the same number.
Many posts just get a few likes on either platform, but every few days or so a post gets a good 17 or 40 reshares or likes (favourites in the case of Mastodon). But invariably that happens mostly on the Mastodon side, and not on the Twitter side, yet Mastodon only has only about 4.7 million accounts in total (according to https://the-federation.info/) whilst Twitter has over 200 million. The potential audience on Twitter is much larger.
So thinking a bit further did make me realise that some of the key differences between Twitter and Mastodon are probably the reason for this:
* Firstly the algorithm on Twitter does dilute a followers feed with quite a few sponsored posts and adverts (increased noise), as well as often ‘top posts’, whereas on Mastodon you only see who you follow, and the ‘algorithm’ is chronological.
* A lot of Twitters accounts are business accounts and bots which do not actually follow or read anything you post.
* Mastodon’s users have long been used to feeds also customised by hashtag filters so often your hashtag will be better noticed by a broader audience than just your own followers. ‘Broader’ also means outside of Mastodon, as Pixelfed, Friendica, Pleroma, Hubzilla, and many other Fediverse accounts can all follow and interact with Mastodon accounts. It’s an open and interoperable social network.
* The types of followers differ between the networks: On Twitter quite a few of my followers are business accounts and quite a few old friends who are probably not at all active on Twitter. Over the last few years most new followers on both networks have been those interested in what I blog about. And although the follower count grows on both, I still see a lot more interactive comments, criticism, and reshares on the Mastodon side. It seems like the users are just more engaged on real posts.
Especially the last point made normally brings up the topic of: Well wow, I’ll just announce I’m leaving Twitter and my followers will all join me on Mastodon. But after many years of moving networks and having deleted all my Facebook related accounts, I can say that is not what happens at all. Yes one or two do, and one or two family maybe, but the rest stay where they are. That is the way of things, and why the Facebooks, MySpaces, etc of the world take a long time to die. 95% of people just do not move, and especially friends and family. The same goes for businesses as they are entrenched on where the potential numbers are and where they can pay to push adverts into feeds (and sometimes pay to get user behaviour metadata).
Across the 14+ social networks I’m active on every day, I can probably count on two hands the number of followers who follow me across more than one network. Because the users and the culture across the networks differ. People seek different things, and it is also healthy to interact with those who are not just your personal friends. Confining yourself to friends and family only, will often hold you back from growing and expanding your own interests. For example 98% of my family and friends have little to no interest in technology, ham radio, the environment, steam locomotives, open source, and the other things that fascinate me every day. And about 100% of those also know of no other social networks apart from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (I cover a few wonderful alternatives at https://gadgeteer.co.za/altsocialmedia/).
So in summary:
* Our interests and passions are not always aligned with our immediate family and friends, but that should not hold us back from pursuing those interests and passions.
* It is easy to break out and make virtual friends across the world based on hashtags (because you’ll have a common interest or passion to discuss).
* Don’t try and convert your friends and family though, otherwise you’ll be disappointed and they’ll be frustrated with your attempted evangelism.
* You be your own agent for change, and don’t let your friends and family constrain you.
* Your follower count and engagement on a new social network is usually directly proportional to the amount of meaningful engagement you make with others.
* Try having three or more social networks (or instant messengers) – you can manage it by bundling notifications or muting alerts.
*Don’t be afraid either to block or mute those who don’t agree with you, because it’s your life, your interests, and your social feed. Not all trolls are obvious as some masquerade as a type known as sealioning…
Own your feed!