I’ve thought about it a bit and the Fediverse has been around for a while now. There are some really cool applications being made to replace the mainstream ones, but they just aren’t taking off.
Why do you guys think that might be? Ease of use? Addiction to the mainstream platforms? Lack of marketing?
I imagine it’s due to the fact that the main reasons to switch are ideological. Corporate social media has a much bigger user base having been around much longer, and that means people there are a part of an existing social network.
Moving to Fediverse means abandoning your existing network and building a new one or trying to convince your friends to move with you. This takes dedication and effort so people need a strong motivation to give them a push. People who care about privacy, dislike ads, don’t like their content curated by algorithms, and so on are the ones taking the plunge. This turns out to be a fairly small percentage of the overall population.
On the flip side, Fediverse is predominantly populated by people who care about these things, and hopefully this culture stays strong as it grows.