People are asking, "How do we use #Mastodon for different social media goals?"

Unfortunately, Mastodon is not "a one size fits all solution". Its effectiveness is limited by its core function (microblogging).

I believe a better question is, "How do we make purpose-built Fediverse apps that address specific social media goals? How can Mastodon then further these goals"

Specialized goals require specialized apps. 🧵

Now some of you, especially the newbies, might be thinking, "Huh?! I thought Mastodon *was* the Fediverse?"

No, Mastodon is a Fediverse app, thus part of the Fediverse -- it is not the entirety of the Fediverse.

Mastodon cannot be all things to all people who use the Fediverse.

What even is the Fediverse? I've written this handy thread to catch you up to speed: https://mastodon.social/@atomicpoet/109354761662214688

Why is Mastodon not effective for all potential social media uses?

For the same reason Twitter can't be Instagram. Or why Facebook can't be TikTok. Or why YouTube can't be Reddit.

Mastodon is excellent for microblogging, but the moment we try to shoehorn other purposes into Mastodon, Mastodon becomes less effective at microblogging.

If you want a real world scenario for why this is, just look at Instagram when Meta moves it away from its core function.

Social media goals for which Mastodon would not be an effective tool:

1. Calendaring
2. Events
3. Social gaming
4. Teleconferencing
5. Emergency response

Should we be trying to make those functions a core aspect of Mastodon? No.

Can Mastodon greatly assist in a limited degree with those functions? Yes.

Nevertheless, these goals require specialized Fediverse apps.

Let's look at how a specialized emergency response app could work on the Fediverse.

If I use an emergency response Fediverse app, I want to know the following:

1. What's happening?
2. Why is it happening?
3. What should I do?
4. What's the severity?
5. Where is it?

We need to model out the events that happen with the app.

Thereafter, we need to build out how users interact with each event as it occurs.

As a potential user of an emergency response Fediverse app, there's data I -- personally -- want to have.

1. Immediacy of updates
2. Map of where the crisis is happening
3. Charts and graphs that helps me understand current status
4. Ability to send updates to authorities
5. Ability to notify loved ones about how I'm doing

This is how I'd interact with the app, but devs will have to model out other potentialities and build!