We have yet to see the pioneers of the fediverse. Both in terms of development and culturally. But in order to ensure that these pioneers will flourish, we need to have the right mindset. A mindset that will ensure that our energy is spent as well as possible.
Developers should not limit their production to clones of existing centralized platforms. That is not to say that the development of platforms such as peertube and mastodon as meaningless. They have been necessary to prove that decentralization can take place. The point is rather, that we should shift our focus away from the mindset of replacing centralized solutions. Instead we should move towards an empirical approach of understanding the social demand.
Influencers should acknowledge how decentralization is about community building rather than concentration of attention. There is no longer a drive toward mindlessly chasing ever increasing follower rates and view counts. Influencers should be aware of how creative use of decentralized and libre tools can establish a strong foundation for blooming communities.
10,000% agreed! I would like to mention that !fediversefutures@lemmy.ml was created as a brainstorm area for out-of-the-box fedi-related ideas. Also that the SocialHub is where technologists and fedizens dedicate to build the fediverse (evolve protocols and ecosystem), and it has a Fediverse Futures category for innovative forward thinking (both technical and non-technical).
Community engagement is key, and also the Achilles Heel. There’s too few people willing to interract beyond their own projects and initiatives to really drive fedi forward at a sustainable pace. I was hoping to set up the Federated Diversity Foundation to give more shape to this, but it is discouraging how little interest there is for people to really volunteer their time and effort (even when it is to their own advantage).
