Rant about social media
1/? Idon't think it's controversial to say Mastadon is an important evolution of the Twitter format. The increased moderation capability as well as the ability to create channels for any niche topic means Mastadon feels (to some degree) more friendly than birdsite. Unfortunately, by using the Twitter format as its foundation, Mastadon inevitably runs into a similar problem of connection, or rather the lack thereof.
Rant about social media
2/? This can be clearly seen in Mastadon's continuation of Twitter's public Like/Repost counters. These counters serve as open indicators of popularity and, intentially or not, create an unnecessary environment of competition between users with those able to accrue the most likes/reposts emerging as the "winners". Conversly, those who doesn't achieve similar metrics are the "losers".
Rant about social media
4/? On social media, we are encouraged to "be our true selves", especially in more insular spaces like Mastadon. All well & good on its own but now we add that competition factor mentioned above & suddenly "our true selves" are given an arbitrary value which is easily measured against others. Say you pour your heart & soul into a post & it gets no likes or reposts. What does that then say about you?
Rant about social media
3/? I'm not saying this was Mastadon's intention or that users are competing deliberately. However, when you create a system that clearly marks certain people/posts as "better" than others, then competition emerges whether users are conscious of it or not. Competition in a foot race is one thing. Competition on a social media platform is another.