I went searching for something today and instinctually clicked on a reddit link. Fortunately the sub was dark for the protest anyway, but it’s crazy how ingrained in me it is to go to reddit for everything.
Unfortunately now we’re going to have to get used to clicking on those clickbait tech articles like “TOP 10 FACEBOOK ALTERNATIVES 2023” to find information, and weed out the crappy blogs.
I think a Reddit type platform lends itself better to federation than something like Twitter. Reddit is already split up into sub communities so it’s easier to digest vs. Mastadon/Twitter meant to be one big conversation.
Your question about non-technical savoy folks being on here is valid and there’s probably not many. But Reddit also started out like that and it took many years before it became mainstream. Federated serves are a new thing, even for the technological literate, so I suspect it will take a while to permeate into casual internet users but it will happen in the future.
I wonder if you could design an instance to completely hide the federated aspect by default. So far I’ve barely needed to think about the federation, it feels a lot like just Reddit.
Yeah I can see a path for this ramping up slowly, especially given the horrible mismanagement of places like Reddit. Even if they weather the storm of the blackout, given the official app, it seems like they’re just chasing the same infinite dumb stream of memes design that places like Facebook and Tiktok have already embraced. Probably because that’s where the money is? I don’t know.
The more niche communities are always what made me hang out at Reddit though! I’d bet they continue to alienate and marginalize them enough that more people continually jump ship over the next couple of years. I do hope Beehaw and other spaces like it succeed in becoming a non-profit and truly community driven, and the web decentralizes itself again.