First of all, thank you @ljdawson@lemmy.world 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!
You’ll be surprised by how many redditors you can convince to join lemmy by just mentioning Sync.
It’s very effective. Understandably so; I’ve always browsed Reddit with Sync and it’s probably the single best app I’ve ever used.
Here’s a quick summary of Lemmy/kbin I find to be very effective to copy/paste to threads with confused redditors. I suggest others to do the same.
Upcoming Sync is why I’m here on lem in the first place…just had my 15th cakeday on reddit real bummer to see it go the same way digg did…
Remember it’s just an account on some website and the person behind it is what actually bought it to life.
Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself.
I was actually surprised by how much karma I had accrued when I deleted my account the other day, given that the majority of my comments were deep down in threads or niche communities. Often, I was happier to have 10 upvotes than 500, because the comments that got hundreds (or thousands) of points were generally short and quippy. I much preferred the sincere, expansive discussions though, and that was apparent when scrolling through my history.
Edit (Forgot to finish my point): And that kind of stuff is available in oodles on Lemmy. Hell, if anything, it’s easier here, because I feel like it’s way more likely anything I write will be seen and responded to. Maybe in a few years, we’ll be nostalgic for these times.
These will be the good old days, as they say. Lemmy is poised for great things I’m sure, but I don’t think it will never be like this again. I’ll be happy to be proven wring, though.
I’ve been using the Lemmy app and finding myself quite unhappy with it, but stopping to ask “Is this app actually deserving of my ire, or am I just grumpy because it’s not what I’m used to (i.e. not Sync)?”. I think it’s mostly the latter. Don’t get me wrong, Jerboa is nowhere near the level of polish or functionality of pretty much any of the main 3rd party Reddit apps (yet?), it’s just that I’m a creature of habit (and so are many others)
Nah, I agree, Jerboa is just not there right now.
I prefer the webview over Jerboa on mobile at the moment; the higher flexibility outweighs the lower mobile-friendliness for me
I can definitely see it getting great though! With more contribution.
Edit: After using the new latest version of Jerboa (0.0.35), I think I do prefer it over the webview now.
I had never heard of Sync, but with the way people are talking about it and it’s features, I think it could replace Bacon Reader for me (RIP) and this is coming from someone who uses reddit a moderate amount for niche subreddits, but isn’t going to stand for this anti capitalist BS that Spez is pulling, so how I’m here. It wasn’t hard, but I appreciate the fact not everyone is as plugged in or aware of social causes such as this or more importantly thst not everyone has the free time to put in a minimal amount of research to figure out how to move to an alternative.
Ditto, I’m a Bacon Reader man myself but have heard enough good stuff about Sync over the years that I’m pretty confident it’ll be a solid replacement.
For sure, we are still chronically starved of users. Need to play our cards right in the next few months.
In addition to OP’s idea, all of us who still have our reddit accounts should be going over there and letting people know about Lemmy in a helpful way, like ASAP. It’s really easy now because all the threads are about reddit sucking and how there is no alternative. But in a few weeks when reddit forgets, it’s going to be viewed more as spam to constantly keep bringing up Lemmy on reddit.
If we can make people aware of Lemmy before the app shutdown, it’s much more likely that they decide to actually try Sync for Lemmy.
all of us who still have our reddit accounts should be going over there and letting people know about Lemmy in a helpful way
Oh I’ve been trying to, hopefully got a few converts so far. Trying to tiptoe the line between informative and pushy since “horses water and drinking bla bla”
Yeah, good point. I just to go super enthusiastic and positive with it usually. The main problem is I don’t feel like I’m getting enough eyes on my comments. The migration/alternative subreddits are weirdly quiet.
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
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!
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
Best way is just to express excitement that development of reddit app for Android is continuing on a different platform, since many people in /r/Android use third party apps probably due to the demographic that even bothers to subscribe to /r/Android to begin with. All other subs might be more casual users who use stuff like reddit redesigned and don’t use adblockers, so this whole confusing cumbersome process is not something they care about. They just go API? What? Third party apps? Uh I don’t use that I don’t care. Ads? I’m used to it.
Apple is one that has nothing really that feels organic. There’s no like hey Apollo for Lemmy is coming out. And Apollo is kind of the only app that Apple users even care about compared to Android where there’s so many loved Reddit third party apps. Apple users are very used to subscriptions being sold on Apps too, so having to pay to remove ads and using official apps isn’t as big of a concern.
Plus, I don’t know that it even really matters going over to reddit to try to mention anything until the app comes out and it turns out to streamline the whole process of signing up and subscribing to different communities outside your instance as opposed to doing the weird !syncforlemmy@lemmy.world entry then wait for it to show up.
State of lemmy right now is something that people who weren’t deterred by the research they had to do ended up using. Apps have an opportunity to make it so none of that is necessary, but until then there is no selling point. People who wanted to move have moved, and those that didn’t stayed. Ones who are upset are shitposting, but I doubt they actually want to leave reddit since shitposting is also a sign they still want to stay on Reddit and wishing Reddit would roll back changes.
All good points, I largely agree. I still think it’s important to spread the word on reddit right now and use our momentum.
