Link: https://blog.joinloops.org/loops-is-now-on-google-play/

Loops (the Fediverse alternative to Tiktok) is now available for both iOS, and Android.

It was previously only available for iOS, or Android (via APK).

It's like most of the fediverse... it sucks because there's basically zero content/discoverability

I hope I'm wrong and Loops takes off, but I imagine there isn't a lot of overlap between people who are thoughtful enough with their social media usage to want a a federated platform, and people who enjoy TikTok-style (short / vertical) videos

You won’t hear it from the users here obviously, because of self-righteous anti-capitalist views that drove them here in the first place. And I’m not saying they are wrong or it’s a bad thing, but now you’ve got the furry/band kid table from the high school lunch room helping you form your political opinion and consume your time with AWFUL anime memes.

I'm a "self-righteous" anti-capitalist, but I'm not a furry or band geek.

That and the confusing system for platforms/instances will drive away everyday users who are used to an easy sign up

I'll never really understand this critique of lemmy/fediverse. It's not that hard. You just, uhh, pick one. If you don't like it, just pick another.

If reddit fails, another capitalist will swoop in and take their place.

I'm not sure about that. Most people prefer the twitter-like platform, short-form content. Reddit style is a dying model imo. It's not even that useful anymore, as everything is hidden away in Megathreads.

But yea, I doubt it will ever be mainstream. I'm fine with that though. Nothing I do is very mainstream. I'm just hipster like that I guess.

I like shorts. Things like "DNS in 30 seconds."

It's not the format or the platform that turns me away, it's the content. I don't care about people twerking in the street or "kid drinks coke with mentos."

There might be a segment of users who want a "lefty" version of tiktok-style platform, in which Loops would probably fit that niche. My partner uses Red Note though, and it fits that criteria just fine while also being way more usable.

My two most used platforms are actually tik tok and Lemmy.

But never actually used loops, or even peertube, because lack of content.

It's easier for content to be generated by fewer users in lemmy or mastodon.

It’s not that hard.

Literally any effort at all is too hard for the majority of people. They want the smoothest experience possible, to never have to think.

You won't hear it from the users here obviously

Are you not a user here? Are you a figment of my imagination?

This place may be the right fit for some, but a lot of people are here because they don't fit in elsewhere.

Ah, okay, so is that why you're here? Nobody likes or wants you because you're an asshole, so you thought you'd come and be an asshole over here instead?

Some even claim that it's the way they like it, but niche communities fail while copies of reddit communities are the only ones with engagement.

This community has engagement. Is it a copy of a Reddit community?

Lemmy/PieFed and Mastodon will probably carve out a tiny base of users over the next few years, but it's doubtful that they will ever be mainstream.

Is that the goal of the Fediverse?

I miss when trolls used to put effort into their posts.

Edit: lmfao at your edit to make my comment read as nonsense. That's the old fashioned trolling I used to know and love!

Choosing the default instance during signup isn't what's keeping people from using the fediverse.

It's not any harder than any other platform I've had to sign up for for the past 30 years. I have no idea why some of you think it's so difficult.

"C++ in 30 seconds."

I can't find the source code anywhere

I mean that's kind of the one thing TikTok has going for it; it's algorithm is very good at quickly adapting to what type of content you like. There's plenty of IT/tech content on there, it just takes liking a few videos about a topic beforeyour feed adjusts. I havent seen "people twerking in the street" or "kid drinks coke with mentos" videos since basically the first time I opened the app.

Same for me, although for loops the other thing I don't like that much is that you have to curate it much more to be served videos you're actually interested in. I understand many people here probably do their best to get away from algorithmically served content but it's what TikTok does best imo.

No one can be Derek Banas.

Lol maybe it's because every time I open the app I uninstall it. Kidding. I did see some absolutely incredible ways of teaching and learning math that made me utterly furious at the American education system. We teach academic subjects in the absolutely dumbest way possible. I learned that on Tiktok.

It's in this repo.

Did I say it was difficult? Nope!

These people are basically babies, they want everything spoonfed to them.

I tried loops months ago, never been on tiktok. Is it just all people walking their dogs and random snips of random landscapes?

No money incentive, so you get different results.

