Several weeks into the #TwitterMigration it seems clear to me the value of Mastodon is not that it is a Twitter replacement, but that it is a gateway technology to decentralization. Mastodon has flaws, I'm not claiming it's perfect, but many criticisms I've seen stem from expecting centralized services from a decentralized structure. It's up to us to try and explain the differences and set expectations for what alternative services can look like.
To this extent I'm really interested to know how the age breakdown of people on the #Fediverse. On one hand it would seem to make sense to me that most people here remember the "old internet" before the centralization and they're here to rekindle that flame of independence. On the other hand the youths are generally pretty up on this whole technology thing. I grew up on the internet and since then smartphones have become even more ubiquitous.
(Please boost for reach)
@mcneely Most are 41-60?!! I wasn’t expecting that! Cool, that is my group (but not for long, unfortunately)!
@tlsmith63 Im not *that* surprised considering a large part of the influx is academics and journalists. Not exactly groups that skew young.
@mcneely @Htaggert @tlsmith63 It’s people who had access to Usenet and other tools that worked on similar logic to the Fediverse so the learning curve is flatter. The barrier for entry is a lot higher than it was for Twitter.
@randimason @mcneely @Htaggert @tlsmith63
If you remember Usenet from your 20's, before it was relentlessly spammed (and pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter), Mastodon likely makes a lot of sense to you, and you are likely in the 41-60 (or better) age group. (As am I.)
@cfclark @randimason @mcneely @Htaggert I did use Usenet back in the day.
@cfclark @randimason @mcneely @tlsmith63 I really don’t! I remember computers coming into vogue in grad school - but no one owned one and we all had to go to a computer lab to type papers… it was such a social hub…
🇺🇸🇺🇦
@Htaggert @cfclark @randimason @mcneely @tlsmith63 They still must need computer labs, right?! Probably for special purposes.
@mcneely @tlsmith63 well all academics and journos were once young academics and Journos… right?