How do you convince your friends to use the fediverse?

Whenever I shill Lemmy to the average person, the reaction is almost always a mixture of disgust towards the UI or that it's too complicated. I disagree to the point that I'm honestly baffled why people think that — I mean, you don't even have to familiarize yourself with federation; just treat it as a regular discussion board. There's also the guys who buy into the "problematic dev" story when he has no control over what other instances do. But alas, perception is reality.

That's not stopping me from shilling the community anyway. It just sucks that I've sworn off Reddit and have to rely on others to promote Lemmy. I did edit my flair in case someone stumbles upon my old posts, lmao.

Show it to them, send links to interesting posts shared on the platform.

I unfortunately prefer not to. I'd rather they find it out for themselves. There is no problem with my friends, just that they might also spread it to their friends (some of which, well, if you'd see their fb feed you'd not want them on here).

Then again, this being very "plain" looking kinda filters the chaff out, so there's that.

From what I understand of internet use as a whole, there’s no way to convince someone to change their browsing habits directly. Most don’t care enough. If you tell them about something you’ve done or found on here, they might become interested and browse. It’s an open platform for lurkers, so share a link or two when appropriate. If they ask why you prefer it, tell them in a way that would be meaningful to them, but never do it unprompted. Don’t get your hopes up, but some might join.

I prefer not to. This is probably the only place on surface web I can shill opinions that average online users can't grasp.

I don't. I just put my Mastodon username on my Twitter display name plus some links in bios. I used to repost and link my toots to other sites using IFTTT but since API changes, I haven't bothered to look for a free convenient way yet.

I don't want to force anyone so I just let them discover for themselves. Occassionaly, if the context calls for, I'll half joke "JOIN MASTODON" but that would be rare since I don't use much FB/Twitter nowadays.

I try to hide it, lol! If they ask me questions, I answer. But if they don't seem to be interested, then that's the end of it.

Right now, the people who are going to join the fediverse are those who are interested in it, and are willing to invest time and effort into it. In due time, interest will come from the others. I find that trying to convince others to join in (when they aren't ready to make the jump) is counterproductive. They'd have a negative impression of the site, and that'd color their opinion of it. That, in turn, would result in a negative word of mouth.

I'm having a hard time convincing people for the following reasons.

1. Our friends follow entities that are not in federated social networks. These entities won't probably move to the fediverse unless there's enough users. It will be a chicken or egg problem.

2. I don't know any federated social network that can substitute for FB. Posting in Friendica is slow. Do they have an app? Posting photos shows the image path instead of the photo, which maybe too confusing for some users.

3. There's no reliable app yet. I don't expect my friends to be using a browser to access the site in their phones.

I guess we have to address those 1st before we can successfully convince others to join the fediverse.

I know we all dream of having all our friends and family on the Fediverse so we can avoid proprietary networks completely. But the Fediverse is not looking for market dominance or profit. The Fediverse is not looking for growth. It is offering a place for freedom. People joining the Fediverse are those looking for freedom. If people are not ready or are not looking for freedom, that’s fine. They have the right to stay on proprietary platforms. We should not force them into the Fediverse. We should not try to include as many people as we can at all cost. We should be honest and ensure people join the Fediverse because they share some of the values behind it.

By competing against Meta in the brainless growth-at-all-cost ideology, we are certain to lose. They are the master of that game. They are trying to bring everyone in their field, to make people compete against them using the weapons they are selling.

Fediverse can only win by keeping its ground, by speaking about freedom, morals, ethics, values. By starting open, non-commercial and non-spied discussions. By acknowledging that the goal is not to win. Not to embrace. The goal is to stay a tool. A tool dedicated to offer a place of freedom for connected human beings. Something that no commercial entity will ever offer.

From here