> You're literally describing the way forums, messageboards, mailing lists and everything worked before Twitter and Facebook came along
Yes. And while the GP was hyberbolic, I think what we saw is that a large %age of people preferred one stop shopping.
Speaking for myself, the thing I love(d) the most about Twitter was the consolidation. It effectively replaced a bunch of message boards, online sites, and other things I would check throughout the day. One site gave me banter with friends, talking shop with professional acquaintances, weather, news, gossip, etc.
The people who were first online didn't represent the average person. Everyone's online now, it used to be a bunch of geeks and weirdos back then. I'm nostalgic as well but the times have changed.
Re:Mastodon Is Doomed
by giantrobot on Wednesday April 26, 2023 @01:13PM
(#35717009)
This is very ahistorical. There's long been consumer non-geek friendly online services. The typical AOL user in the 90s wasn't a geek by any means. They used chat rooms, instant messaging, and mailing lists via the user friendly AOL interface.
Facebook has long provided a user-friendly interface for non-geek users. It's filled with non-geeks generating content.
While the Internet has always had a geek contingent it hasn't been the exclusive domain of geeks for nearly thirty years.
And Mastodon in particular will let you follow people on whatever instance you happen to use. "Checking 20 different apps to talk to 20 slightly different groups of people" is hyperbole, not reality.