The future of social media is a lot less social

[webecedarian]

The future of social media is a lot less social
By Brian X Chen

Social media is, in many ways, becoming less social. The kinds of posts where people update friends and family about their lives have become harder to see over the years as the biggest sites have become increasingly “corporatized.” Instead of seeing messages and photos from friends and relatives about their holidays or fancy dinners, users of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat now often view professionalised content from brands, influencers and others that pay for placement.

The change has implications for large social networking companies and how people interact with one another digitally. But it also raises questions about a core idea: the online platform. For years, the notion of a platform — an all-in-one, public-facing site where people spent most of their time — reigned supreme. But as big social networks made connecting people with brands a priority over connecting them with other people, some users have started seeking community-oriented sites and apps devoted to specific hobbies and issues.


https://www.nytimes.com/.../19/techn...ok-social.html

https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion...l-1211516.html

https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/19/the-fut...t-less-social/

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by webecedarian

... some users have started seeking community-oriented sites and apps devoted to specific hobbies and issues.

Like this site...
Community oriented websites devoted to specific hobbies or issues predate so called "social networks".
The articles says:

“It’s not about choosing one network to rule them all — that is crazy Silicon Valley logic,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “The future is that you’re a member of dozens of different communities, because as human beings, that’s how we are.“

However, sites like this one exist precisely because there is a "one network to rule them all": the World Wide Web. Before the web there where many network platforms people used to communicate and share data online (USENET, FTP, Gopher etc.) but only the emergence of the World Wide Web as one global network that replaced all of these created the environment for all these communities like the one we have here.


The thing is that these are networks that are not owned by someone: The World Wide Web, based on HTTP, an open protocol that allows everyone to create websites and to access anyone's website, using their choice of browser that is not limited by the control of a single entity whose aim is to profit from the network. This on top the Internet, another global network based on the TCP/IP suite of open protocols that are also not subject to the control of a single owner.
The same is with email: a single global network built on a free an open protocol, SMTP, that is not owned by any single owner and allows anyone to connect with anyone else on the network, without having to be customers of the same commercial entity whose interests lie elsewhere. Email would not have worked if one needed to be a user of Gmail to correspond with users of Gmail and a user of Outlook to communicate with users of Outlook etc.

[MagnumOpus]

Originally Posted by hadaso

The same is with email: a single global network built on a free an open protocol, SMTP, that is not owned by any single owner and allows anyone to connect with anyone else on the network, without having to be customers of the same commercial entity whose interests lie elsewhere.

Kbin and Lemmy are two examples of decentralized Reddit alternatives that are set up like this.

[somdcomputerguy]

Delta Chat is basically just a small email client that looks and performs like an instant messenger type of client.

- Bruce

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by somdcomputerguy

Delta Chat is basically just a small email client that looks and performs like an instant messenger type of client.

I want to try this sometimes, however I don't find in their documentations any info on how using it witt an alias in my FastMail account interferes with with other usage of the same account, especially nothing about interaction with mail filtering. Most of my email is automatically filtered out of the Inbox, and it seems that Delta Chat assumes everything has to come to the inbox. Does anyone here has some experience with using it with an alias within a FastMail account, or with some other provider, where most of the usage of the account is for other email, in an environment that uses the same account to with multiple email addresses and multiple "inboxes" (that is flders into which incoming mail is filtered according to various criteria).?

[Bamb0]

Yes and its good you agree my friend

Welcome to EMD!

[webecedarian]

Originally Posted by AdamBurgess

It's a bit disheartening to see social media becoming less about personal connections and more about professionalized content. I miss the days when we could easily catch up with friends and family's updates on holidays and everyday life. But hey, it's not all bad news. I'd like to note that due to these changes, social media has become a great tool to promote services, products and build brand presence. While there are different strategies to achieve this, you may consider using services like instant facebook likes to enhance your online presence and draw more attention to your product or brand. However, it's important to find a balance between promotional efforts and maintaining genuine connections with your audience.

Wouldn't it maybe be nice if there were two different "milieus" - social media and business-y networking?

It reminds me of how irritated people get when they're supposedly invited over to lunch at a friend's house and they get hit with a sales pitch to buy Avon or Tupperware.

[webecedarian]

Originally Posted by hadaso

Like this site...
Community oriented websites devoted to specific hobbies or issues predate so called "social networks".
The articles says:
However, sites like this one exist precisely because there is a "one network to rule them all": the World Wide Web. Before the web there where many network platforms people used to communicate and share data online (USENET, FTP, Gopher etc.) but only the emergence of the World Wide Web as one global network that replaced all of these created the environment for all these communities like the one we have here.


The thing is that these are networks that are not owned by someone: The World Wide Web, based on HTTP, an open protocol that allows everyone to create websites and to access anyone's website, using their choice of browser that is not limited by the control of a single entity whose aim is to profit from the network. This on top the Internet, another global network based on the TCP/IP suite of open protocols that are also not subject to the control of a single owner.
The same is with email: a single global network built on a free an open protocol, SMTP, that is not owned by any single owner and allows anyone to connect with anyone else on the network, without having to be customers of the same commercial entity whose interests lie elsewhere. Email would not have worked if one needed to be a user of Gmail to correspond with users of Gmail and a user of Outlook to communicate with users of Outlook etc.

But there's a difference between the "interwebs" as a network, or a facilitator, or transmitter, versus social media sites, very specific destinations.

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by webecedarian

But there's a difference between the "interwebs" as a network, or a facilitator, or transmitter, versus social media sites, very specific destinations.

SO called "social networks" like Facebook, Twitter etc. are specific destinations on the web, but they present themselves to users as general purpose means of communications. When they have enough users that come to depend on them, they become become such general purpose means of communications, that is owned and controlled by a private entity that is not subject to regulation.

[somdcomputerguy]

Originally Posted by hadaso

SO called "social networks" like ... they become become such general purpose means of communications...

I remember back in 2005 or 6 after I had moved from Southern Maryland to West Virginia a friend of mine from there, and maybe the only one out of the three or four that I was trying to stay in 'digital touch' with and actually checked their email, asked me if I was 'on' facebook and that "everybody here is using it".. So since then I've been 'on' facebook, even though from the start I've had kind of a 'sorta like/hate' vibe about it.

- Bruce