Today's the last day of my Mastodon-exclusive testing week. I'm really, really glad I did this, and it felt much longer than seven days.
Reflections:
I didn't miss the birdsite at all, which surprised me. A few times, I opened the app/website out of habit, smiled about the login screen, and went reading my tootlines.
I spent more time on Mastodon than on an average birdsite day, because of all the exploring, experimenting, and discovering.
@NinahMarie I'm glad! :) Thanks for getting in touch! I'm absolutely curious on how this experiment will develop!
@blinry what do you think of the adoption of your friends & followings? Do people switch and stay active or is it just a fad?
@maggo One week is probably too early to judge about that. A few of my friends who made accounts here now do use Mastodon actively, some exclusively, others do not.
Which experiences did you make in this regard?
@blinry I haven't really checked who's using it but the few that do aren't active really.
@blinry So how are you going to continue? Dual-toot?
@rixx I'm curious how I will feel when I log back in to the birdsite. But my current plan is: Do massive Mastodon-propaganda there, then come back here for another exclusive week. Dual-tooting won't help to pull people over as much (I think).
I feel significantly less informed about what's going on in the world. Birdsite was an excellent (bubble-filtered) news source for me.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the quietness. It was like a gift. I will miss it.
The current userbase feels very different. Everyone I interacted with was absolutely lovely, positive and open-minded, and was quick to offer help and support. I loved being in this diverse environment of atypical people.
@blinry Good observations.
On the technical side, everything worked much better than I expected. The web UI took some time getting used to, but eventually felt very usable. Tusky was adequate for browsing on a mobile device.
Things I enjoyed: The CW function, and how many people deploy them. The 500 character limit, creating space for deeper, more detailed thoughts and better conversations.
One of the things I liked best was that the boost/fav numbers are not displayed in the UI prominently. Mastodon feels like it's much more about the content and interactions, and not about earning Internet points.
I have to admit I took these numbers much more serious than I probably should have on the birdsite. The current Mastodon approach removes some of the envy and greed I felt.
It's striking how many good interactions/discussions I had here. Even though my network of follows/followers is smaller, the local and federated timelines lead to random people stumbling over my toots and contributing their thoughts. Brilliant.
It feels wonderful being able to create issues or even PRs for the Mastodon services. Make me more invested in the well-being of the platform as a whole.
I like how one's instance can give a feeling of home and belonging.
@blinry enjoy it before someone finds a way to ruin it :)
@blinry excellent point
@blinry Would relaying some news outlets to mastodon help, or are you looking for that eyewitness tweets that only come with a multi-million user base?
@Chaos_99 Neither, I think. What I missed was people whom I care about bringing event/topics/news they cared about to my attention, if you understand what I mean. The filter-bubble layer on top of the news outlets.
@blinry I understand what you mean. I would still be interested if it's because of the 'service' of filtering content for you or because of the insight into the minds of people that share with you?
@Chaos_99 Oh, definitely both! :)
@blinry So, maybe this is even more of a filterbubble?
@MickeyHoyle I guess so! Also, currently, the contents and discussions here are very meta (uhhh, like this series of toots ^_^) – I assume the topics will shift back to more real-world topics in a few weeks, when most members are accustomed to the platform.
@blinry True. I haven't seen that many links to newssites and/or articles.
That'll probably change if Mastodon keeps growing and newssites start creating accounts.
Yet the absence of an algorithm means bubbles shouldn't be able to exist in instances open to all.
@blinry does that mean that, after your week, you're leaving or staying?
@george I honestly don't know yet. Being active in two networks is probably overkill for me, and I *really* don't want to leave, so… I'll have to think about this. Or do a second testing week! ^_^
@blinry That's exact how I feel!!!!!!!