jo

@adragonesscalledjo

Dragomess

sir/hir

40+ - Sie/Hir - Under construction, thank you for your patience.

Sometimes posts dystopian drabbles.

Come say 'Hi'? adragonesscalledjo#4846

jo @adragonesscalledjo6/18/2023, 6:22 AM

Malibu Apo-Stacey @ValerieElysee

moon @doomishfox6/18/2023, 12:29 AM

what the fuck is a "following"

or its alternate title: cohost's design goals vs its userbase

(This isn't a response or a subchost, it's just some thoughts I've had stewing for a while that I've finally gotten around to writing down.)

"Discoverability" gets referenced a lot when people talk about cohost. Mostly in the context of how cohost doesn't have any. How it's hard to "build a following" when you're "starting from scratch" or don't already "have an audience" from other platforms. By all measurable metrics, I'm one of those people starting from scratch without an audience from another platform. And I agree, in comparison to other platforms, especially other social media platforms, it is hard to be discovered on cohost. And it's hard to be discovered because of fundamental elements of the site's design.

Because of intentional fundamental elements of the site's design.

Malibu Apo-Stacey @ValerieElysee6/18/2023, 12:32 AM

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jo @adragonesscalledjo6/18/2023, 6:22 AM

I don't want social media. I want to talk to people about what they are passionate about. I want to read things that people created because their very essence demanded it be so, not because is what's getting the most views this week.
I hate that the world we live in has made everything about money. About what's palatable to the widest audience, and attention grabbing enough to make money. And no. I don't blame artists for needing to eat, or make rent. I don't blame people in tech for talking about the thing that will get them hired, or build their brand.
I will absolutely seek places where people share what drives and fascinates them. Because ultimately I want to live in that world. A world where people can do things that matter to them.

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in reply to @doomishfox's post:

@yumegaze6/18/2023, 1:19 AM

you might not want to be concerned with a following and discoverability as just a regular poster, but when you wanna use this place as a source of income, you have to be concerned about these things. when most people talk about discoverability, it's not the algorithmically recommended bullshit all other places wanna dump on you, it's just better tags. when they talk about building a following, it's concerning people who need this in order to make money here. hell, even if you're not one of those you might want to feel like you're not talking to the walls, sometimes. this is a very common complaint for new users, they feel like they're talking to themselves all the time! they don't even know what tags to follow!

i'm not disagreeing with you here, just offering some perspective hopefully. cohost has made it clear that they intent to make this platform a patreon-like place, how's that gonna work if your posts end up in a limbo and no one knows how to even find it? anyways. apologies for rambling on your comments

Hana, Local Trans Pat Witch🏳️‍⚧️@TarotCard26/18/2023, 1:33 AM

Your fine, you make a good point, one I should have thought about since I Personally may need to use it in that capacity soon.
Edit: sorry, just realized that this wasn’t commented on my repost.

moon @doomishfox6/18/2023, 1:37 AM

don't apologize, stick to you guns! comments are for rambling. that said,

i think becoming a Patreon-like is actually the most viable strategy for a site like cohost. the only time i've ever interacted with Patreon is through links from other places, usually youtube or other sites that do keep metrics and allow you to "build a following". i agree that there are things about tagging that could be improved (tags getting stripped by shares is kind of annoying), but i struggle to imagine discoverability features that arent recommended accounts that you don't follow like twitter, or default bookmarked tags like reddit's default subreddits. either of these just end in a cycle of promoting accounts or niches that already have a "following" making it even harder for small accounts to grow to a state where they could make money.

ultimately i don't think a lack of discoverability features conflicts with cohost becoming more patreon-like, considering how patreon is already in the "secondary site with additional content" niche.

i have... a few thoughts on discoverability, maybe ill accidentally write an essay on those someday

moon @doomishfox6/18/2023, 2:39 AM

cohost becoming a Patreon-like is also leaving out the other option of this two-forked path: becoming an OnlyFans competitor

@yumegaze6/18/2023, 7:33 AM

a much better destiny. bring in the porn

@yumegaze6/18/2023, 7:31 AM

the difference between patreon and cohost is that cohost is social media, first and foremost. it depends on social interactions, so discoverability becomes a big deal around here. recommended tags to follow could be a way to do that; it stimulates people to tag concisely and guides new users who otherwise don't have nothing. persistent tags on shares is another one. what i mean is, minor improvements in ui here could go a long way. ultimately i think it's really cool that cohost doesn't want to be the only site to ever exist, so the possibility of bringing your following from somewhere else is always possible. but there's a lot of friction for users that want to build their audiences from the ground up here, so people end up sticking with the shitty platforms

i'm not a webdev, so i'm pretty much talking out of my ass here. i don't know what would work here, but i do know that there's much room for improvement