How have you guys explained Mastodon and the Fediverse to friends?

@micahbp Haven't really got round to 'explaining' it yet, but did mention it in the passing as:

"A Facebook kindof thing without all the creepy tracking"

and to explain the character limit of posts/toots:

"Somewhere inbetween Facebook and Twitter"

@phelion
OK! I've tried saying it's like the email of social media but that usually leads to more questions lol

@micahbp 5 years ago or so I sent an email to a friend - it wasn't particularly important but I'd grown some potatoes in a bucket on my balcony and felt oddly proud of my 'crop' of about 12 potatoes from just the one that I'd planted - and afterwards thought I'd send a similar email with pictures to another friend and then thought of someone else who might appreciate it... It finally clicked that that was what 'social media' was: instead of emailing each friend, you just make a single post! :)

@micahbp I suppose calling it 'social media' sounds catchier than saying 'Group emailing everyone on your list of friends with the possibility of other people seeing your email if you make it publicly accessible.' which is probably what I'd say if someone asked me to explain Facebook. Although it'd be best to add that a creepy corporation will also read all your emails, write down the useful stuff and sell it to anyone they can whilst they're at it. ;)