Some people love saying Mastodon/OStatus is very scalable because of federation but let's be honest that's some bullshit. It's easy to split and multiply, but that's not scaling.
The birdsite is much easier to scale.
Just imagine one edge case we're not seeing for now: many people using it (let's say millions) and following a very famous person
That person must have their own instance at this point, at least.
... what happens when they toot?
just imagine the enormous peaks and lag it'll do. And we're not even talking about media.
How would Mastodon realistically handle Katy Perry? I have no idea.
just in case someone read it later: the real question is not really technical but: How do you convince Katy Perry to join Mastodon and pay for a high-end instance and a full-time sysadmin and more CM when burdsite is free?
@chr that's true for us but maybe not Katy Perry.
kɜ:ʳ 
@CobaltVelvet i'm not sure what you're getting at here. Katy Perry wouldn't need to start her own instance?
@CobaltVelvet ah i didn't see the thread, but i still dispute that claim -- federation means people can follow katy perry from any instance, and all but the most rabid fans will be fine with that
@CobaltVelvet fans pay for accounts on the instance, and Katy only reads the local timeline
@CobaltVelvet we don't need a Katy Perry. i will be this instance's katy perry.
@CobaltVelvet Better brand and audience control - ensures the audience comes to your instance and hangs out in a space you create and control rather than getting sucked away by competition on a site you don't control.
@munin huh, didn't even think about that. Very dystopian. :p
@CobaltVelvet I don't think you do. If birdsite dries up in terms of exposure and mastodon is where the conversations are going on, then that alone is the selling point. And maybe there's some mastodon AAS company that she hires. IDK. But also, that's one of the things that makes mastodon antagonistic to brands, right? It's hard to have a billion followers.
@CobaltVelvet Two scenarios come to my mind:
1. Katy joins as a human person, probably under a pseudonym, but maybe not, selecting an instance that appeals to her (or maybe just one near the top of the list) and toots with us because she wants to.
2. Part of Katy's business staff determines there's value for her brand to be involved, and the cost running an instance, administration, and curating the content is less than the value generated. If that happens, bam! katyperry.social
@CobaltVelvet - seems to me there could be many benefits for someone like her to have more control over a fan community. would appeal to celebs who want to keep the conversations from getting overrun with trolls that burdsite can't control.
@lpvhouse @CobaltVelvet I'm thinking less about celebrities setting up Mastodon instances and more about organizations. Not for marketing, but for genuine engagement, customer service, etc. Could you see already-socially-minded companies like Dell or Ford with an instance? I can.
@shelholtz @lpvhouse Interesting idea. I could see some of the more progressive organizations trying that out.
@danyork @lpvhouse @shelholtz I also think about attaching the protocol to the casual blogs a la Disqus - just Mastodon instances where existing platform users can comment easily and site's community can organize itself locally better. Wordpress plugin, anyone?
@saper @shelholtz @lpvhouse But then someone has to host that local instance, right? And if I want to comment, I would need to create an account on that local instance?
Or are you suggesting that a WordPress site might effectively "federate" to the Mastodon network so that you could leave a comment using your Mastodon account? (And your comment would be posted to your Mastodon account as well?)
@danyork @lpvhouse @shelholtz
Maybe Wordpress could just speak the protocol? Act as a local identity provider, too?
Excellent example how this could work is federated wiki from Ward Cunningham (https://fed.wiki.org) - basically he made even simple sensor devices to speak the wiki protocol and federate themselves with the rest.
@shelholtz @CobaltVelvet - yes, same ability to control the conversation would be appealing for corporate CS, but challenge is getting users to go there. like trying to get them into owned forums vs. just ranting on whatever social media site they are already used to using. some companies might have loyal fanbase like a celebrity does, but majority of consumers would rather complain where their friends can see it so that they get them to commiserate.
@shelholtz Companies would have to be truly interested in supplying Customer Service, which seems rarer and rarer these days.
@CobaltVelvet But is Mastodon a social network made for such people ? I'm not saying that they should not use mastodon, but, maybe it's a place much more for common people who only want to discuss and share to each other without being disturbed by «famous people», brands or media (maybe independant ones)
@CobaltVelvet But ok, you right, it's a good technical question :)
@CobaltVelvet only a small percent of the community of an instance needs to contribute for the rest of the community to benefit
17 people on cybrespace are donating so that 223 others can enjoy it without needing to pay a cent