The Fediverse must be very careful to avoid getting branded as the “alternative to X”. In my experience, platforms that have historically branded themselves as “alternative to” or “anti-” have generally not done well. Learned this from the last Reddit exodus: let’s make this one different!

How can this time be different?

Join real communities, contribute real content.

Sorry, but low-effort image macros and meta-posting about how much everyone hates Reddit (yes, yes, u/spez sucks, carry on) is not a recipe for a successful platform. It doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t really help either.

This time, the exodus appears to have been large enough to start disrupting Google search, at least anecdotally. This is an opportunity for the Fediverse: now is the time to create searchable content, to ask the questions that people are asking search engines, and to engage in real communities.

Here’s my call to action:

  1. Find 1 new community on any Lemmy/Kbin/etc. and make a post/article. Not a low-effort post, but something that a search engine would pick up on.
  2. Comment when you’ve done so, with a link to the post.
  3. Then, go and comment on someone else’s post that they’ve commented.

Let’s make the Fediverse succeed!

Here are some options for Kbin communities, but feel free to pick others on other instances as well!