I agree… it feels like the Fediverse doesn’t quite have the same algorithms that the single-corporation services have, and I feel it most in the search to broaden the content I see. Hopefully the exploratory element picks up as time goes on!
Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 year ago
I find Mastodon very stuffy and boring, is there a way to shake up my feed? I feel like I’m missing something about how the app works.
Staccato@lemmy.world 1 year ago
rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The Fediverse doesn’t do algorithmic pushing and that’s a feature, not a bug.
The main ways to find new stuff on Mastodon are all actions taken by you, the user:
- Hashtags. Watch and follow hashtags you like. Hashtags are the main way stuff is categorized, and if you use them liberally on your own posts and find others posting to those same tags you can find accounts which align with those interests of yours.
- Home. Check out stuff in the “home” timeline which will be your neighbors on your own Mastodon instance. (In the case of general instances this isn’t so helpful, but in those instances themed around a hobby, subculture, geographical area, etc. you know you have that common ground with your neighbors to start with.)
- Boosts. When you find people and accounts to follow, they boost things they like, you find things among that to boost, etc. like a friend at a party introducing you to their other friends, friends of friends, etc. leading to your own circle of friends increasing.
All these are things you do and you have to put a little work in to make them happen, but it’s purely fueled by your own interests and wants instead of the traditional social-media algorithm which does a little aligned-interest stuff but is mostly powered by whoever has money to pay the platform to force them into your timeline. On Twitter or Facebook you get shown what the platform thinks they can get paid by showing you. On the Fediverse the rules of invasive centralized ad-choked personal-data-harvesting social media don’t apply; you get shown what you actually want and request.
It’s different and change can be scary, but when you get used to the idea that things don’t have to work the old way anymore it can end up being a good thing.
30isthenew29@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you think about it, this is actually the old way.
Staccato@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I simply haven’t found as many good engaging posts in Mastodon, though, despite all that. It could be simply the challenge of building an interesting feed when you start from zero, but that’s a challenge nonetheless.
Algorithmic identification of novel content is in my mind neither intrinsically sinister nor beneficial; like all things, it’s a tool and the morality comes out of how it is used.
Things like (optional) recommendation tools could be a useful addition to Mastodon to help users find interesting threads. Could be run on a per instance basis.
Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
The problem is that I as an user don’t necessarily know what I want to see. What if there is some super interesting hashtag out there, but I don’t even know that it exists?
30isthenew29@lemmy.world 1 year ago
If you think about it, this is actually the old way.
ebenixo@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Thank God it doesn’t
tty84@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
have a look here lemmyverse.net/communities
figaro@lemdro.id 1 year ago
I’d recommend following the hashtags you want to see. It’s sort of a build-your-own algorithm
towerful@programming.dev 1 year ago
This is a huge thing about the fediverse.
Users are used to being told what they want (algorithms) without any choice (centralised and only platform).
Whereas Lemmy and Mastodon require users to curate their stuff.
Perhaps some “meta fedi” sites would be useful. Things that generate lists of hashtags, instances and users “shake up” your experience
schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Reddit also used to be that way. FFS I think the best time on the Internet was that when we were all on traditional phpBB-style forums, where there was no “algorithm” at all (though I admit the concept doesn’t scale well and they too have their structural problems).
Serinus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Have you seen the maple syrup meme video? (Sorry for the TikTok link.)
www.tiktok.com/@reddit/video/7231589390072597806
This was a pretty amazing feature of everyone using Reddit. Lemmy isnt close to that for specific interests yet. League of Legends was one of the biggest subreddits, but any league community here is basically dead.
It’s a lot harder to get critical mass for Lemmy than it is for Mastodon. And Mastodon migration hasn’t been what I think it should be. A good, reliable, large instance on .com or .net domain would probably go a long way for adoption.
Mozilla is supposedly releasing mozilla.social Mastodon instance I’m early 2023. Any day now… But it’s understandable if they want to wait for some event to open.