TikTok is about stupid and addictive entertaining shorts. Loops doesn't have those, so it might appear as more boring, but I think it's healthier and so this is a plus.

That's true of many platforms but I think Lemmy is an example of the exact opposite. I just registered on my instance and now I get loads of interesting content from the general feed.

In fact Reddit, which is supposed to have more content, failed to get me using it because I just found it boring, unlike Lemmy.

I don't think that's a problem of Fediverse

I think Fediverse isn't really an exact alternative to proprietary social media. It's a totally different way of engaging online, one which is more active, more conscious and more creative. So for people who want to be passive consumers Fediverse will always fail. But I believe more and more people are adopting the approach to using the Internet offered by the Fediverse so eventually it'll grow to be the new norm.

Not a bad thing IMHO. Reminds me of the very old youtube

If only I managed to receive their confirmation email...

I don't mind that, but what I do mind is that the advertised premise of the fediverse (one account for all socials) is kind of a lie

The way it's presented on jointhefediverse.net makes it seem like you can use one account across all federated socials. But it's more one account for each social, across all instances of that social, with some interoperability

technically you can. I've seen people post to lemmy from mastodon, for example. I'm not super knowledgeable about this.

Sure it is. Think about email - the majority don't actually consciously pick pick an email service, they just get gmail by default and don't spend even one second thinking about it. There's no "default" choice here, so they get confused and scared.

just block the anime meme communities if they bother you, the point of lemmy is to have a personalised experience

Nah, it feels a lot more artistic and expressive than corporate-incentivized shorts. I'm here for it!

That is not the point of Lemmy.

I'm so tired of people thinking the point of social media is to create a personalized echo chamber.

the point of lemmy is being libre. i enjoy customizing my content instead of just being fed by an algorithm. its just neat having the ability of creating an echo chamber, even if thats not what you want. people should be able to absorb opinions in the way they want

LOL no. You dont just let an insane person run around wielding a knife cause they want to.

Saying its ok to want to only hear exactly what you want is not how existence works and you will crash against actual reality when it doesnt care to live up to the expectations of online.

like, why do you care? it's none of your business how others form their opinions. even though i agree that it can be healthy and probably a good thing, people still have no obligation to confront themselves with differing views.

Because I am a part of the world and an avatar to enact its will.
Which means, yeah I'm just another person you have to deal with. The fact that I can is why you have to deal with it.

Its weak and completely anti life to hide from all others for your existence. You might as well not at that rate. Existence is in observation. If you want nobody to observe you existing then you really aren't living.

A life of no challenges and learning or differing opinions doesnt exist. Even rocks have to accept the opinion of rain.

.world ass comment

I think it's a good thing that I could just choose to not deal with you anymore. I like having the option to choose the people I interact with and I think everybody should have that option. Also, thanks for sharing your views on existence and life.

bruh the alternative to tiktok should be absolutely nothing. imagine if the conversation was "europeans are dependent on highly addictive american and chinese drugs" and the conclusion was "so we should create our own drugs instead" and not "let's do our best to make people not use the drugs"

You can also do it the other way, and call out Mastodon users from Lemmy.

I did that to Jason Scott once, though I think he was less than happy about it. I was just shocked it worked.

I haven't used it in a number of months.

It works as a short video delivery tool, but it's filtering is almost non-existent.

At the very least, let me limit what I see on a language basis.

The lightning in the bottle for shorts is providing you what you like to see and refining that list to make it even better.

It's also what makes shorts platforms so addictive.

Yeah exactly. We both exist. And we all have to get used to seeing bottom feeders everywhere we look. Cause here you are.

I’m not sure I see this being very effective. In my opinion, the draw of TikTok isn’t the short video format itself (there’s plenty of mid-length content from 3-10 minutes on there), it’s the algorithm. Every other platform without the addictive and incredibly personalized algorithm loses the draw because that’s the only way the infinitely-scrolling random short form content pipeline works for people.

Yes, that's what I mean: the Fediverse implies a more conscious and deliberate use of social media. It's not intended for people who are more consumerist. So I don't think the Fediverse itself competes with proprietary social media. I think it's two different ways of using the Internet that are competing here.