Similar to Mastodon’s spikes last year, it seems. Anyways, there is data to think about. Source

  • Chocrates@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I feel like that is more or less to be expected. A ton of people found Lemmy during the reddit protests. Now that the protests are gone and Lemmy has had its growing pains some users are leaving, going back to reddit or other places. If we keep using it and making content users will grow organically.

    Lemmy is having an identity crisis of sorts. It was built to be decentralized yet we (users) seem to want to centralize everything and we all go to a few of the largest instances.

  • no banana @lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That doesn’t seem weird to me. Honestly it seems weird that it’s that active. I would’ve expected a sharper, quicker decline. Retaining active users is hard.

  • DMmeYourNudes@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    until personal interest groups are populated people will not use this site. its basically 1 big meme sub right now with some tech and politics sprinkled on top.

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      This is honestly it.

      I like the site, I want to use it, I want to encourage others to use it, but I’m getting tired of only talking about the same things here.

      Maybe we need to start encouraging people to post rather than just expecting them to.

      • DMmeYourNudes@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        we don’t need more memes, we need people to start going to the games, movies, shows, and hobbies they like and making posts.

      • swab148@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        I’m in the process of making some stuff, I just worry that the community I post it to on lemmy isn’t big enough to get the word out community-wide.

        For context, I’ve been working on a very long dogelore thing. But in the same way, I feel like this hurts any bhj or mtcj stuff I might do. The community on lemmy isn’t big enough to get traction, so what’s the point?

        I’m not going back to reddit, and discord is annoying, so it’s just a little discouraging.

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It feels like it’s mainly talking one way or another about Reddit, or describing how one of the 3P apps is now available for Lemmy. The content is super stale, but it will grow. Fuck, Reddit back in the day was not exactly the thriving metropolis it was maybe six or so years ago. And reddit peaked and came down to how it exists today. So it’ll take time.

      That being said, I don’t check Lemmy anywhere near as frequently as I did Reddit, and mainly because the subs I frequented most have smaller footprints here for now. Which is what you said, but in fewer words.

    • Makeshift@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      For what it’s worth, memes have helped me stay. I doubt I’m the only one.

      They’re quick and easy to browse and some get a bunch of topical comments and links to other relevant communities.

      It’ll take a while to reach a level that’s known in the public eye like Twitter and Reddit, but the low-hanging fruit helps keep people interested while more niche communities are forming.

    • HankMardukas@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Also, liftoff kinda sucked, but I just figured out some features of Sync, and it’s fucking beautiful.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Lol what? Liftoff is fantastic, and FOSS. Are we blaming liftoff for the downward trend/lack of growth? Cause the oh-so-amazing Sync does not seem to have reversed it, to spite all the claims I keep seeing.

        • SIGSEGV@waveform.social
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          11 months ago

          You’re not missing anything but ads. I cannot understand the Sync hype and attribute all posts about it to promotion.

          • XanXic@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Connect for Lemmy is basically Sync free. It’s got the same swipe gestures and everything. I’m not sure what people are so blown away by.

            • glockenspiel@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Not by a long shot. Connect is good, don’t get me wrong, but Sync has some major points that others usually just completely gloss over or ignore entirely–including Connect.

              Like tablet-friendly UI.

              And no, Infinity, “tablet-friendly” does not mean like 5 columns of independently scrolling content which take you to one big comment section which is a mobile UI stretched to screen size.

              Tablet UI–let alone good, productive tablet UI like Sync has with pagination and all–is always overlooked.

              • XanXic@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Not sure what you mean, this is what sync looks like for me on a big screen. Hardly tablet friendly.

                Connect looks much better for me

          • Xanthobilly@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I paid for Apollo, and I’m happy to support developers, but in app ads is a big no.

          • applejacks@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Unsure what is going on but I’m using Sync, haven’t purchased anything, and haven’t seen a single ad.

            Hope it continues as I like the app.

          • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            The native advertising has already arrived on Lemmy. Tis a day of sorrow.

    • ludwig@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Yeah, I really want r/sysadmin on here.

      They have a Discord but Discord is so incredibly annoying to use for this.

      P.S. change the sort mode to hot or top (x hours) to get more content. The default of active sucks.

