I personally think that the Fediverse is kind of tricky for both Boomers and the mid-to-young-ist Zoomers. But for different reasons based on the kinds of issues/questions I get when trying to help both age ranges with their computers. The TL;DR if you don’t want to read all of my rant is: It is really down to understanding how to best approach it with them. And to just be ready to teach them while starting out. Social media these days is like the Zoomer version of how Boomers love cable/satellite TV.

Boomers have just less understanding of the internet and non-office work on computers. Like they think that the MUST have Outlook in order to get emails. Or how some of their kids and grandchildren could only get them to switch from using IE to Chrome or Firefox by labeling the icons as “Internet” or even changing the icon for the shortcuts to be IE.

They are also a big factor in how crazy ads have gotten on news sites (IMO). As they are more likely to click on them and even think the ads are news stories (or at least have some belief/trust that if the ads are on a news or other reputable site that they aren’t scams). I have personally had to deal with a couple of older folks that freaked out when they got home after their PC was fixed by me. All because “stuff is missing” on whichever start page news site they visit. I had to explain that nothing of actual importance was actually “missing” and show them how uBlock Origin is actually protecting them. Just turned it off and basically A B viewed the site with and without the ads. And that the slide-show of stories has a lot of ads that are meant to look like news. They were happy about it in the end.

Mid to young-ist Zoomers on the other hand (like another commenter said) are much more used to highly centralized services. They aren’t used to how much more detached from each other the internet was back in the 80’s/90’s/00’s. For them it is about being where everyone is at and where they could be seen by the most people. Another issue for them is how they really seem to be going backwards with regards to basic computer literacy/skills.

They are super versed in iOS and Android (and maybe Chrome OS), and it shows when I need them to tell me where they might have saved something important. Since their phones really really don’t like for users to “explore” the filesystems and hide it all behind pretty apps. They have no idea where anything is unless it is in their Downloads or Desktop folders. Even just knowing to keep track of how much space is left on their HDD/SSD is a struggle. Especially since so many of them have become interested in having “gaming PCs”. They love to watch stuff like LTT or Marques Brownlee and the various Twitch streamers. But since they really only use their phones and consoles, they don’t understand how PCs require more effort because they don’t stop you from messing things up. Or that they even need to install the OS (but TBF I also have to explain this to many people of all ages since they tend to only ever buy pre-built OEM stuff or phones that the OS is actually flashed on and hard to completely remove).

So I think that the Fediverse is currently mostly something Gen X, Millennials, and older Zoomers are able to take to the easiest. Due to either being online before what we know as “social media” and having to hunt down stuff. Or from being around while social media was just forming and while stuff like web forums were more of a thing. I think that it is more of an education thing more than any specific Fediverse program/server/instance. The “Mastodon is more like email” description is the best way to get Boomers to view it while also “feeling” like how they can see updates similar to their Facebook feed. Zoomers are tricky due to being so super connected to chat and social media. But the stuff they know is major sites/services that have so much money and resources to basically provide unlimited space for uploads and/or being able to be on everything at all times. So the need to be aware of any limits or restrictions/limitations of any service they use can be a deal breaker. But if they can focus long enough to learn, then they could reverse the trend of treating computers in the same way that Boomers treat cable/satellite services. So much expectation of little to zero effort on their part is going to be what could lead to us just having AI just tell them what they can and can’t do.

True, it does matter either who is there first, or at least who can manage to lead a sufficient number of people there at the same time. This is the thing that has made it super hard to get away from YouTube. Either there are barriers to entry like PeerTube (obviously since it is Fediverse), or it is just so saturated with right-wingers ranging from fascists to ancaps.

Some stuff like Lbry/Odysee have managed to get some bursts of “normies” from YouTubers/podcasters that have made an effort to tell their viewers and listeners how they can get content if YT comes down on them. I personally think that the faster that apps for Lbry/Odysee and PeerTube can be used on things like Roku/PlayStation/XBox/Google Cast. Then the easier and faster more people will be able to use the platforms.

PeerTube is the real tricky one since it requires the content makers to pay attention to stuff like file sizes and other upload limits/rules are in place for their chosen instance. Which they don’t have to even think about with YT. The viewer side is just as tricky since finding new stuff/creators beyond your current instance means being active about it. Which by itself isn’t that bad, but saving stuff to your lists if something is from another server is not always super smooth to do.

Maybe there is a way for PeerTube to put an official app together that can make it easy to add instances to it in a way that would allow seeing stuff from those instances (maybe see the “Top/Popular” uploads for the day/week/etc). Then if you choose to follow a channel or save a vid to a playlist it could just add it to your actual account without having to enter the info. Then other apps could be able to use whatever api’s are used for the official app. That way the official app can be kind of like how third party GPU companies release their own versions of the “founders” versions from AMD/Nvidia but with their own additions. Or how the Fediverse can work on so many projects as long as the standards are respected.

This is true given how FB has ignored lots of literal death squads all over the world (the others aren’t innocent of this either). But it is the one that the most people tend to use. Almost none of my friends or family use twitter sort of a link taking them there. And I believe that Instagram was pretty popular for ISIS to reach out to folks by making life with them look good.

All of the Fediverse is going to have to deal with them at some point. It isn’t like the opensource systems can just ban people from setting up servers and instances. But they can take proactive measures to block them and setup databases of known fascist instances that anti-fascist instances can import. But I am not an admin or dev, so I am not sure what currently are and aren’t options. Decentralization by its nature is meant to be hard to be stopped for good and bad.

I agree that Mozilla could be of better help to other Fediverse programs. Like they should use something that would be easy for them to change over their blog posts or other long-form items (Friendica or Hubzilla). Mastodon is fine and all, but aside from the stuff already stated it would be nice to see them be a “safe” starting point for people. I could see them easily making use of Pixelfed or even PeerTube (PeerTube especially could make good use of having big names to get normies curious enough to try). Though if they want to stick with microblog stuff, I have liked the more interesting layouts that Pleroma and Misskey/Foundkey can have. I can only guess they are picking Mastodon because they think it is less confusing to people that have been hearing about it because of the Twitter stuff. Even if they don’t try the other options any time soon. They could maybe help or release extensions that help with Fediverse related stuff. If they do extensions then it doesn’t add bloat to Firefox for those that don’t use or care about it. Would like to avoid another Pocket situation. lol