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Comment by xcavier | Hacker News Reader

I think the biggest issue with the decentralised crowd is they think their target market is their (technical) peers. Web publishing was a cul de sac until it went WYSIWYG. Dialup internet didn’t take off until the likes of AOL dumbed it down.

Until the decentralisation experience becomes AOL simple, it will remain a backwater.

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For decentralization to take off, I can absolutely see a company pushing it as a user-first, privacy-forward social media solution. Basically turning your own home computer (or a $100 device you keep plugged in at home), that operates as your server. You set up your profile and use a plugin and add-on store to basically build your own social network. Then share usernames with friends and family. The data stays in your own house and is accessible to those you grant access to.

I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of decentralization yet, but I can totally see this being an angle companies to take. Especially as data privacy becomes even more important to people.

Freedombox[0] has been a thing for 14 years, there are plenty of solutions for hosting services for yourself as someone technical, but they're not compelling to nontechnical folks who will have a fax machine with no one to fax.

maybe it's a different story with activitypub and bluesky's AT protocol, but it's not as if decentralized social protocols are a new innovation, the market just isn't interested in "privacy" and "control" - those that do have already discovered they can get by without social media altogether

(I say this as someone building a self hosted home server/appliance, but I think i'll promise more of a fireproof safe - not for keeping secrets, but for making sure you don't lose essential documents / family photos, and a home assistant that doesn't shout "I CANT CONNECT TO THE WIFI" when I ask it to switch a lamp off)

[0] https://www.freedombox.org/

I think the reason is because the technical is boring. It's gotta get wrapped up in pretty plug-and-play hardware, customization-forward (social feed that you design!), private (your data is stored right in your home!), etc.

I think it could be aimed well at something like the livestreaming/Twitch/YT community, and build out from that base.

Thanks for sharing Freedombox too, I've never heard of them before.

In 2024 there are a huge number of people whose only computing device is a phone and those people need to be able to easily use your service too

The technical peers can start and create the masses worth joining the platform for. Your average non-technical Joe would never understand why would they swap their Facebook or Twitter for this. It would happen only when the technical folks would despise the platforms. We can help non-technical folks to join, when needed. I don’t see it as a huge obstacle for mass adoption in a long-term perspective.

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