Title. I’m wondering what’s everyone’s take on this. On the one hand it’d mean seeing multiples of one post if you’re subscribed to equivalent communities between communities. On the other hand, right now I think a big worry is this momentum we have dying out due to lack of content.
We can’t possibly predict which community will be the “big” community across the Fediverse, so maybe cross-posts are the way to go until things grow big enough.
Thoughts?
There are situations where it can be helpful, but in general I don’t think intentional cross-posting is going to help. It could just as easily homogenize the communities and stifle what momentum we do have.
Communities will establish themselves organically over time, as we’ve seen with every platform before this. Trying to force it, or really influence the process at all, is just as likely to rub some folks the wrong way and lead to more fragmentation.
Until things settle, it seems like a more effective tactic is to choose where you want to focus your attention and add to the content in a natural way. Instead of cross-posting, just decide on a “main” community for any given topic for yourself and contribute there in a meaningful way. If another community in the same space looks like it’s taking over, reevaluate where you want to place your focus. Help build somewhere for the sake of building, but not for the sake of the numbers.
Alternatively, just ignore the “problem” completely and trust the process. Post in the first relevant community that springs to mind. Engage with posts as they come through your feed without paying any mind to the size of the source. The most important thing is increasing total user count across the Fediverse, and diverse activity can be a huge drive for that.