I still use tumblr a lot. It’s fine. Could be better, but compared to other options, it’s spectacular.
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I’ve seen several people (on Reddit) say that the reason that Mastodon has “failed” is because it doesn’t have an algorithmic timeline. I think that’s one of the best things about it!
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They meant to say they personally prefer some algorithm to serve them their information instead of spending a minimal amount of time curating for themselves what they want to see?
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Done well, an algorithmic display will turn up stuff you didn’t know you wanted to see. That’s one of the reasons people have long read anthologies and other things collected by an editor.
That’s not saying that anyone’s algorithms are done well, but that does happen from time to time.
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I think the problem here is who the algorithm is designed for - usually the advertisers or backers, rather than the end user, in the case of most social media.
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I can tell Mastodon’s doing well because of all the mainstream journalists whining about how hard to use it is. (Hint: Mastodon is not a place to go to build your brand and get an army of fawning followers. It’s a place for communicating with people.)
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That is why I follow some people who I know to be good multipliers. Enough of them have turned up on Mastodon for me to feel right back where I was before Twitter added the algorithm. I kept telling it to please return to the OG timeline and it kept forgetting my choice and that sucked.
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Yes, algorithm design is typically intended to increase time using the app, which means you see more ads (and have less time to spend using some one else’s advertising app), instead of increasing the quality of the time you spend.
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Turns out the easiest way to do that is to make people angry and scared.
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Which makes me glad that I have a hobby like board gaming. These people need to touch grass
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Real, honest, good-faith curation is so hard to find in a world obsessed with marketing.
I keep thinking about starting up a service to curate content; I feel like you could really market that sort of thing.
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Oh. And here I thought Reddit was done driving users away.
I mean my app BaconReader (RIP) had an option to not show awards and I used it. But I can‘t imagine people who used them (eg paying customers of Reddit) are happy they are going away.
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I have 200 reddit coins to spend, apparently. I don’t know why, but I suppose I should do something with them.
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I’ve had 700 coins for over 2 years. I never actually figured out what they were good for.
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You could use them to pay for premium, which showed you fewer ads, gave access to some subs for people with premium, and it synced read status between browser (and apps). You could also use them to buy gold stars for people.
So yeah, not much.
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