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A kind observation that exclusively calling this place "Mastodon" has a bit similar energy as saying "I just sent a GMail."
"Fediverse" (or "fedi") is a more inclusive, general term.
Mastodon is just one of many software projects that talk to each other to create this multi-instance social network:
https://axbom.com/fediverse/
(kudos to @axbom for this fantastic infographic!)
There are blogs, Reddit-like communities, video instances and many more, all part of fedi.
I edited this toot, as there were many people pointing out it sounded "annoyed" or "scolding." That was never the intention, and I am sorry it came off that way. 
That said, I do believe language matters a great deal: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
I am not trying to convince you to always use one term over the other (I too sometimes use "Mastodon" in that context). Okay, maybe a tiny bit.
But mainly, I am trying to give broader context. 
@rysiek The reason people are here is the community, not the technology. Within the limits of language, "Mastodon" is a much better description for the community 90%+ served off Mastodon instances, than "fediverse", which encompasses a bunch of stuff that most users are not interested in.
Mastodon is a bad name for a community, but "Fediverse" confuses a set of software sharing a protocol for community.
I want a specific term for the "Mastodon-compatible microblogging community".
@rysiek@mstdn.social@sgf how about "fedi"
@rysiek Depends how much you enjoy conversations of "When I say 'Fedi', I don't mean it as a shortening of Fediverse, I mean the social media community centred around Mastodon instances".
We'll probably just end up genericising Mastodon, like a hoover or a PC.
@sgf why does it have to be centered around masto instances? Today Mastodon happens to be the biggest, 6y ago it was Diaspora.
And because Diaspora was the biggest, its devs started acting like they own the place. End result: Diaspora is not part of fedi today, and only Friendica talks to both Diaspora and fedi.
So, why tie the whole network and community to a single project, with a single set of people running it? Centralization on "management" level is still centralization.
@rysiek It doesn't have to be centred on Mastodon, but right now it is. Using names to obscure this doesn't really help. Asking that this largely-Mastodon system be called the Fediverse feels far too like GNU/Linux. It's confusing to regular users, and anyone building software knows the difference.
I see the path to diversity being building better software, and saying "Use this - it's like Mastodon, but better". As the ecosystem changes, terminology can evolve.