Question: do sometimes post get « viral » here?
@EricVandal There are more than 2 million users. I'd guess it can happen.
there's like 160,000
@opie @EricVandal Wait maybe I'm thinking of Mastodon.
@EricVandal Nope.
@EricVandal
No. I don’t think so
@EricVandal Not really. Can posts be favorited (starred) by a lot of people? Sure. But there is no algorithm to artificially boost visibility just because people have reacted to or commented on a post.
The way people see your stuff here is either because they are searching purposely for hashtags, they follow you and so you're in their friends feed, or they happen to see you scoot past in the Community Firehose.
@EricVandal the other option is if someone 'boosts' your post. That will re-share your post to the people who follow that person, but it doesn't re-post it to the entire community firehose.
lol...no
@EricVandal I'm not sure it's possible. Mostly, a superspreader like George Takei could get dozens (thousands?) of boosts by his many followers BUT there is no underlying algorithm that propels highly validated (favorited, boosted) content that would be more than anyone else's content.
Community firehose is the same for everyone, all the posts, in chrono order, period. All the boosts in chrono order, period.
You don't get content from people you don't follow in your My friends feed.
@EricVandal I hope not