When I talk about the importance of going all in on the Fediverse, I speak based on experience.
At Opera we built a massive user community. When I quit, we had something like 35 million registered users and 35 million monthly visitors.
The new Opera management did not see the value of that. They believed it was cheaper and better to just use Facebook and that investing in your own community was a waste of money. So they closed down MyOpera and built a following on Facebook and Twitter instead. Then they got caught by the bait and switch when Facebook changed and you would no longer reach your audience, without paying. Later on Twitter changed as well.
This is important to explain to companies and institutions as they go shopping for social media sites to invest in. The best investment is clearly in your own site, being part of the Fediverse. It is not even all that expensive to do. It may take longer to build, but at least it is your own.
Not saying you cannot build a following on those other sites, but your long term strategy should be the Fediverse with your own server.
We try to lead the way here and thus we build Vivaldi Social. Not just for our selves, but to make a point and support the Fediverse.
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GhostOnTheHalfShell
in reply to Jon S. von Tetzchner • • •You may want to chase down @pluralistic post related to this topic from a few weeks ago explaining why he would never join blue sky.
Earlier this year, BBC labs reported on their experience with their own mastodon server. I commented on their experience in the following video. The description has links to all the relevant articles if you’re at all interested. When you surrender access to your audience through a second party, you become dependent on them, utterly.
youtube.com/watch?v=DzZDxYjR5o…
- YouTube
www.youtube.comErosBlog Bacchus
in reply to GhostOnTheHalfShell • • •@GhostOnTheHalfShell @pluralistic
I am struck by the sudden realization that Bacchus's First Rule (which I had come to view as increasingly obsolete in the social media age) remains fully operative, inasmuch as "your own server that you control" can now be, or include, a fully-federated social media presence.
erosblog.com/2013/06/11/bacchu…
#BacchusFirstRule
Bacchus's First Rule Of The Internet - ErosBlog
Bacchus (ErosBlog)ErosBlog Bacchus
in reply to ErosBlog Bacchus • • •@GhostOnTheHalfShell @pluralistic
See also: Never Build Your House On Someone Else's Land
erosblog.com/2022/02/07/someon…
"Never Build Your House On Someone Else's Land" - ErosBlog
Bacchus (ErosBlog)Richard Rawson
in reply to Jon S. von Tetzchner • • •Richard Rawson reshared this.