Being Patient with Fediverse Migration: A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Hey there, welcome to another discussion about bringing people into the Fediverse. Tonight I want to slow things down a bit and talk about the importance of patience when trying to move people from mainstream social networks to alternative platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube, and other Fediverse options.

Let's be honest about something first. Quick upswings and massive flooding into the Fediverse, like we saw back in 2020 and 2021 when Elon Musk first took over Twitter, caused serious problems. Servers weren't designed or ready for all those people coming in at once. Servers crashed, people got confused and frustrated asking, "Why do I have to pick a server? I can't just click go and post my breakfast?"

The mindset at the time was that everybody was so used to centralized networks like Twitter and Facebook. They were trying to associate those old network feelings with this new and weird way of communicating. The ironic thing is, they were essentially using a flavor of the Fediverse before, which was email.

Let me break it down simply. If you're using Mastodon, it's very similar to how you work with email. You create an email and send it to someone over on Gmail, they receive it, but you have a Hotmail or AOL account. I know you're old if you still have an AOL account. But the point is, these two systems can interact and talk with each other. You don't have to be a Gmail user to talk to other Gmail users.

What makes the Fediverse great is that it brings multiple servers together to share communication between them. What makes it even better is when the people using it understand what it's capable of and what they can use it for.

The Challenge of Migration

The people coming in from Twitter and Facebook were hitting roadblocks because they were trying to associate the Twitter experience with Mastodon. When you've been used to the Twitter experience for the past 20 years, it's hard to automatically and quickly change how you interact with a completely different system. That's where we have to be patient with bringing people into the Fediverse.

Nowadays, with everything happening on Twitter or X as it's called now, plus Facebook and Meta and Instagram and Threads, people are looking for alternatives. We're seeing another tsunami of people trying to find new platforms because they've heard from mass media and their friends about how Meta has been taking all their information, which they've been doing for 20 something years anyway.

We have to work on a system to get these people moved off the mass media centralized services into more contained alternative platforms. We need a Fediverse that is welcoming and patient with these newcomers because they themselves are not going to be patient. They want results now. If they don't get those results immediately, they'll give up and go back to where they were before.

Start Small with Tech-Savvy Family

The best way to approach this whole thing is to start small. Communicate with your more tech-savvy family members first. Your cousin, uncle, sister, niece, nephew, whoever has more technical capability than your parents or grandparents. We all know that every Thanksgiving or holiday, those of us who are tech-savvy get the inevitable request: "Oh yeah, you know about computers. Can you fix mine? It's not working." We've all felt those frustrations.

Start with the tech-savvy family members and get them associated with alternative platforms first. They might already be part of the Fediverse ecosystem, and if that's the case, your job is almost halfway over. You can utilize their experience to help bring over your uncles, aunts, grandparents, and parents.

But keep in mind the old saying: you can't teach an old dog new tricks. This unfortunately plays out here. With your grandparents, for example, they've been locked into doing one thing steadily, and it was probably hard enough to get them into Facebook in the first place. That took years. Now you want to switch them to Friendica or GoToSocial or Mastodon, and the experience isn't going to be as streamlined as Facebook. It just isn't.

Most of the Fediverse is designed and built by programmers, and the user experience isn't as polished as it should be. It should be simpler. Not that we should dumb down the experience, but the onboarding process needs work. Mastodon is working on this, bringing people in to improve that first user experience, but it's not as straightforward as Facebook or Twitter made it.

When you first logged into Facebook or Twitter, you were instantly given suggestions: "You want to follow these people? Click, click, click, and off you go." You got people to follow and content to look at right away. With Mastodon, you're completely on your own. You have to find the content you're interested in yourself.

That's actually one of the best things about Mastodon, but it can be a deterrent for the older generation because they don't understand it. If they do understand it, it takes a longer process for them to grasp the reasoning behind it. Again, that's why you have to be patient.

Make It Easy

Create a simple, one-page guide with screenshots. Many older people are visual learners, but there are text-based learners too, so you can't just rely on one approach. Use screenshots and recommend a specific instance based on their interests. If they like sci-fi movies, find a Mastodon server that focuses on sci-fi discussions. This helps break the ice because you're pushing them into a niche they're already interested in instead of a general, vague "everything goes" approach.

Offer to help them set up their account. Spend half a day with them. Take them to lunch or have them take you to lunch and say, "What we're going to do is slowly walk through building up your account, following people you'll enjoy, and seeing content you'll like." Show them how to find their friends who might already be on Mastodon or other platforms.

Get those connections built first. Later, when they start asking questions like "How do I post alt text?" you can show them step by step. Upload your image, hit the button that says alt text, and enter it. Try to get them into a slow progression of using these systems.

Teaching the Basics

Teach them the basics of boosting and following. Most people don't understand that hitting the star on a post in Mastodon isn't like hitting "like" on other platforms. Technically it doesn't do much for algorithmic reach, but it does tell the original poster that someone enjoyed their content. It's not going to be like "This post got 60 billion likes, it must be good." No, it's the opposite. The only person who really cares about the star is the original poster, and that's great.

