On the network effect and PLN’s

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. On the network effect and PLN’s
Clint Lalonde, Ed Tech Factotum, 2020/01/15
Clint Lalonde describes his thinking and efforts to convince people to use Mastodon, noting that it's hard to get a social network off the ground because of the network effect, that is, the idea that networks become much more useful as the number of people using them grow, but which means they can appear less desirable at the early stages. I don't see Mastodon as an alternative to Twitter (which I continue to use as a broadcasting tool) but as an alternative to Facebook (in other words, as a place to form community and chat). Also, I will never overcome "the hesitation around 'using' people." I don't believe in using people. I am happy to contribute to community and to converse with friends, but the minute I start assessing a network based on 'what I can get out of it' my motivation and my relationship with the network is broken. More...