Why isn’t anyone talking about this? It looks like Meta wants to compete with Twitter with a new Instagram microblogging app which will probably be compatible with Mastodon

Key Point of the article:

*“Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,” Instagram’s slide says. “Users on these other apps will be able to search for, follow and interact with your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private and approve them as followers.” *

The Verge - This is Instagram’s new Twitter competitor

  • sexy_peach@feddit.deEnglish
    13·
    2 years ago

    I don’t see this as a good thing. I see it as a logical step after the success of the fediverse. But I am afraid of how it will develop, with more commercial participants in fedi.

  • zekiz@lemmy.ml
    13·
    2 years ago

    Instagram was the last one I expected to join the fediverse. They actually actively blocked 3rd party clients before and even shut them down.

    • super_user_doOP
      7·
      2 years ago

      They said it is going to work with Mastodon but we don’t know if they are going to federate it. They are most likely to do so since they are actively talking about “decentralization” but who knows

      • zekiz@lemmy.ml
        6·
        2 years ago

        In the article it says that people from Mastodon are able to interact with this. So it kinda seams like they are just making a new frontend based and their own instance of Mastodon. We just don’t know if we are able to access their instance without their app.

    • sexy_peach@feddit.deEnglish
      6·
      2 years ago

      My guess is that meta sees another one of their social media sites go down the drain and this time they want to try something to stop it.

      • zekiz@lemmy.mlEnglish
        6·
        2 years ago

        My guess is that they want to use the already established userbase of Mastodon as a starting point. There’s going to be more content from the start and also more users. If they would make a new app with no users they would need to start from scratch which is more risky.

  • Sky Cato@beehaw.org
    11·
    2 years ago

    I don’t trust anything that comes from proprietary platforms. Anything they do is for their benefits

  • ttmrichter@lemmy.ml
    10·
    2 years ago

    Time to break out the block cannon. Ain’t no way that I let anything Zuck touches touch my stuff.

    • super_user_doOPEnglish
      31·
      2 years ago

      That might be an issue but I don’t know how something like this might be appliable in such a platform

      • jherazob@beehaw.orgEnglish
        10·
        2 years ago

        Quoting from the article:

        The strategy’s three phases are:

        • Embrace: Development of software substantially compatible with a competing product, or implementing a public standard.
        • Extend: Addition and promotion of features not supported by the competing product or part of the standard, creating interoperability problems for customers who try to use the “simple” standard.
        • Extinguish: When extensions become a de facto standard because of their dominant market share, they marginalize competitors that do not or cannot support the new extensions.

        This has been done for open protocols by other companies before, many, MANY times. They’re likely going to “joyfully embrace” the Fediverse, add some “improvements” that will be proprietary and only run on their software, then when people become addicted to “Meta Fediverse”, close things down dramatically so that people only run their stuff. We must prevent that bullshit.

  • CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
    5·
    2 years ago

    Can people create their own instances of this app? Even if it can interoperate with other fediverse software, if this ends up being yet another big tech platform where your only choice is to use the one hosted by Meta it defeats the point.

    • super_user_doOP
      3·
      2 years ago

      As far as I’ve understood, it’s a matter of embracing a new technological “trend” and lowering the management and maintenance costs so it’s almost certain that some kind of self-hosting option will be available. I just hope it’s not going to work like Bluesky which is not actually decentralized and always relies to the Bluesky infrastructure

    • التنينوكس@social.touha.me
      2·
      2 years ago

      @CannotSleep420 @super_user_do I can’t see your point. The point of fedi is to not be locked to a single implementation. If one software is proprietary and does not allow you to host your own, you can just use another you like. Since all actors interoperate regardless of software they use, then it does not matter if you cannot host your own Instagram.

      • CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
        1·
        2 years ago

        I can’t see your point. The point of fedi is to not be locked to a single implementation. If one software is proprietary and does not allow you to host your own, you can just use another you like.

        That’s basically what I’m getting at. Part of the point of the fediverse is being able to choose both the software you use and the instances you use. I presume that the fediverse compatible instagram app will only be hosted by Meta. If someone is interested in getting into the fediverse for the freedom and choice, why would they use the new instagram as opposed to another fedi software with a similar feature set, such as Pixelfed like you pointed out?

  • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
    4·
    2 years ago

    It’s talking about a new app made by Meta. Key point from article:

    “Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,” Instagram’s slide says. “Users on these other apps will be able to search for, follow and interact with your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private and approve them as followers.”

    • super_user_doOP
      4·
      2 years ago

      Yes we just don’t know the extent of the federation. We’ll see

  • LemmyNameMyself@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 years ago

    But Instagram is part of Meta. It’s just as bad as Facebook, Whatsapp or any other Meta product when it comes to privacy and it will never be FOSS, so very much unlike Mastodon

    • super_user_doOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      Yup, but people are going to try it because “bro the new Instagram thingy”, after that we can tell them "bro did you know you can access the same content without being spied?

      If there’s a thing I’ve learnt in the past year is that people don’t want to talk about privacy and FOSS software, mainly because the word “privacy” has been so overused in the past 10/15 years that most people think it’s bullshit which doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a preconcept but unfortunately that’s how people think and if you want them to consider free software juust tell them it’s cool before everything else

    • zekiz@lemmy.ml
      116·
      2 years ago

      Honestly that would be a bad idea. This might actually push Mastodon into mainstream and makes it more accessible for non technical people. That also of cause means more content and I’m all for that. The only reason I haven’t started to actively use Mastodon or Lemmy is because there just isn’t enough content.

        • zekiz@lemmy.ml
          31·
          2 years ago

          I want hyperspecific niech content that just isn’t on any smaller platform. I rarely use Instagram and mainly use reddit and sometimes use Twitter.

