I spent quite a bit of time on BlueSky for several months and found that if you’re a nobody there is close to no engagement.

@urlyman That was my experience starting out on Twittler as well. Mastodon is much more to an Autistics viewpoint of the world. Interaction not worship.

@urlyman Very much so. The human mind seems to gravitate far too much towards those in the spotlight, ignoring lots of great stuff in the shadows.

@urlyman

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you - Nobody - too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise - you know!

--Emily Dickinson

@Remittancegirl @urlyman aiming to be a nobody

@urlyman @ElbowsUpforDigitalSovereignty Agreed.

@urlyman in my field, people made the Xodus right after the election and the Bsky handles started popping up after presentations. I personally never understood the love for Twitter, it's inundated w/ bots, and now Bsky just appeals as a Twitter copy in its inevitable prenazification phase.

There's a lot less engagement on Mastodon, and the federation of comments is quite clunky. But it takes me back to the internet before The Algorithm, and I'd rather interact with 5 humans, than argue w bots.

@urlyman If there is an algorithm of any kind, it will be biased in some way. I love Mastodon because it's just chrono

I use open vibe and connect to Bluesky, Nostr, and Mastodon in one app. They just added Tumblr.
It's a good solution

@urlyman I was under the impression that Bluesky was also only chronological feeds?

I think one thing contributing the “connectivity” on Fedi is just that there are so few people here. Bluesky has somewhat hit mainstream awareness; once your platform hits millions of DAU, it’ll be hard to make yourself “stand out” in a sea of hundreds of thousands of daily posts, regardless of there being an algorithm or not.

@urlyman

I go back and forth in most places, as a random unknown. I'm not a very social person but I don't have anyone to talk to offline. So I really do need social media, or I'll lose my mind.

BS is absolute chaos, I never understand how to use it.

But here, every time without fail I can jump into a conversation on my first day, and people reply or fav (as read receipts) my words. And I don't have to think most of them are bots, so it makes me feel seen.

@urlyman I hop between Mastodon and Bluesky. Personally I find value in them both.

There are a lot more big accounts posting on Bluesky, but I enjoy the slower paced more community-based interactions of Mastodon. I also like that Mastodon allows for a lot more nuance with larger character limits even getting into more long form posts (such as the OP which is fairly long and would have been a lengthy thread on bsky) which makes for better discussions.

In my experience Bluesky is better for low-effort short posts and broadcasting from large accounts to a wider audience whereas Mastodon is better for nuanced discussions and has a more level playing field between large and small accounts.

@urlyman I was in BlueSky for a while too…. but it’s too political, and also quite discriminative of single fathers. If you have NO political opinion there, you’re a nobody, who nobody trusts. You’re considered a “red flag” if you don’t support the left. Other platforms consider you a “red flag “ if you don’t support the right.

I love the Fediverse! It gives the finger to both.

@urlyman Really? That's interesting, as I'm trying out Mastodon and coming from Bluesky, I interact with people frequently there. Yet, I only have 20-something followers, none of whom know me IRL.

@urlyman používám obojí, chce to jen čas...

@hydropsyche @urlyman
Considering myself as reply guy as I only get ideas from other messages rather than shouting in void. Personal note is not talked about a lot which also might mean people never use it which as you pointed out, can give first time warning for your future self how to deal with x person instead of relying on memory.

Never found twitter usefulness so never was attached personally myself, moved from reddit to Mastodon and then explored whole Fediverse and found it attractive.
Bluesky showing up late also was factor of "why bother, Fediverse not perfect but I like the appeal for growth".

What really concerning for me, that academic side didn't lean on Fediverse being in between closed spaces (twitter/Bluesky) and going anonymous comments. Self published blog with ActivityPub regardless of jankiness still a good opportunity to have people interact with your content while having history behind accounts, as well relieving burden of registration/holding account information/dealing with bot network registration and having semi anonymous data gathering.

We all part of algorithm be it twitter, Bluesky or google for independent blogs, so why bother with combination of social media+ Google when you can only appeal to Google + Fediverse instead?

@patrick_h_lauke @urlyman It's funny because I see it flipped on Bluesky. Everyone is calling Mastodon a Libertarian or Centrists hub while calling themselves Leftist, Socialists, or Anarchists. I don't have much to add for/against either line of thinking, but figured I'd bring it up as it's interesting.

@Lydie @urlyman

https://inaniludibrio.com/2024/02/13/mastodon-is-for-old-school-neophiles/

@Lydie @urlyman I really liked the idea of pluggable Open Source algorithms.

The problem isn't *an* algorithm, it's whether you have control of it. Even chronological display is an algorithm, it's just one that's well understood.