The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That profile is very much the early adopters of any new platform or technology. If you described the early users of the internet as a whole, it would be very similar.

    I don’t think anything particular is keeping other users away, it’s early. We need evangelist, I suspect that most normies don’t even know the fediverse exists, let alone are considering using it.

    We just need to continue to grow the reach of the fediverse, don’t give up if it seems a bit bare and give everyone else a reason to join us

    • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m mid 20s, not really into tech, and in the medical field. I’m sure the demographic skews towards the “older” tech-focused group but there’s others on Lemmy too. It’s a pretty small learning curve to get signed up and active imo. Especially with the recent explosion of apps that offer a familiar mobile browsing experience

      • Phegan@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I hope my comment didn’t come across as gatekeepy, if so, I apologize. With that said, glad to have anyone here, glad to have more voices

        • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not at all! It just got me thinking and figured I’d add a perspective from someone that isn’t in tech on getting set up/user experience

          • Phegan@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Okay good! I am trying my best to keep a positive tone on here so that we don’t descend into toxicity like reddit.