          I want that kind of content on other platforms that I get on reddit. Certainly people from reddit aren’t going to migrate to an Instagram made alternative for Twitter but I want more content like more shitposting and guides I could only find on reddit and 4chan (and I fucking hate 4chan)

          Not just circlejerk about how good the fediverse is and how bad Twitter and big tech is. Certainly the only people who currently use these alternatives are people who care about federation and people who are sceptical to big tech. That’s also my problem with Hive/Steemit because the only thing they’re talking about is how great the blockchain is.

          Whenever I find someone who does something I’m interested in I can be sure that he either has a Twitter and/or Instagram account. If that person has a Mastodon account they probably aren’t as active as on other platforms

          Will Instagram users change this? I don’t know. Might they make it worse? I also don’t know. The only thing I know is that you need more users to have a more diverse kind of content. And I know how easy it is to hate on Instagram but there’s also a large amount of relevant content.

            • zekiz@lemmy.ml
              4·
              2 years ago

              You want all those imperialist bootlickers, celebrity/paparazzi brainrot, softcore porn, OnlyFans promoters, hentai groups, racists, shills of X/Y/Z products, and all of that shit on Mastodon?

              No I want r/ComedyNecrophilia r/AnarchyChess r/Feedthememes r/okbuddybaka r/mechanicalkeyboards r/linuxmemes and all the subs from certain games.

              You overread the part were I said “hyperspecific nieches”

              You cannot have shitposting without making a place crappy

              That’s like not true at all. Just have a look into r/ComedyNecrophilia or r/OkBuddyChicanery

              They are filled with shitposting but still very civilized. I’m not talking about r/shitposting because that place is trash.

              It’s a different kind of humour that most are used to but that doesn’t make it bad. It’s juts different and more absurd.

              They are often the worst and/or anti-social elements of society, or people. Who just want to keep distance from turbulent society. You cannot cherry pick how society organises.

              How is that bad? I’m left on the political spectrum so I dont think we should exclude them.

              With guides I mean places like r/FreeMediaHeckYeah and theindex.moe which are both made by reddit users.

              You can go to those “diverse” platforms for that garbage content. Inorganic growth is always cancerous. Instagram users will absolutely make it worse. I do not want people worshipping the next US President or UK Queen/king or whatever toxic idpol exists there to migrate onto Fediverse.

              You’re oversimplifying. A lot of new people also means a lot of new people who are against this type of stuff. It means that there are new people who hate the next US President or the next UK Queen/King. What You’re saying are just stereotyps which aren’t even true most of the time.

              The whole time you’re using stereotypes that are wrong.

                • zekiz@lemmy.ml
                  3·
                  2 years ago

                  I actually can’t tell if you’re serious or not. But since it’s actually pretty fun to argue here are my points:

                  Baka is Japanese word for R word

                  No its not. Are you thinking that because of r/OkBuddyRetard? Baka is a way to say “idiot” and in this context it’s there to make fun of a pretty common character type in anime called the “tsundere”.

                  MK brings *masterrace crowd with it.

                  It absolutely doesn’t. It’s one of the most accepting and beginner friendly subs I know (maybe besides the 3D printing subs). Nobody is gatekeeping and when somebody does, they get downvoted into oblivion.

                  You want those things?

                  You’re asking me if I want an anime shitposting sub making self councous fun of Anime while loving it that allinges pretty much perfectly with my ideological and political views and one of the kindes and most helpful communities I know? ABSOLUTELY!

                  You think the average redditor is the same as the more polarised internet anarchist/communist? There is a difference between the mindset of a Cheetos chugging Discord mod teenager in front of their RGB gaming PC, and someone who is a nerd sitting around either managing hoarded data or reencoding media or studying.

                  I never said something different. Yes a lot of people will also mean a lot of people I don’t want to interact with but that’s just the necessary evil for it not to become a shitty unironical circlejerk like r/GamingCirclejerk where I have the feeling that they unironically hate gamers and games. It’s a sub purely for shitting on other people. Same thing with r/facepalm

                  A lot of people also means a lot of good content. Some subs collapse and go to shit when they are growing but others will be better.

                  Not very helpful unless you want Lemmy to become another Reddit.

                  That’s what I’m saying. I want it to be like reddit but better. I want it to be a reddit with actual free speech.

                  I will tell you this, a lot of reddit is made up of many elements, like TwoXXChromosomes, FDR (now this femcel sub is purged), once even JB used to exist, now you can go look at all the “russian=orc” Nazism that western users love to circlejerk about.

                  I know about this. You could just… not browse them. They are on the startpage but that doesn’t mean they’re good or what I want.

                  That crap will seep in. I am sure all the Sinophobia and Russophobia is abundant in those niche subs you think are worth their value in comedy.

                  Yeah no, absolutely not. These subs are against this kind of content and are actively making fun of it.

            • super_user_doOP
              4·
              2 years ago

              This is something I haven’t considered. The Fediverse represents one of the few relatively safe spaces of the internet (excluding pixelfed which is FULL of fully fledged porn), a place where most people are willing to have an actual conversation rather than just wanting to fight and scream at each other. We’ll see

      • super_user_doOP
        2·
        2 years ago

        I’m not a Mastodon instance host, but as far as I know the host of the instance can obscure a single instance so that you can still search and follow people from that instance without seeing their posts in the federated timeline (ofc if you follow them you are still going to be able to see their posts in your timeline)

        We did this with mastodon.social since we’ve been basically under attack by cryptospammers from that instance. We can still follow people from that instance but they don’t appear in our Feed if we don’t follow them