Tell them it’s like Twitter, reddit, Instagram, and YouTube all in one. You can sign up for whatever type of content you want, just like you would sign up for any of those aforementioned sites, but the difference is that the sites can all communicate with each, and are independently run by non-profits, community groups, and different organizations and individuals, rather than a single centralized entity. You can select an instance of the software that suits various interests or niches, or just join a large instance for a bigger pool of content to start with locally. No wrong choice, as even small instances can communicate with large ones, just pick one you like and suits your values or convenience.
Explain that reddit (or you can use twitter–>mastodon) is three things, it is
- a company
- a software
- a social network.
Explain that the fediverse is the 2nd thing, and that because it is open source and community maintained you don’t need the 1st thing i.e. the company which makes the 3rd thing, the actual community and social network, able to be semi-decentralized and not controlled by one corporation and/or government.
The way this is accomplished is there are lots of individual communities/social networks that all “federate” together based upon a common protocol (called ActivityPub) so that interaction can happen between users from different communities without it being an issue.
Explain that lemmy and piefed are “reddit-likes”, mastodon is a “twitter-like” and pixelfed is a “instagram-like” as examples of what the fediverse version of common corporate social networks look like.
Most importantly, emphasize over and over again that nobody cares if you walk away from your fediverse account and don’t engage for months, nobody is trying to shove ads down your throat or pay off a massive Venture Capital investment, while people do often contribute to support their community after they decide they really like it, there is no monetization driving the whole network, people show up because they want to be here, that is it. Further if you don’t like the way a community is run there are real actual alternatives, it isn’t a binary thing like corporate social media.
You don’t. Instead, you recommend a specific community/instance that they’d like to participate in. And if Fediverse doesn’t have such a community your friend wouldn’t stick with it anyway.
For most people the advantages of federation doesn’t matter at all. What matters is their ability to connect with their fellow human beings on topics they care about.
As others have said, just don’t bring it up unless specifically asked.
Most users won’t care, and you might easily overwhelm them with data.
It is far better to introduce them to Lemmy/Piefed/mbin/kbin/Pixelfed/etc as a specific service, and answer further questions as they come up.
I’ve mentioned to a group of folks in a conversation about where we go online nowadays that I really only comment on Lemmy anymore and have been asked about it with much interest! I’ve got two people to join, as well! I’ve just said “Oh it’s like if Reddit kinda sucked to get started with but it’s very small and there’s like .05% of the LLM/fake engagement bait posts”
When they asked how to join, I just had them check out the join lemmy site and said I chose dbzer0 cuz yarrr, and they said “oh that’s cool” and later told me they joined.
I don’t know their usernames and they don’t know mine tho, I keep all online stuff completely separate from other online stuff and also real life.
Based on how my conversations have gone, I’d just skip explaining the federation part entirely. Most people don’t care
I’d just say it’s like Reddit, but more friendly and less addictive. Sell that they’ll get all the important news and memes, but without the ads, bots, and garbage content shoved in their faces
I’d also pick a home server for them and help them set it up, lemmy.world is probably good as a default if they’re coming from mainstream socials
Truth is, most people really don’t care how it works. They just want it to work, and their first impression shouldn’t be choice overload or a data dump
it’s like Reddit
Yeah, that’s only a small corner of the fediverse, though 🙂
Mastodon is like Twitter, friendica is like Facebook, loops is like tik tok, etc etc
In theory they could all federate, but again that’s not something new users need to know about (and there’s only a few such links anyways)
I dont want to sound too jaded, but people will sign up for anything without reading the TOS. It’ll be fine, just try to give them the best possible first impression so they stick around.
The practical thing that trips up most people is the wealth of possible servers to register with. Give your friends a leg up and give them a signup link to a reliable, friendly instance you think will fit them (probably one you’re already on).
Just give people a low-friction way in, let them get a feel of the fediverse/a specific, local feed. In my experience over-evangelising the nuts and bolts only turns them off the whole concept.
I think we often try to sell the fediverse too hard on the technical and idealist perspectives. Yes, federation is great and, yes, isn’t it lovely that there is no manipulative algorithm, or no billionaire can buy it out and build it into his failed space exploration empire?
But the majority of internet users don’t care about those things. Even for those that do, it’ll be way down their priority list.
