By fediverse first, I mean that the app/site/platform was built from the start to be federated instead of being like corporate site but FOSS & federated.
In some respects it feels like many federated platforms have approached things backwards, trying to rework a centralized structure to be distributed/decentralized, creating some of the awkward UX folks experience.
I think you’re right, but that this is also promoting faster adoption of the fediverse version of the apps. It’s a lot easier to say to someone, “Hey, here’s a FOSS alternative to this corporate app you already use, it functions the way you’re used to” than “Here’s a FOSS app that does something completely new.”
Once folks are interested in the fediverse through adoption of Lemmy, Mastodon, etc., it’ll be easier to get them interested in completely novel applications.
True, but it does also lead to the question when things go awry or are awkward on the alternatives to, “Why would I use this less reliable/more complicated alternative when [corporate option] ‘just works’?” That reliability/simplicity will more often than not win out in the absence of more novel, useful differences.
A fair point, and I don’t think the people coming to Lemmy or Mastodon are the people who are happy with the status quo on Reddit or Twitter… it’s the folks who dislike those services for whatever reason, and are looking for an alternative. Lemmy and Mastodon just provide the smoothest point of transition.