Hi, I would be interested in people's opinion on the future of social media. Would activitypub ever become mainstream among "normies" that lack technical literacy?
How would monetisation work on a decentralized platform? Would the creator be limited with merchandise and promotions without ads?
Big tech walled gardens have made the internet worse. The only way you can find something on google is by appending the term "reddit" at the end of the search query. To many AI generated SEO clickbait wordpress pages.
All of the good content is locked behind a login screen.
Most corporate social media companies convert to a system of content creators that earn a living off their work, either as direct compensation from the company or via embedded ads. Non-professional participation is usually through this lens.
To keep users on the system, private networks are developed and expanded. Private chats and discords develop to full on forums.
Federated networks are out there, but it isn't the default. A lot of it is based on specific fandoms. Likely, this is funded with donations, which starts being problematic as communities become dependent on a set of benefactors.