Let's flip the script,

Reddit is just a shitty PieFed alternative

So how would you describe the fediverse in just 2 words? Or perhaps 5 words?

Let's go with the email analogy so normal people will never join.

Lemmy: An ad-free collection of forums that aren't owned and controlled by one group.

Masto: A laid-back social network feed you build yourself, free of Musk's and VC influence.

Peertube: A shared video platform where you can view, share and comment from other platforms without being subject to "the (Google) algorithm" deciding which videos stay up or get popular.

That way, if you're familiar with the mainstream version you can tell it's implied, but it's got enough info to describe it independently for someone who hasn't had interest in it.

Eta: This video does better to introduce the fediverse than any wall of text I write ever could: https://videos.elenarossini.com/w/64VuNCccZNrP4u9MfgbhkN?ref=news.elenarossini.com

“Lemmy, a cool new Reddit” ?

Very few things in humanity are completely novel. We're iterative beings by nature.

Lots of businesses (not just decentralized FOSS stuff) is X but Y... just watch any episode of Dragon's Den or Shark Tank...

• It's Uber... for dogs!
• It's Hello Fresh... but flowers!
• It's Reddit... but decentralized!

I've never worked in marketing but I imagine it's hard. People don't care about things. Certainly not remote or abstract things like "centralized control" or "tomorrow".

You could probably just do "Oh yeah, lemmy has good memes and posts" and be done, and only go into technical details if they ask.

Common issue in bad marketing actually, for example you know those ads that compare one product to another? They usually boost awareness of the already better known product.

I think the issue in this case though is deeper, because the design of the platforms themselves are copying the incumbents instead of bringing new ideas to the forefront.

I think Digg realizes this, which is why they are not (at least for now) calling themselves a Reddit alternative in their revival.

When reddit was new everyone described it as Digg but better. Idk why we shouldn't say Lemmy is Reddit but better?

I'd agree. And the real marketing stunt is to offer a nice place to people. Make it contribute to their lives, have a nice atmosphere, make it somewhat convenient and easy to use. Outcompete other services by being better across the board. That's giving people good reasons to join a place. And I think that's far more successful than absorbing a few people who are dissatisfied with the real deal and we're somewhat the consolation prize.

Maybe. We do need to explain in terms people can understand what specific fediverse platforms are for though, and people will understand this best if we describe it in terms of concepts they're familiar with, such as that something is structured like Twitter, like Facebook, like Reddit, etc.

Perhaps "replacement" works better than "alternative".

Of course, https://web.archive.org/web/20250811165045/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Alternative has been a section on the gnu.org website (which is for some reason currently down, hence the archive link) for a long time.

Firefox is a Chrome alternative, Linux is a Window alternative.

Fyi, for promotion of the Fediverse, there's !fedibridge@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Tiktok is not a youtube alternative

Well, what are some selling points for the fediverse? Can't claim free speech. That definitely doesn't exist here. Maybe a LITTLE more wiggle room than schmeddit, but it all depends on who controls each instance.

That's what they are though.