    • applejacks@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I will say I was looking for some opinions on new Internet browsers.

      Posted on Reddit and here.

      Already got responses on lemmy, but my Reddit post is just being ignored.

        • applejacks@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Nothing worse than opening up a thread you’re interested in, and half the comments are stupid jokes and quoting song lyrics.

      • MBM@lemmings.world
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        11 months ago

        If you’re interested in the right (tech) topics I can see Lemmy being better yeah

    • astral_avocado@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      The two biggest ones I know of are startrek.website for trekkies and blahaj for all things trans/lgbtq. But even those don’t see to have much activity. We need better advertisement to smaller communities somehow.

      • DMmeYourNudes@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        its not about the instances, those are actually hindering growth by dividing communities across instances and defederating them. lemmy is basically several copies of reddit in a trench coat pretending to be a social network.

    • Historical_General@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’ve been posting on the HP and Tolkien communities and begun modding them too. I’d encourage people to post, and if necessary take up a little responsibility too.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I think I’ve blocked the biggest meme sub or two. Helps a lot with that.

  • platysalty@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    Some dropoff after initial hype is normal. Now we just continue as usual until reddit pisses people off again.

    • what_is_a_name@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      There are also conscious efforts to weed out bots and other measures that try to remove potential cancer from spreading.

      There was a post recently that outlined bot weeding efforts on a couple dozen instances that tanked user number by something like 1/5 - clearly visible on graphs.

      Lemmy’s doing great. Even if plenty small communities are still not big enough here.

    • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      exactly this right here. we saw the same phenomenon with threads and mastodon before it inre twitter annoying its userbase. depending on how engaged each wave of incoming users ends up, i’d guess you could expect it to look something like:

      • spike
      • drop off
      • plateau
      • spike
      • drop off
      • plateau above the last plateau
      • etc etc

      sometimes the drop off is really bad. sometimes its just people getting bored with the initial hype while others stay. rinse and repeat until the platform succeeds or dies.

      • sky_driver@citizensgaming.com
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        11 months ago

        I’m not sure what else will be able to cause a spike again. Reddits behavior over the past month is pretty much as terrible as it can get. If people aren’t moving to Lemmy anymore, it’s going to take something apocalyptic to cause Lemmys usercount to grow again.

          • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            exactly. a little bit of elbow grease and greed is what got us all to the fairly awful future we find ourselves in, who’s to say it can’t get worse? never let the hope die. lol

        • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I think there are a combination of factors intermingling, situations like the API backlash just jostle things a little harder and that’s when you see big spikes. Once a platform like Lemmy begins to see more and more traffic and, in turn, content, it starts to become a viable alternative.

          Lemmy existed for at least a couple years before I joined, for instance, and I came with what I would guess was the biggest wave so far (June 2023). Provided the userbase can keep up a respectable momentum generating discussion and content, the next wave could be bigger or it could be more resistant to leaving because there’s enough content here to consume and interact with.

          Reddit could take years to lose substantial portions of its userbase or it may shed some and stay solid, but Im not one of these people who obsesses over it’s ruin. If they survive long term, God bless, whatever, who cares. What’s interesting to me is seeing an alternative sprout up and actually generate traffic and start building a community, whether that’s Lemmy or something else built on ActivityPub or something else built on a different federated framework or even something else entirely that’s centralized… I think Lemmy is one permutation of this and it has undoubtedly got some traction.

          I sometimes wonder if/when I’ll start getting random Lemmy links from people instead of ones to Reddit.

          edit: I should also add that considering reddit is trying hard to get value on paper and probably still hoping to ipo, we probably shouldn’t put it past them be shitty once again at some point in the future.

        • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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          11 months ago

          They still have the Big Red Button of killing off old.reddit that they have yet to push.

  • datavoid@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    I’m actively lurking, I just have nothing of value to share 🌝

    • DTFpanda@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I feel like people just want to hang out and talk about stuff. We don’t always need to be wowed by some crazy high quality content or new OC. We just want to hang out with friends and shoot the shit. Most of us are on here to distract us from whatever bullshit we should probably be doing instead.