I think the biggest obstacle is the mods. I think very few actually gave a serious thought to leaving reddit, and some using reddit to communicate to each other when reddit can read everything instead of moving to stuff like slack, matrix, or even discord was bizarre. It was like a union discussing plans while corporate is invited to sit in.
To me it is very apparent the mods don’t want to leave reddit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many who are holding polls on whether to continue black oust or go back to operations are hoping redditors vote to reopen so they can save face and say it was a community decision and they had no choice and that they are remaining on reddit for the community. Like just looking at some mod profiles they are still contributing to subreddits that are functioning normally, so even their contributions indicate they want things back to normal since they are providing the type of content in line with what reddit wants.
And obviously the people left are people who just want to use reddit, so when mods don’t give indications of wanting to move the remaining community with be very hostile. I feel like people who have made the decision to leave have had their commenting and contributions to the reddit site just drop significantly, and or completely left. So to me it seems difficult unless the mods get on board with actual alternatives.
I’ve noticed myself and others getting downvoted for mentioning lemmy. Other posts mentioning discord or whatever just get ignored.
I don’t think it helps to go looking for arguments though. Some people will stay on Reddit. Some will leave. Que sera, sera.
I think grabbing more users right now is of utmost importance. If the fediverse needs to grow, now is the chance.
Mastodon had a big spike when Twitter went awol. And nows the chance for lemmy.
This is a great idea, smart recommendation
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Imagine trying to spam a clear scam link in a forum filled with tech nerds and power users. Like in what universe does this actually work lmfao
Since we’re only talking about a week timeline here, would it be possible to update the sync app with a list of popular Lemmy instances and a way to view your favorite one from a web view within the app? That way people could still use sync in the meantime while native features gradually get rolled out.
This is an amazing idea if possible!
absolutely agree, get them here and make this community even more vibrant
I would respectfully disagree.
The people who were susceptible to coming over to lemmy as it is are already here. Those who think its too complicated or whatever will stay on reddit.
I think the key to wider lemmy adoption is by focusing on the product, not so much the marketing. While it obviously helps for people to know about it, which many people now do, it doesn’t matter if they come check it out and its a confusing ghost town.
Getting these apps out and filling the platform with communities and content is, I think, much more important than trying to drag people here kicking and screaming.
As the platform becomes better, the people will come.
I disagree the more people that know about it the better. My friend is an avid reddit user but uses the basic app and regular reddit (not old.reddit) and he never heard of lemmy.world until I told him yesterday. If people know about its existence they will know its an option. He is considering switching as well after telling him.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted (or at least mixed votes) for this. I appreciate you bringing diversity of thought to the argument and doing it in a constructive way. This is how we get the best possible outcome: by hearing, and actually contemplating, viewpoints different than our own.
Cheers.
I don’t think people will be dragged kicking and screaming. They’ve seen the turmoil with Reddit over the past few weeks and are looking for alternatives. This could be good education for them, especially as Lemmy is a bit more confusing compared to Reddit.
referencing users on Lemmy is not at all the same as reddit, since there are multiple instances.
there’s no automagic function for it (at least not on the web there isn’t - that’s probably why you couldn’t find one), you just have to do it by hand.
ie.
[.world](http://lemmy.world/u/foreverwinter)becomes: @foreverwinter@lemmy.worldAwesome. Thanks for the tip @alex@geddit.social !
Those fuckers
Funny thing is that I don’t see this popup in sync.
It only happens when you access a reddit link from mobile without a default app to open reddit. They are trying to force the shite app on everyone, which is amusing b/c all it does is make me give LJ more energy
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
It should just ask if you want to continue in [browser], but I think reddit flagged any posts about apps to have this popup/last ditch attempt.
PSA: get past it by clicking “desktop view”.
Or old.reddit
Right?!
That’s the point. The mods are passing to NSFW because it’s a pain to view such content on Reddit
Imagine if it just seamlessly continued working after a short account signup and translated your Reddit subs to various Lemmy ones where it could.
That’d be magical, but isn’t easily feasible.
I don’t think it’s a bad idea to say that Sync for Reddit is shutting down, if you would like to follow new projects by LJ, please click here for Patreon or here for Lemmy or something along those lines.
Honestly, I think it needs to be more aggressive than that, as bad as that may sound.
Something like:
"Reddit’s new API policies has made it impossible for Sync for Reddit to continue.
Click here for Sync for Lemmy, an alternative to Reddit, instead. You will be notified when it is out in [estimated time for prototype]."
Would probably be more effective if the app remained the same, and you didn’t need to download a separate Sync for Lemmy from the playstore; do we know which one’s happening yet?
I wonder if this would even be legal though.
+1 this is a super good idea - !ljdawson@lemmy.world
This is brilliant idea
deleted by creator
Alot of us, including me, wouldn’t be here using Lemmy right now if people didn’t market it to us.
Even people who otherwise would can’t switch if they don’t know about it.
Marketing is important; nothing wrong with that on its own.
its just semantics chill lil bro
I think it would actually be pretty cool if somehow you could link configured subreddits that people have saved or subscribed to into a search for Lemmy communities.
Obviously we want to minimize time that distracts you from the Lemmy version, but I do think it would help people pivot into Lemmy communities away from their favorite subreddits.
