The Late Night Linux podcast talk about Mastodon this week. They point out that it's not all that radical as the federated technology has been around for years. They suggest that the geek community is looking for an alternative to Google+ as Google seem to have lost interest in it. I think that G+ is one of the better implementations of a social site. The user interface works well and is easy to read. It has the advantage of no ads, but then Google don't really need to monetise it. Although every Gmail and Youtube user could be using it the active users is probably well below FB and Twtr. There's still a core of geeky and creative people there who I want to follow, so it will remain one of my pinned tabs for now.
I think Steemit is a more radical and disruptive social platform than Mastodon. Everyone is talking about blockchain these days and I don't see any other platform that has a business model that can pay users without advertising or by requiring users to pay up front. I maintain that the main issue for Steemit is that nobody has heard of it. When they do then they may be sceptical that it can really work, but we have lots of evidence that it does. It really needs media coverage, but they will want something new to report. I'm hoping that communities will be available in the next couple of months and that will be worth shouting about.
A friend of mine writes for ZDNet and has done articles this week about Mastodon and The8App. I'll keep updating her about Steemit and I hope she will find time to try it.
Mine cryptocurrency in the cloud at Eobot, including Steem. You can earn as you chat using WowApp. If you use these links I get a small reward. You can recruit others to do the same.