The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

  • CrunchyBoy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    1 year ago

    Younger folks have been raised on apps and other polished devices with oodles of effort put into UX design.

    Older folks grew up learning DOS commands, memorizing the IRQ of their sound card, and other clunky shenanigans.

    In their current state Lemmy, Mastodon and other services are too complicated for most young folks to bother with. Not all, but most, especially the filthy casuals.

    • Addition@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      This is the answer. I’m 26 and most of my peers didn’t really use the internet beyond the occasional usage of the school library computers until Apple released the first iPhone. By that time places like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit were up and running.

      That’s all their experience with the internet is. Polished experiences through dedicated apps on extremely popular platforms. Now those people have had kids and all those kids know is the same thing. It’s all apps on phones and tablets.

      Lemmy: A) Is too complicated in it’s current form for those types of people to effectively understand and use.

      B) Lemmy is currently emulating a type of early internet experience that only nostalgic older millennials nerds crave. General users tend to prefer bigger platforms.

        • nnullzz@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          No I feel the same way. I think it’s because it’s part of an ecosystem of concepts built with all its predecessors mistakes in mind. There’s still learning to do but the foundation is simple but is also modern.

    • Dark_Blade@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I mean, Reddit killed off ‘polished UX’ and that’s what drove me here. All the great 3PAs are on the Fediverse, after all!

  • ZagTheRaccoon@reddthat.comEnglish
    8·
    1 year ago

    aka: early tech adopters!

    these folk are always the ones trying new things, especially anti-corporate things. They aren’t keeping people away. this is just how the bleeding edge of new technology. The communities natural grow out over time as more people show up and start to outnumber them. But it’s thanks to them that niche new stuff gets supported in the first place while it builds up it’s audience (and reduces the friction to joining)

    • pythoneer@programming.devEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      In reddit’s early days, it was exactly like this. I remember that it felt like a Linux user forum, but with some conspiracy theorists. I actually feel that lemmy is a little more diverse than that.

  • Ghostc1212@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    I’m Gen Z, don’t use Linux, don’t know the first thing about programming (I know how to use file explorer though), and never intend to learn, and I’m here because I don’t wanna use the official Reddit app and because I’m convinced that the Fediverse is likely to become big in the future and I wanna be able to say I was here when it all began.

  • illah@lemmy.world
    English
    4·
    1 year ago

    My take on this is not that this is the default early adopter demographic (bereal, TikTok, etc…cmon old dudes don’t act like we are “leading the charge”). But, there’s a good chunk of older tech oriented folks that see a glimmer of hope in the fediverse bringing back some bits of the “old web” imo.

    While most of the people like me don’t love meta or Twitter it was kinda good enough, but Reddit was kind of a last straw. I was there when all these companies were born and at the time we were all teen and 20-something early adopters (believe it or not even Facebook used to be cool!) and we’ve watched them all slowly degrade. Very young folks prob don’t care as they don’t really use any of these services, but us old nerds want to avoid the pitfalls of the Web 2.0 era.

    Web3 and the crypto-decentralization efforts were really ham fisted…I think most experienced techies saw through all the BS and recognized how wildly inefficient it all was, not to mention outright scammy in many cases. Fediverse is unproven but I think it has potential, and I think many of us older techies feel that way.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      First thought when I read the title. Surprisingly, the early adopters of a new, not particularly user friendly tech platform are the same as people who use other niche technologies

    • Schooner@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Even as a crypto enthusiast, the web3 movement smelled like VC manure being dumped on a field hoping something grows.

  • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
    English
    2·
    1 year ago

    That’s what I’m here for lol. I mean this is how reddit was when I first started there. Same with digg

    • metallic_substance@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      This place reminds me so much of early reddit. It’s been a strangely nostalgic experience so far. The part of that which I’m enjoying the most, is that commenters are more polite to each other as far as I’ve seen

  • Yaztromo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    I started back in the Wild West BBS days on the 80s; graduated to USENET in the 90s, website forums in the Web 1.0 days, /., Reddit, and now Lemmy. Yeah, I’ve been around. Been “Yaztromo” all that time too.

    I don’t mind that “Eternal September” hasn’t infected this space yet — that’s a feature, not a bug!

  • THE MASTERMIND@feddit.chEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    Because ipad kids are happy with instagram,tiktok and other shit and doesn’t give a fuck about privacy.

  • fututio_enjoyer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Is picking a server/federation too complicated?

    Yes.

    Absolutely.

    Literally the single biggest problem with fediverse adoption, brought up in every discussion about migrating to it. It will never replace centralized sites as long as it remains confusing and complicated.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditAlternatives/comments/14t9t66/im_so_lost_is_there_an_easy_mode_to_the_fediverse/

    https://www.reddit.com/r/LemmyMigration/comments/145epgc/looking_for_a_lemmy_website_try_lemmyworld/

  • chraebsli@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    as a young IT with friends who dont know much about IT i have to say that most around 20 use reddit, instagram, … cause its the only thing they know. everyone they know uses them and many of them want likes, …

    if they would join the fediverse:

    1. they wouldnt understand how it works. what is a server? why choose an instance? its just too complicated
    2. all their friends dont use the fediverse. they would be alone and have nobody who they can share things to
    3. they would mostly see tech stuff and less in categories they are interested in
    4. none of the people they follow on instagram are here. the cant follow their celebrities, … and see their content
    5. the fediverse still has to less users to be successful worldwide. its growing. and just like facebook in its first years, its growing slow.

    => give it a few more years and get your friends, family & collegues on here and see the fediverse grow

  • Margot Robbie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m just your average Hollywood celebrity here to promote my new movie “Barbie”, only in theaters July 21st.