I apologize if this is old news, but I just noticed it. It looks like Kagi has added Fediverse Forums as a default Web search option.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
1228 points (98.3% liked)
Fediverse
31086 readers
539 users here now
A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).
If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to [email protected]!
Rules
- Posts must be on topic.
- Be respectful of others.
- Cite the sources used for graphs and other statistics.
- Follow the general Lemmy.world rules.
Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Makes sense they advertise here enough
I'm not sure they do at all. There are just a bunch of Kagi users here.
I mean the idea is to appear organic, it's not very effective advertising otherwise. It's free real estate there is no reason they would not be doing it.
Should I ask them about being paid? I've been doing it for free all this time.
Not trying to say there is no organic discussion, but I would be shocked if they were ignoring this avenue for getting the word out. It's basically free advertising and advertising is generally expensive.
If they aren't paying anyone is it advertising? I'm not sure what you're actually talking about anymore. Maybe I never did
Well sure it is. I mean nonpaid advertising is the best kind for everyone since it's likely to actually be honest and actually listened to but it's not always easy to tell from some comments what their true motivations are. Thus the existence of astroturfing.
Kagi probably has a social media manager or hires a marketing agency (as most companies do) and their time would be well spent posting on Lemmy (and other sites) about Kagi but in as organically of a way as possible since we're all pretty ad averse here. I mean, it's possible Kagi specifically isn't doing it, but it is a matter of when, not if, companies start doing that here.
So yah, the social media manager or marketing agency is getting paid. People organically posting because they genuinely like the service, aren't. The former would be advertising. The later not.
Can you point to any accounts you think are doing Kagi astroturfing. IE being paid to advertise with. Because now it just sounds like you're speculating.
? It's a well established strategy. I'm not speculating, this is how social media marketing works. You can find all sorts of resources on how marketers strategize about these things.
https://old.reddit.com/r/SocialMediaMarketing/comments/1edu8u6/commenting_as_a_social_media_strategy/
This has gotten quite pedantic but being paid is not a requirement, just is most often how it's done:
Advertising (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertising) 1: the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements
I'm not trying to tell you how to post, genuine recommendations are the only form of advertising I respect. But it is advertising and companies have every incentive to astroturf that.
You're speculating that Kagi is actually astroturfing on Lemmy. That's why I asked for an account you believe to be doing it on Kagi's behalf.
you see ads on Lemmy?
I tend to be suspicious of any brand name dropping. It's where most reddit advertising happens too.
https://old.reddit.com/r/SocialMediaMarketing/comments/1edu8u6/commenting_as_a_social_media_strategy/
The only factors keeping guerilla advertising off Lemmy are its relative obscurity and maybe association with less advertising-friendly instances (which afaik are mostly defederated from the biggest instances). We aren't immune to astroturfing by a longshot.
In the case of Kagi, the degooglers are basically their market. Here is probably one of the best places to reach an audience since it's basically people fleeing similar tech bro overreach from reddit.
I think Kagi is fine btw but I also think knowing that we're just as if not more susceptible to this kind of marketing is important to keep in mind for the health of the fediverse.
Fair point, I think I agree. Just makes me feel ever so slightly called out for mentioning them frequently myself, though it's pretty clear you're not talking about regular users giving honest feedback so that's more a "me" problem
Sorry, I meant nothing towards anyone in particular, just mostly want to point out the strong likelihood companies are posting here. It's a when, not an if. The bigger Lemmy gets the more money there is to be made here.
No offense taken at all, you're right to draw attention to it!
What advertising?