Hashtags do not replace groups.

No one moderates them. They’re easy to hijack and spam. And there’s simply no permanence to them.

Which is why, if you actually want to discuss something, it’s better to tag a group. For example, if you want to be part of an actual PC gaming community on the Fediverse, it’s better to tag @pcgaming@lemmy.ca than #pcgaming.

This needs to be common knowledge because people new to the Fediverse do not know about groups. Hell, I’d say people who have had Mastodon accounts for years still don’t know. And that’s a shame.

@[email protected]

  • If you’re a content creator:

    1. Maintain one account
    2. Reach a wider audience regardless of which software, platform, service, server, and/or app they are using
    3. You don’t have to ask your fans to create-yet-another-account to follow you

    If you’re a content consumer:
    A. Use whichever software, platform, server, community, service, and/or app you prefer
    B. Follow the people you want to follow regardless of which software, platform, etc. they are on
    C. You don’t have to create-yet-another-account

    Of course, for content creators, they prefer to use different platforms for specific purposes and features. So, they still will end up with multiple accounts. However, №2 and №3 still applies to them.

    And for the content consumers, it won’t matter, just follow all the other accounts of the content creator they like using one account.

    That’s how it works for most.

    If we put it into context.

    In #Instagram, many “influencers” report and ban followers who:

    • Don’t have an upload on their account for the last 4 months and up
    • Rarely likes their content
    • Rarely joins conversations about their content

    These “influencers” assume their followers are inactive, useless, or accounts meant for scamming and spamming them later. They don’t care if your are a legitimate fan, even a donator, who created-yet-another-account just to follow them.

    With the Fediverse, and any #OpenSocial / #OpenSocialWeb / #SocialWeb network for that matter, it solves that problem. “Influencers” can have silly criteria all they want without risking kicking out legitimate fans because their fans are more likely using an account regularly because it’s their “main” account, not yet-another-account.

    @atomicpoet @fediverse @Coolmccool @jwcph