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Think about things from the point of view of someone who has never used Reddit or the fediverse, but you've heard about them both from recent news articles and want to see what they are about.

Reddit:- You Google Reddit and your first result is Reddit.com. You click the link and are presented with the front page. You from scroll from a few hours and end up signing up and staying.

Lemmy:- You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister... Your second result might be join-lemmy.org, which you're smart enough to realise it's probably more likely what the news is about.

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code...

There is very little chance you're going to investigate further.

If we want the fediverse to replace Reddit then either
A) Lemmy needs to improve its initial impression and Search engine optimization
B) We should be promoting a different platform with a better initial first impression.

I'd recommend kbin personally as it gives the same sort of experience as Reddit from the initial interaction.

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[-] Coelacanth@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

I do like a lot of things about Kbin, and visually it's much better than unmodified Lemmy in a browser, but it also has its own share of problems, not least with intuitiveness. I don't understand why communities are called Magazines, and the terminology of "Favorite", "Reduce" and "Boost" are very confusing to me. Trying to make a new thread might lead you down a microblogging path instead since "Post" sounds more like a new thread than "Article" to a newcomer.

There also seems to be much slower sync between Kbin and various Lemmy instances compared to intra-sync between lemmy instances themselves. Kbin also doesn't have an API (yet?), but a more tech savvy individual than me will have to say how big of a deal that is.

Both Sync and Boost have large and loyal userbases and will probably attract plenty of users to Lemmy, and good Third Party Apps might help with first impressions and onboarding for new users.

Ultimately though, content is king. I liked Kbin better when I first made my accounts, but then we had a Race Week in Formula 1 and the community here was dead while discussions were happening on Lemmy, and since the sync was slow so I ended up over there.

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

I don't want the fediverse to replace reddit. I just want a place to post and share stuff without corpo baggage.

[-] Neato@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code...

More or less exactly what happened with me. Bounced off of Lemmy 4-5 times trying to decide on an instance and when this and Squabbles was recommended it seemed more intuitive.

Another option would be a lemmy instance becomes dominant and that hits the top SEO spot. Then most people use that to browse until they want to sign up and then either choose that or look around for others.

[-] necrophagist@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

All the android apps don't have support for kbin, I'm assuming its same for iOS. So kbin probably won't go anywhere really until that changes...

[-] Gt5@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

I choose kbin over Lemmy because most Lemmy instances don’t work for me. I made accounts on Lemmy.world, beehaw, and here. Kbin is the only one I can log in on all of my devices. The Lemmy instances only work on my Mac, when I try to log in on my iPhone or windows machine the login just spins.

So this is my home now

[-] CountChonkula@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Lemmy and kbin are still very much in their infancy while Reddit has been around for nearly 20 years. There's definitely going to be growing pains since it's still so new and for right now at least most people that are going to join are people that are leaving Reddit so it's probably going to remain a fairly niche thing at least in the short term.

Secondly, I don't think they have to necessarily replace Reddit and they both could go on and do their own things. Honestly, even during my time on Reddit I found the smaller communities were better than large or default communities IMO. I just find that smaller communities have better engagement where ones that are too big your post or comment will end up getting buried.

Even if Lemmy or kbin don't overtake Reddit, I think there's still a place for them.

[-] beefcat@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Reddit:- You Google Reddit and your first result is Reddit.com. You click the link and are presented with the front page. You from scroll from a few hours and end up signing up and staying.

I don't think this is the path most people take to becoming new Reddit users.

I think most people end up using new social media sites because they get linked to content already on a given site that they like. This could be from friends sharing links, or through Google results from the site.

[-] iso@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

The thing that worries me about kbin is that everything is located on one single instance. You guys are building a lot of centralization over there which might lead to a Reddit 2.0 scandal at some point

  • posted from Lemmy
[-] a-man-from-earth@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

There are other active instances: https://kbin.fediverse.observer/list

But things are not as evenly spread as among lemmy instances (yet), and a lot of Reddit migration advice points to kbin.social as the main onboarding space.

[-] Rayspekt@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I agree woth all your points except for one

You Google Lemmy and your first result is a wiki article for Lemmy Kilmister...

I see no problem here. RIP Lemmy, fucking legend

[-] DwarfGiraffe@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

User experience is an extremely important part of on going growth. I feel like even with the migration under the circumstances, the onboarding and learning curve for new users is very difficult on kbin or lemmy vs reddit or other mainstream socials.

This may seem trivial to motivated users to go through the setup and learning required but for further migration and adoption the UX definitely needs significant improvement. I haven't seen or heard much being said on this subject regarding the fediverse in a serious way.

Products that are already simple to understand and use, spend time refining and reducing friction for growth and retention. I know these products are in their early stages but while the fediverse has its pros, I am concerned that the rate of improvement of UX for the fediverse will be very slow. But I am hopeful that people will keep pushing to make it better.

[-] delirium@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

for YEARS I refused to use the site which should not be named because I hated the UI. RIF is literally the only reason I explored outside the group I joined for.

[-] DrYes@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

You click join-lemmy.org and are presented with a page of information about the fediverse, links to set up a server and pictures of code...

Not sure what universe you are from but in my reality that's just bullshit. What you said is there but right next to the "set up a server" button is a "join a server button". And right above the scary code pictures is another "join a server button".

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this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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