You can see it if you check https://fedidb.org/. Monthly active users have gone from just a hair under one million to somewhere around 1.4 million and still growing. How do we think this will go? How do we feel about this influx of new users? Has PixelFed done something different that Mastodon hasn't?

I feel like I didn't really recognize having different "platforms" like Mastodon, PixelFed, etc would give multiple opportunities for the fediverse to make a "first" impression with people.

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[–] MysticKetchup@lemmy.world 167 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (19 children)

The official Pixelfed app just has a nicer looking UI
There's not really a competing app for people leaving Insta like there is Bluesky vs Mastodon
Pixelfed's content is mostly visual so it's easily digestible to casual users and you don't have to scroll past dry Fedi arguments
Better discover features so users don't have to do a bunch of legwork to find who to follow

Just my guesses though, but like any social media it really depends on if big creators will switch and if users stick with it over time

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

This.

Discovery and user abstraction are Lemmy's biggest issues and we are not addressing them to the degree we should.

I know there's some stuff on all those centralized platforms that's way over the top, but most of it is actually pretty helpful. And you'll miss it once you switch here.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Discovery? Interesting thought.

I tried out pixelfed and the pixelix app for the past couple weeks.

The "discovery" page on the official app is worse than useless. It shows almost nobody with over 10 followers, highlighting one person with 50-100 followers, then shows "popular on the fediverse" which are thumbnails of posts of the people it just recommended. It always recommends at least 5 of the same people day after day, week after week, even people you already follow.

The official app can't even show a global feed so it is literally impossible to discover new people unless you know their name and specifically search for them, or they are recommended by luck on the discover page (of which there are multiple repeats per day, so not likely)

Pixelix at least allows you to view a global feed though. Definitely a better experience, but Lemmy discovery is not any worse than that.

[–] Quicky@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The Discovery section in Pixelfed definitely needs work, but the ability to follow hashtags offsets that somewhat. I’ve found loads of great photographers to follow off the back of following hashtags that I’m interested in.

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