    • CandyDumDub@lemm.eeOP
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      11 months ago

      To be honest, I do the same thing. A couple of simple rules to keep the web entertaining:

      1. Filter everything that triggers you
      2. Ban porn
      3. Never, never look at comments on politics, religion and family. You’re like to want to erase humanity afterwards
      • Unforeseen@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Yeah it took a long time for me to finally curate Reddit to something I enjoyed using, I’ve started increasingly working on my filters and it just gets better and better here.

        Like Reddit, I find trying to find communities I’m interested in a little difficult so I’m just defaulting to all and continuing to filter for now. At some point soon I’ll be able to just default to subscribed.

  • SineNomineAnonymous@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    People are obsessing over numbers like bitcoiners do. Stop it.

    Of course it’s going to die down after the novelty effect has passed. Do we aim for the “fediverse” to be as big (and as toxic) as the likes of 4chan, twitter or reddit? I don’t know about you, but I’m glad it’s not the same thing.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s okay for it to die down a bit after a massive influx like we saw from Reddit.

      In the long run though, if it isn’t growing it’s dying. Lemmy is still small. If it succeeds at what it’s trying to do, it should definitely grow.

      It’s a little worrying that we can’t grow faster than the novelty-die-off rate. But not cause for alarm as yet.

    • pachrist@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s a FOMO, bigger is better, kind of thing. I think some people came here looking for a replacement, which can’t happen, instead of looking for a community, which can.

      • DulyNoted@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        It’s funny that you say that. Although it’s not I guess replacing Reddit in terms of scale, the browsing experience on Lemmy and that community feeling is actually an improvement for me.

        So, I guess for me Lemmy is a more than adequate replacement. I don’t want all of Reddit here though, I think that would cause a whole lot more problems than it would solve.

      • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        Bigger is better, that’s why I got a big truck on big wheels and only eat corndogs whole while enjoying it a little too much.

    • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org
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      11 months ago

      I’m okay with it being smaller. I don’t think I want this to be Reddit-sized. I would like more users for sure but not that many.

  • Maharashtra@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Well, to keep a user is way harder than to attract his attention.

    I think that the key differences between this platform(s) and the more known alternatives are part of the problem - people are very dumb these days and lazy. Often the first reaction to something new and not working in the expected way is to skip it, or demand the solution, rather than look around, try different approach and such.

    I feel like I’m witnessing Diaspora 2.0 effect…

  • Temperche@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

    Also, this graph does not take into account kbin which is essentially the same kind of software as lemmy but tracked seperately. Better data can be found here: https://fedidb.org/current-events/threadiverse

    Also, instance hopping and users registering on multiple instances before picking only one/being active on only once may be an explanation.

  • Lazylazycat@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Lemmy.world has been down a lot, I’ve been trying to use it but half the times I’ve logged on it’s been down. So that might be part of it?

      • MBM@lemmings.world
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        11 months ago

        Having Sync default to Lemmy.world seems like a huge mistake to me. Poor Ruud

    • Ryumast3r@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Between lemmy.world and sync having issues I almost went on reddit. Then I remembered this is the fediverse, jerboa and lemm.ee exist and I’m back and more active than ever.

      • Victron@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I think it’s mostly lemmy.world issue, since (for some reason) is Sync’s default, instead of suggesting smaller instances.

    • Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Don’t you have an account on another instance? Lemmy.world was down a bit that one time. Lemmy.ca was down once briefly for me due to site maintenance.

        • o_oli@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I made a second account on lemm.ee - it’s big so has all the connections you could need and has amazing uptime.

        • Trapping5341@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I have a second account on lemdro.id. It’s smaller and mostly android focused but its my main account most days. If world is having issues I don’t even think about it I just switch over 😂

        • Deftdrummer@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Think it depends on things like your interests and at this point in time the uptime associated with said instance.

    • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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      11 months ago

      I’m not sure why they’re not using elastic servers. Maybe because of the cost. Idk how Lemmy server dudes get their money, but it can be expensive running a server with 5-7 million visitors per month.

  • daftwerder@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    As a lurker I mostly just vote. But gotta post every once in a while to add to active users stat!

  • potopato@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    There’s also people that create multiple accounts in different instances and end up using just one.