Ugh, posted before reading the other comments. Loads of people put it shorter and better already. This is just a +1 to all of the above 👍
Heh, I’m upvoting you anyway for taking the time…and for good attitude in this reply
Sometimes you need to own that you went ahead and replied before bothering to read others’ comments. Thanks 🙂
It’s like _____, but it sucks. But like, in a good way. Like the old Internet. It sucked, but that’s what made it so good.
Why would you wanna scare them off so soon? Haha jokes aside, pretty easily.
It’s similar to most other social media or forums, but not owned by any one company. It’s split up and run by everyone and anyone.
There’s also additional privacy by default in the sense that most apps won’t have telemetry or metrics to track your every move within the app, but scrapers on the internet I would presume are still active.
“It’s like other social media, but it was made by communist nerds to be free, no ads, no spying, no government ID, no psychological manipulation. And it’s all open and connected, so you can see posts from other websites and upvote and comment on them.”
I would rather take the “communist nerds” part off. But your explanation is good!
Overexplaining it might scare away non-technical users. Just compare it to well-known social media but say it 's independent and more like e-mail in the sense that everyone can choose a different server with different rules but they all talk to each other. No one company controls everything. And that the algorithms aren’t secret or manipulative. Basically, just tell them the main advantages in an easy to understand way.
A picture is worth a thousand words. The Fediverse :
It’s like running Linux, btw
I use Fedi btw
This will become our new catchphrase:-)
Much better than: “Do you even Fedi, braugh?”
Send them this link https://fediverse.info/
Thanks! This sums it up perfectly!
Its a caffe bar
Everyone can join one
Everyone can make one
And you can send stuff to any other caffee bar, or receive.
I have not really looked into it to understand. From what I intuit, it’s basically an open protocol for users and messages? So platforms can pull in users and messages from other platforms — they’re interconnectable in that way. You can host a platform that implements the protocols, helping the network grow. Is that right?
I understand you can launch a platform, but what if you just want to supply a node to a running platform? Can you donate compute / storage / networking?
Donating hardware that you already own is probably possible, but can be tricky and has security connotations, depending on the arrangement. Unless you’re simply paying for hosting costs for that node and have no operational control at all.
There are simpler and better days.
If you want to donate, chip in to whatever server you’re on (e.g. lemmy.zip) - send them a few dollars a month, or a one time donation. Or find an instance or a software project (e.g. Lemmy or Gotosocial or Mastodon) and give them those few bucks.
Just making the effort is both not that hard, but it’s also great. Even people who don’t have money to spare can try it. I don’t know, find something like a book or a cupboard you’re not using, sell it for a small amount of money, and send it.
Of course, lots of people can’t afford to, and that’s why other people are running open servers. That part is super hard not just because of money, but moderation. Running an instance means you commit your time, every day, all the time, to moderate the users, to monitor the software, to fight off DDoS attacks and a million other things. So you can also offer to donate some of your time. Be it moderation or e.g. issue triage or something, it’s usually welcome. So you can look into it. But make sure you can commit - short term “I’ll try it” help is often taking more time to train the volunteer then they’re going to contribute back before giving up.
Finally, as someone says, it’s also easy to run your own server. Either buy hosting and operation - I know e.g. masto.host but I’m sure there are others - you pay and they monitor and maintain the software. You just moderate it l like an admin. Invite your buddy there.
Some people have the time and skills and operate their own servers, without spending the time for moderation. I’m running a single user instance of Gotosocial. I have control, but I don’t have to deal with moderation. That’s also feasible.
Anyway, for your buddy, educate them that it’s not the same as Twitter Reddit or Instagram, but the core ideas are similar. Send them a meme post or an interesting thread from time to time. They’ll want to engage eventually. Upvote or reply. They have to make the account. They’ll then get bored, give up, but that’s fine. Moderate yourself, don’t spam them. If they like it they’ll come back. Or they’ll get frustrated by another ad Block busting scheme by Reddit and come back again. Or not. Which is also fine.
Its not that hard to setup your own instance
I know and the commenter above seems to understand that it’s possible, but they agreed about contributing.
Most social media are commercial, privately owned, proprietary, centralised, and hence prone to enshittification. If a company will start to make anti-consumer moves to increase profit, most people will be too locked-in and invested to care to switch. Fediverse is a collection of independent instances in one decentralised network, constantly competing with each other with no full monopoly possible, and working under an open and forkable protocol.
