A puzzle about social media
Take a look at the 4 icons of well-known social media platforms below. Now, connect each platform with the single other platform that you feel is most similar, creating two pairs of platforms. Please think a bit about this before reading any further.
You may realize that all four platforms have a palette of differences and similarities. They offer different functionalities and cultures, attracting different people in different roles.
There is, however, one striking similarity between two pairs, that I have overlooked until recently. These pairs are Facebook and Linkedin on the one hand, and X and Instagram on the other. If you like puzzling, try to understand what unites each of these pairs before reading on.
Solution: Merz and Lula da Silva are not friends
As the title of this post hints at: it’s about friends vs (mutual) follows.1 On Xitter and Instagram, you can follow. On Facebook and LinkedIn, you can follow people too, but the core type of social relations are friendships and connections, respectively.
What can we learn from this? We learn that a friendship is different from a mutual follow. It is no coincidence that both Facebook and LinkedIn offer following and friending. Friedrich Merz may follow Luiz Lula da Silva and vice versa, but they are not “friends”, who would share pictures of their newborn grandchild. You may follow your city mayor, but she’s probably not your “connection”, who you can reach out to for a reference.
What does this mean for the Fediverse?
Mastodon, the currently most popular platform in the Fediverse, is just like Instagram and Xitter. You can follow and be followed2 and there is a special list “mutual follows” that client software can use to offer a “mutuals” feed, where Merz and Lula see posts of each other.
The question remains: In the Fediverse, where do people go who want online friendships? Currently, the only platform offering friendship connections is Friendica (hidden in plain sight since 2010).
It seems obvious that, if the #Fediverse is to attract more people, more platforms should offer this special type of connection. What is not obvious is whether it is up to #Mastodon to offer friendships too. Maybe this is something for other platforms – or new platforms – to pick up.
Please let me know what you think in the comments.
- Thanks to @scottjenson for suggesting the fitting title to this post ↩︎
- You can require approval for new followers, but even an approved mutual follow can be very different from a friendship ↩︎
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