When you hit that boost button, you share it to your feed and network, enriching the original post content for a wider audience. People see it, think "That's good, I want to see more of that," hit follow, and the original poster gets a new follower. It just works out for the best.

Managing the Transition

People worry about losing touch with their existing networks, so show them how to cross-post between platforms during the transition. Take your content from Mastodon and share it to Facebook or Twitter if you're still on those platforms. Say, "Hey, I'm slowly transitioning from using X or Facebook as my primary platform to this new platform, and I wish you'd join me on this journey."

If people don't want to make the switch, that's okay. Each person has their individual likes and dislikes. They might say, "Mastodon is for nerdy, geeky people and it's very difficult and impossible to use. No one's using it." Well, okay, that's their opinion. Good luck with that.

At least cross-post so people can get your content information, but they won't get the full enriched experience if they don't come over to Mastodon. Use tools like MoaParty to sync your posts. Buffer is another great option. You can post links from your Mastodon account or, even better, from your blog site. Create a website or blog, post to your website, then take the link and share it to social network platforms through Buffer and other services.

Keep your old accounts while building your Fediverse presence. When I first moved to Mastodon, I left my other account going for about two weeks. After that, I said, "You know what? Kill it. I'm not coming back here." But many people don't want to kill their Twitter account because there's still so much happening on X. Unfortunately, a lot of brands and large initiatives still use X for some reason.

If you want to keep your account there, that's totally your prerogative. Just understand that when people see that, they might think, "Oh, you still support X even with all the bad stuff that's been going on." You'll have that connotation tied to your X account. Some people and companies are taking longer to figure out where they want their social media presence to go. It's not a quick turnaround, so keep that in mind and be patient.

Live Streaming Platforms

Moving people from live streaming platforms requires similar patience. Many people still love Twitch, and it has a deeply ingrained culture and chat culture of viewers watching their favorite streamers. You're not going to get all your viewers to easily move to another platform like YouTube, PeerTube, Beam, or Owncast. It's going to take work, and unfortunately, a lot of your audience will stay on Twitch.

One solution is multi-streaming. I stream to Twitch, YouTube, our Owncast server, and Beam, and I'm probably going to reset our PeerTube live streaming system since we have a PeerTube instance. I live stream to four or five different places simultaneously and use Social Stream to combine chat from all these places into one location. People on Twitch can see what people on Owncast are saying and vice versa.

You have to do a slow transition. Don't just say, "Starting tomorrow, I'm only streaming on Owncast." People on Twitch would think, "Oh, so you're giving up Twitch. I guess I'll find another streamer." You have to do this in stages over months, not weeks.

Some viewers are solely within the Twitch bubble and will not go anywhere else. Even if Twitch died tomorrow, they'd be upset and say, "Well, I guess I'm not watching anything." They don't understand that their favorite creators are still making content elsewhere. That's just the cultural mindset of how Twitch has been ingrained in these viewers' thinking.

Don't chastise them. Take time to set things up. Say, "Hey, we're doing an experiment. If you want to watch this ad-free without needing a subscription, go watch on Owncast." The experience is night and day because you don't need an account for Owncast. You get a generic name or can associate a Fediverse account if you want.

Give them options and slowly get them to know about alternatives every stream. Mention that you're available on multiple platforms and the links are below the player. Offer different content on different platforms, like behind-the-scenes streams on Owncast that you don't do on Twitch.

Avoiding Toxicity

One thing I see too often is people attacking others who still use Meta, Twitch, YouTube, or other centralized platforms. They say things like, "You guys suck. If you're using Meta, you just love giving away your information." That kind of thinking turns away people who might want to look at the Fediverse. All they see is toxicity and harassment.

It's a tribal mindset: "Mastodon is the best, we're the best tribe, and you guys on X suck." Stop that thinking. Yes, Mastodon is a better experience overall, but as the old expression goes, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Be a positive force. Yes, there are negative elements, but the overall experience of Mastodon is more positive than what people will find where they are now. There are negative people everywhere you go, that's an unfortunate part of being human. But as you're trying to be an advocate for the Fediverse, try to say, "Hey, give us a chance."

Be the advocate who says, "If you come across any issues, let me know and I'll try to work with you to take care of them." Don't try to do that for everybody. Take one or two people under your wing and show them what's possible within the Fediverse.

The Long Game

Eventually, more people will understand what the Fediverse is about. We've already seen news stories talking about the Fediverse, Mastodon, Blue Sky, and other platforms. We have to continue getting the word out, not spinning it as overly positive, but making it clear that this is a viable alternative where people will have a better experience over the long term.

Your mental health will probably be in a better place. You won't have to deal with the overly negative and vile content, advertising, and accounts that shove information into your feeds on other platforms.

This whole discussion comes down to being patient with everybody. There's no race. We don't have to have massive numbers of Fediverse and Blue Sky users exceeding X and Meta combined by the end of 2025. There is no deadline where the whole system collapses if we don't hit certain numbers.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. We just want to show people that this is a viable alternative to the garbage they're dealing with now. Take your time, be patient, and focus on quality connections over quantity.

That's the key to successfully bringing people into the Fediverse. Small steps, patience, and understanding will get us much further than forcing rapid changes or attacking people for their current platform choices.

The Independent Creator