4
While trying to wrap my head around the concept of the Fediverse, I made this map. How did I do?
(media.kbin.social)
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
4 points (100.0% liked)
Fediverse
42 readers
2 users here now
This magazine is dedicated to discussions on the federated social networking ecosystem, which includes decentralized and open-source social media platforms. Whether you are a user, developer, or simply interested in the concept of decentralized social media, this is the place for you. Here you can share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage in discussions on topics such as the benefits and challenges of decentralized social media, new and existing federated platforms, and more. From the latest developments and trends to ethical considerations and the future of federated social media, this category covers a wide range of topics related to the Fediverse.
founded 2 years ago
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That visualization shows exactly why the whole thing here is overwhelming for the average user. I feel that the federated aspect should be less focused on when talking about the fediverse. It makes sense to explain it, but many explanations on how to switch to lemmy/kbin/whatever put the whole federation thing on top of the list. I think this is a big turnoff for casual users/lurkers. They do not understand that they don't need to understand the structure of the fediverse to join, enjoy content and engage with others, so they don't even start.
I'm sure a visualization could help with that, but having a bunch of boxes and circles with arrows all over the place isn't exactly something that will mitigate the feeling of being overloaded with information. I'm not saying you didn't do a great job. "Arrows all over the place" is not meant to devaluate your work, on the contrary, it perfectly captures the feeling i have about the fediverse, but I would not use that image as an ad for it.
The problem is that the user is necessarily confronted with the technical design of the fediverse from the moment they create an account. "Do I join lemmy.ml or lemmy.world or mastodon.social or kbin.social" can only really be answered by explaining how the fediverse works, because the simple answer is "it doesn't really matter but it also sort of does", which is profoundly unhelpful
I totally agree. It was stressful trying to pick an instance before I really understood how it worked.