Interesting, thanks!

Ah, interesting, thanks! The wikipedia article on PeerTube explains that it is indeed user peer to peer to some extent, using WebTorrent. I had no idea. Very interesting.

Wait, I thought that PeerTube was peer to peer in the sense that the various PeerTube server instances were peers, and not the users clicking and watching videos were peers. Am I mistaken? It seems that in order for the users to peer, they would need to either install a client program that would do that, or make some heavy browser security approvals. If it’s the servers that are peering, then this law shouldn’t apply to the users.

I’ve heard that there are some Mastodon apps that have their own algorithms, but unfortunately don’t remember any details. Perhaps that would be something to look into.

Ah, I see what you mean now. Yes, that sounds like it would probably be useful, but I hope that they are very careful with slowly adding features that change the network/social dynamics of the place.

Mastodon has an “Explore” section, that lists the most popular posts today. It also has subsections for trending news, hashtags, and “for you” which seems to be suggested accounts to follow.

My three top criteria for picking an instance were:

1. Little to no defederation issues, in either direction.
2. Likely to stick around for the long term.
3. Relatively small.