Twitter wasn’t just software or visible leadership (for better or worse) but an entire important slice of Internet history.

  • Dave@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    Oh shit, I didn’t know about this. This is big! I think you could argue over whether it’s good or bad for the Fediverse but I’d argue it’s good! If/when big names and celebrities start using the platform, people on Mastodon can follow them, and that’s often cited as a barrier to Mastodon uptake.

    • asexualchangeling@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Yeah there’s a lot of arguments I’ve seen over that very thing on Mastodon, but in a long run I agree

      This is gonna change the shape of the internet

      • Dave@lemmy.nz
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        1 year ago

        What’s also great is that if, for example, Google wants to try their hand at social networks again, now they don’t have the Google+ issue of no one using it. If this new one is implemented right, Google could start their competing platform, and people could use it while still being able to connect with everyone on the Meta platform.

        If uptake is a problem for the fediverse, then if this is done right it could well solve that issue.

        • asexualchangeling@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I agree completely, and after there are multiple big name companies connected with their own servers,(Possibly already established social networks) it’ll be more likely that others join, they do like copying each other after all

          And after that well, it won’t entirely be the open internet that I want, but it’ll be a whole lot closer than what we have today

          • Dave@lemmy.nz
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            1 year ago

            I think when you get a bunch of people using a federated Meta platform, and they start to connect with friends using Mastodon or others, this will introduce them to the concept of federation. And then when they talk to their friends and find they can follow all the same people but don’t have to be bombarded with ads all day, they can move to another server.

            Actually, I think I just worked out why this could go bad… if you are on Mastodon and follow someone on meta-twitter, Meta can send you ads as posts of the person you’re following… they could advertise to anyone following people on their platform without them needing to even use their platform…

            • asexualchangeling@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              That is potentially very bad yes, but if they try to make it look like someone you are talking to is endorsing a product that could also very quickly end in a lawsuit

              • Dave@lemmy.nz
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                1 year ago

                Yeah I meant more a “Sponsored” tag, so it’s obviously an ad. Then keep changing it up to avoid ad blockers like they do on facebook…

                • asexualchangeling@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  The second they did that the servers that hadden’t defederated from them would probably at the very least rethink their decision not to do so

                  Also how doable would that be? Considering they don’t control UI of the platform they would be trying to broadcast the ads to

                  • Dave@lemmy.nz
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                    1 year ago

                    How feasible would it be for a small email provider like ProtonMail to block users from sending or receiving email from Gmail?

                    I think if Meta-twitter encouraged a lot more users into other servers because they could follow who they wanted on Meta-twitter, it would be an issue if you defederated them.

                    Since to federate you only need to use the ActivityPub protocol, there isn’t a reason new posts would need to be triggered by user action. The platform they are federating with would just see all posts as new posts on the protocol, regardless of whether it’s an ad or a genuine post. I guarantee they are trying to think up a way to do it, and if it’s feasible it will be done.