the content creator cycle on mastodon

each migration cycle confirms this pattern

this isn't even a criticism to content creators. i don't think there's any fault in their part

twitter (and any other social network, actually) is based on the illusion that the influencer uses the network in the same way a normal user does. however, for them, the network is actually a work tool and they need to generate engagement — which, at the end of the day, involves being the center of common user interactions

in practice, there are two classes of user: the normal ones and the influencers; and the interactions in the network are almost always vertical (and unilateral) between the two. the job of the content creator, whatever his size, is being the center of the interactions and making numbers. they work as part of the influencer class and needs this to sustain themselves

in mastodon, there's no such class distinction. interactions over here are decentralized and horizontal. this is why, even with an absurdly smaller number of users, people report they have much richer interactions over here than over twitter

the consequence is that the content creator comes to mastodon, tries to use it as a work tool and simply cannot. when they realize there's no way to do so, they bounce because they need to work

it's not their fault. they need to work. it's a simple reality in the structure of the social giants that can be hard to see until you step out of them and into a social network that's organized in a radically different way. content creators come hoping to find a healthier work environment and find out, using it, that there's no work to be found here

this is always what happens when someone famous arrives to mastodon and it will keep happening

p.s. this text is somewhat of an answer to someone on mastodon who was worried about monetization, but i didn't reply directly in his thread because i wanted to talk about this for a long time

my response to him is that there's no need to worry about monetization in the fediverse because the very structure of the network puts the idea of “content creator” as a profession into question

(this text is a translation from portuguese of this: https://write.as/imbu/o-ciclo-do-criador-de-conteudo-no-mastodon)