Why isn’t anyone talking about this? It looks like Meta wants to compete with Twitter with a new Instagram microblogging app which will probably be compatible with Mastodon
Key Point of the article:
*“Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,” Instagram’s slide says. “Users on these other apps will be able to search for, follow and interact with your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private and approve them as followers.” *
Honestly that would be a bad idea. This might actually push Mastodon into mainstream and makes it more accessible for non technical people. That also of cause means more content and I’m all for that. The only reason I haven’t started to actively use Mastodon or Lemmy is because there just isn’t enough content.
So do you want organic growth, or growth at the cost of terrible content flooding Mastodon? You realise more than half of Instagram is ads (yes, all that influencer content is ads too) and most of the content there is equivalent of softcore porn (that includes cleavage baring influencer ads) and cancerous memes?
BTW I forgot to tell this. Since you now know from me that their FB Messenger, Instagram DMs, WhatsApp and other chat infrastructure is basically defederated XMPP, they will do the same with Mastodon and kill Mastodon, because some people want “more content”.
I want hyperspecific niech content that just isn’t on any smaller platform. I rarely use Instagram and mainly use reddit and sometimes use Twitter.
I want that kind of content on other platforms that I get on reddit. Certainly people from reddit aren’t going to migrate to an Instagram made alternative for Twitter but I want more content like more shitposting and guides I could only find on reddit and 4chan (and I fucking hate 4chan)
Not just circlejerk about how good the fediverse is and how bad Twitter and big tech is. Certainly the only people who currently use these alternatives are people who care about federation and people who are sceptical to big tech. That’s also my problem with Hive/Steemit because the only thing they’re talking about is how great the blockchain is.
Whenever I find someone who does something I’m interested in I can be sure that he either has a Twitter and/or Instagram account. If that person has a Mastodon account they probably aren’t as active as on other platforms
Will Instagram users change this? I don’t know. Might they make it worse? I also don’t know. The only thing I know is that you need more users to have a more diverse kind of content. And I know how easy it is to hate on Instagram but there’s also a large amount of relevant content.
You want all those imperialist bootlickers, celebrity/paparazzi brainrot, softcore porn, OnlyFans promoters, hentai groups, racists, shills of X/Y/Z products, and all of that shit on Mastodon? Because that makes up more or less all of this “that kind of content”.
You cannot have shitposting without making a place crappy. As for guides, you better prepare yourself for reality, because all kinds of people make guides. They are often the worst and/or anti-social elements of society, or people.who just want to keep distance from turbulent society. You cannot cherry pick how society organises.
You can go to those “diverse” platforms for that garbage content. Inorganic growth is always cancerous. Instagram users will absolutely make it worse. I do not want people worshipping the next US President or UK Queen/king or whatever toxic idpol exists there to migrate onto Fediverse.