You can see it if you check https://fedidb.org/. Monthly active users have gone from just a hair under one million to somewhere around 1.4 million and still growing. How do we think this will go? How do we feel about this influx of new users? Has PixelFed done something different that Mastodon hasn’t?

I feel like I didn’t really recognize having different “platforms” like Mastodon, PixelFed, etc would give multiple opportunities for the fediverse to make a “first” impression with people.

  • MysticKetchup@lemmy.worldEnglish
    138·
    1 year ago
    1. The official Pixelfed app just has a nicer looking UI
    2. There’s not really a competing app for people leaving Insta like there is Bluesky vs Mastodon
    3. Pixelfed’s content is mostly visual so it’s easily digestible to casual users and you don’t have to scroll past dry Fedi arguments
    4. Better discover features so users don’t have to do a bunch of legwork to find who to follow

    Just my guesses though, but like any social media it really depends on if big creators will switch and if users stick with it over time

    • hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      252·
      1 year ago

      This.

      Discovery and user abstraction are Lemmy’s biggest issues and we are not addressing them to the degree we should.

      I know there’s some stuff on all those centralized platforms that’s way over the top, but most of it is actually pretty helpful. And you’ll miss it once you switch here.

      • Chloé 🥕@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        yup… (at least in the stable channel)

        what’s most infuriating is that it used to have it but at some point they redesigned the app and made it worse…?

        you don’t have to imitate instagram that much, dansup

        • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          I think it was more that he wanted to open source the app but had built it while he was learning so it was pretty messy and he felt insecure about it. So he rebuilt the app from scratch and open-sourced it. It just isn’t quite at feature parity to the old app yet. Pretty sure dark mode is coming in the next update though.

          • Chloé 🥕@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            2·
            1 year ago

            oooh, yea that’s a good point

            and, I mean, the app was in beta, sudden changes are to be expected

            but still, I feel like the app was so much better before… its kinda frustrating

            • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caEnglish
              2·
              1 year ago

              Agreed. It immediately went from being maybe the best app in the Fediverse to the 3rd best for its own service. I stopped using Pixelfed altogether until Pixelix got good enough to be a replacement.

              I honestly don’t understand how getting the new app to feature parity with the old wasn’t maximum priority. It at least seems like it’s going to get there pretty soon.