Maybe some of that but my sense is that given how prescient FB has been on buying companies that grew to become staples, like WhatsApp and Instagram I would say what they’re seeing here is something like the future of social media - even if tiny.

Unfortunately they can’t buy it, but they can do the next best thing: position themselves to take advantage of it, while in its infancy, and if possible control it while they can still throw their weight about before it takes off independently.

I was there the first time. It feels different now - people are contributing and having discussions. Certainly a better quality of discourse than any other social media I’ve used.

Google can’t harvest your data on Lemmy

Would be nice if there was a way for posts to be flagged such that memes and shitposts and more serious discussions could be separated, so you could filter depending on mood.