First of all, thank you @[email protected] for pursuing Sync for Lemmy. It’s honestly given me so much hope for Fediverse adoption to actually happen. I do have one thought to share with you to help with success:

Come July 1st pretty much all Sync users are going to open the app due to muscle memory or due to a lack of awareness of what’s happening.

If they see “this app doesn’t work any more” or similar, they are simply going to delete the app and will likely go to the official Reddit app. The opportunity to engage them will be gone.

However, you can use it as a huge marketing opportunity if on that day it says something to the effect of:

  • Sync for Reddit doesn’t work any more due to the API changes…
  • However Sync for Lemmy is in development
  • Here’s how you try Lemmy (and/or kbin) in the mean time…
  • Keep Sync for Reddit on your phone to receive a notification when Sync for Lemmy is launched

Even if they don’t try Lemmy right away, if they get a notification from the old app saying the new one is ready they will possibly try it at that time (but you need to convince them to keep the old app on their phone)

But the clock is ticking - after July 1st the chance of engaging someone in this way is very low as they’ll likely uninstall the old app. IMO getting this teed up is of a higher priority than developing the minimal-viable-product for the new app.

You likely already have this in the works, but wanted to throw it out there incase you hadn’t planned on it already. Thanks again for doing this - I am so hopeful and excited for a viable alternative to Reddit and Sync could be such a huge piece in making it possible!

Originally posted to /r/syncforlemmy but figured I should put my money where my mouth is and post here as well. After all, this is the future!

  • sneakyninjapants
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    2 years ago

    I just to go super enthusiastic and positive with it usually

    Honestly the best way to pitch it IMO. It’s been such a great experience here I almost feel compelled to proselytize the glory of the fediverse, but if I can’t keep it in my pants a bit I’m certain to put people off the message.

    The migration/alternative subreddits are weirdly quiet

    I’ve noticed that too the few times I’ve checked. I wonder how many people there are still regularly tying to do outreach. I’ve had some luck on the selfhosted sub, of course you’d expect that lot would be more eager to jump on a self-hostable platform anyway. Piracy subs too for obvious reasons lol

    • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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      2 years ago

      Yeah, piracy has so much activity for obvious reasons. And they constantly get kicked out and stuff and piracy is an area that does require lot of self learning to do safely, so probably the most undeterred.

      But, I follow lot of games, tech, and pc related stuff mainly and pretty much only sub that bothered to actually do anything was /r/privacyguides. Which is the instance I am on. So when these tech/pc/game subs you think would more embrace new tech aren’t making any efforts to leave I think it’s a sign most people including the mods don’t actually care about leaving. They actually care way less than most non tech related subs.

      • sneakyninjapants
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        2 years ago

        Yeah, piracy has so much activity for obvious reasons. And they constantly get kicked out and stuff and piracy is an area that does require lot of self learning to do safely, so probably the most undeterred.

        Very true, their adaptability to ever changing conditions makes them a great demographic for early adoption.

        only sub that bothered to actually do anything was /r/privacyguides …

        I think people interested in guarding their privacy are another great demographic for switching platforms too as they’ve already been primed for the discomfort of dropping the easy option such as a service that mines every interaction for advertising data for something that may be slightly less intuitive to use, but keeps their privacy much more intact.

        It’s an unfortunate situation, but most people are pretty lazy (myself included) and aren’t really interested in exploring options outside their comfort zone, and that’s fine I suppose. I feel like most people just consume reddit content and aren’t really interested in the community aspect of it, and completely uninterested in contributing to it, so if it’s still giving them the ability to mindlessly scroll and consume than that’s good enough for them. Once that starts to disappear, maybe they’ll become more receptive to switching platforms, but no way of telling at this point.

    • imaqtpieA
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      2 years ago

      Yeah the Piracy community seems like it could become an anchor on this platform, which I would love.

      Pirates are generally aligned against capitalism and corporatism, but they are not all in the same boat, politically speaking.

      Such a diverse yet similar group could prove very helpful in charting a middle course amongst some of the more opinionated instances.

      Arggh!

      • sneakyninjapants
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        2 years ago

        Yeah the Piracy community seems like it could become an anchor on this platform, which I would love.

        Oh yeah, I think this will be a great platform for the Piracy minded amongst us. Not beholden to a central authority, censorship resistant, no legal liability encompassing the network of discrete nodes. Lots of upsides.

        Such a diverse yet similar group could prove very helpful in charting a middle course

        I hope this will be the case as well. Those that want to Pirate aren’t going to be sticking around long on instances whose owners are defederating the pirate horde I think.

        • imaqtpieA
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          2 years ago

          Word. Glad you’re part of my instance and looking forward to watching how this develops together.

          But you didn’t laugh at my pirate puns 😭

          an anchor

          in the same boat

          charting a course

          Arggh!

          • sneakyninjapants
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            2 years ago

            Glad you’re part of my instance

            Same same

            Lol somehow all of those puns completely slipped past me, idk how I even missed that

            Got a hearty chuckle out of me on the second read through matey. Hmm maybe more of a cackle tbh

            • imaqtpieA
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              2 years ago

              Yeah I was reaching for that joke a bit 😅