[evouga]

Well since circa mid-2010s the Internet is apps. Or app-like centralized web sites (like Hacker News).

People want to install a single “Lemmy” app on their phone that shows them all Lemmy content and lets them post to all instances, using a single account and a *simple* user interface. If Lemmy cannot provide that user experience (abstracting away the federation), then yes it is doomed.

[Arn_Thor]

I have been actively looking for alternatives since the Reddit API fiasco started but I just don't have time to sit down and grok Lemmy or any of the other federated instances. And I'd argue I'm more tech curious than most. If this is such an obstacle for me, I imagine very many people won't bother either.

[tspike]

Could someone smarter than me explain why we can’t use a Bittorrent-like protocol to achieve this effect with federated servers?

[mariusor]

If you think bittorrent like protocols are better suited for your usage, there are networks that use that: nostr and scuttlebut. They are not part of what people call the fediverse, because the underlying data format is different, but you can still try it.

To answer the question, and I have just a superficial understanding of the concept, the main issue with decentralized vs. federated protocols is that you have to store the whole (or quite a large chunk of the) social tree locally on your device. That's a lot of data that you don't really care about. It might be fine if you access the network from a computer with plenty of space, but a mobile device might be more problematic.

[assbuttbuttass]

There isn't even a single Reddit app. And the whole point of federation is that you can use a single account to post on any instance

[jojobas]

Why would you post on many instances? Shouldn't you be posting on _your_ instance, that people you authorized can view?

[StephenAmar]

The problem is that Twitter, reddit, and other social platforms are mostly read, not posted to.

[jojobas]

I suspect when you're saying "apps" you mean "companies". There has to be a better way.