I was recently checking out the new fediverse.info (you should check it out, btw, it’s very well put together), and was struck by something as I was going through. Under the apps section, where users are prompted to pick an app, there is the question: “What do you want to do?”. It’s not a bad question, based on how the fediverse is structured. Each app has a niche, and so you need to pick an app based on the type of interaction you want to have.
However, what I noticed is that there is no “General” category. I.e., sites that do multiple of these things well. Sure, some sites might have some type of event functionality, and you can share images/videos on mastodon, lemmy and other microblogging/forum sites, but none of it is done to a standard that would make it your go to for any of those types of functions. So, it is necessary to say “what do you want to do” in order to guide people to the site that specializes in what they want.
Yet, this being the fediverse, all of these platforms can talk to each other. So does it have to be that way? Is there a way that we could move towards a more unified and multifunctional fediverse, vs a series of islands that each have different functionalities? What would that look like, and are there any platforms out there that are doing a more unified fediverse experience, specifically having a lot of different functionality/content types in one site/app?
I know people hate facebook comparisons, but I’m thinking of the level of different content/functionality that facebook has, posts, audience control, private/group messaging, groups, marketplace, events. This is the standard that is expected for social media these days. Can the fediverse live up to that expectation?
Yes, everything in the Fediverse can talk to each other. But not everything in the Fediverse gives its users the same features locally.
If you’re looking for something like Facebook, then Mastodon is crap because
Lemmy is just as much crap because it can only do groups, and you literally can’t follow/connect to specific users.
(streams) and Forte have everything you want minus marketplace. Hubzilla has everything you want minus marketplace and then a whole lot on top.
However: All three have the Eiger North Face of learning curves. There aren’t any dedicated phone apps for either. None of them work with Mastodon apps. You will have to use the Web interface, full stop (all three can be installed as PWAs, but next to nobody knows that PWAs exist, what they are and how to install them, and literally everyone wants a native mobile UI in the style of their phones). And there are next to no public, open-registration (streams) or Forte servers.
So there’s no “load app on your phone, name, maybe e-mail, password, there you go, default settings work perfectly for 99.9% of all users”.
And I say this as someone who has been using Hubzilla as a primary daily driver since both before Twitter was bought out and before Reddit was enshittified, and who also has two (streams) channels.
At the same time, not everyone is looking for a new Facebook. Many only want a Twitter replacement for dumb-dumbs; it’s actually Misskey or Sharkey although everyone’s only ever being pushed into Mastodon. Others only want “Reddit without enshittification, but otherwise literally Reddit” which is Lemmy. Others want “literally Instagram, but not owned by Mark Zuckerberg” which is Pixelfed.
None of them would be happy on that utter feature monster that’s Hubzilla. Hubzilla as a Twitter replacement is like you want a little boat with an outboard engine, and you’re offered the Queen Mary 2 (admittedly, with a rather well-written user manual and a helpful community).