Gideon Rosenblatt ๐Ÿ‘ is a user on mastodon.technology. You can follow them or interact with them if you have an account anywhere in the fediverse. If you don't, you can sign up here.

an observation

I am all for organic growth and hate marketing as much as anyone else, but if you want this service to succeed, you're going to have to think like a mainstream press person. And, right now, I could see any number of angles about this service that would not be flattering -- even though I, as a user, love it so far.

@Migukin If you as a user love it, then what is the problem though?

@bksmgglr

good question. I love it because I have been on the Internet for 20 years and have some experience with such things. but I am a reporter by trade and generally reporters are completely unable to understand anything new. so, they initially dismiss it as horrible and only look for reasons not to use it.

@Migukin Interesting statement, why do you think that is? Why, in your eyes, do people in your trade mostly behave that way? I mean I would think it should be the exact opposite, especially in that kind of trade.

Gideon Rosenblatt ๐Ÿ‘ @gideonro

@bksmgglr @Migukin I have been a big fan of Google+ and have built amazing community and connection there. It's been a wonderful place to learn. And that platform was completely trashed by the tech press. It was almost as though they really *wanted* it to fail. Still scratching my head over that one.

This week/month is one of those critical moments for Mastodon in terms of managing expectations, I think.

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@gideonro @Migukin Interesting, I mean, I'll be honest, I actually have quite a bad picture of Google+. Now I am wondering if that's in any way justified...

@bksmgglr @gideonro I think G+ is great, the real names issue killed it and...it was designed by people who did not understand human interactions as well as Facebook. But the premise was strong and it's unfortunate that it did not become a success.

@bksmgglr @Migukin It actually has been a wonderful place in the past. Now, less so. I've had so many wonderful conversations there and have learned a lot.

So, yes, I think that lots of people see it as this total failure, but largely because the press went out of its way to compare it to Facebook, which wasn't what it was.

@gideonro @bksmgglr on, that, we disagree. it was inevitable that G+ would be compared to Facebook, given that it was Googles attempt to dethrown Facebook. Shrug.

@Migukin @bksmgglr It was that. But the original designers had something quite different in mind. I've studied this quite closely.

The new focus on interest sharing gets to the heart of that original design, but the new design has been done in a very ham-fisted way.

@gideonro @bksmgglr but that is lost in the general shuffle. People don't have time to do research or have a nuanced opinion.