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Social Quitting

locusmag.com

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Re: Social Quitting

#51

Post by msravi »

photochemsyn wrote: post #16

> "Twitter got bought out by a low-attention-span, overconfident billionaire who started pulling out Jenga blocks to see whether the system would fall over, and when it did, we all got crushed by the falling blocks." I've spent years mocking Twitter for it's short character limit (designed IMO for the low-attention-span trend) and the siloizing/bunkering effect of Facebook and groups (where never a contrary opinion i…

> and there's what feels like a lot of algorithmic optimization of engagement going on

It's pretty easy not to see these algorithmic optimizations. (1) There's a link on the top right of the home feed that allows you to turn on a chronological feed instead of the algorithm-organized feed (2) Add accounts to a list instead of just "following" a feed (3) Use an app like twidere that allows you to quickly switch between your home feed and list feeds (with the added advantage that twitter promotions and recommendations of accounts to follow are filtered out)

The net result is pretty good. I maintain separate lists of people on either ends (and center) of the political spectrum and it's easy to look at what they're saying and arrive at your own opinion/conclusion.

Re: Social Quitting

#52

Post by hamilton987 »

msravi wrote: post #51
photochemsyn wrote: post #16

> "Twitter got bought out by a low-attention-span, overconfident billionaire who started pulling out Jenga blocks to see whether the system would fall over, and when it did, we all got crushed by the falling blocks." I've spent years mocking Twitter for it's short character limit (designed IMO for the low-attention-span trend) and the siloizing/bunkering effect of Facebook and groups (where never a contrary opinion i…

> and there's what feels like a lot of algorithmic optimization of engagement going on It's pretty easy not to see these algorithmic optimizations. (1) There's a link on the top right of the home feed that allows you to turn on a chronological feed instead of the algorithm-organized feed (2) Add accounts to a list instead of just "following" a feed (3) Use an app like twidere that allows you to quickly switch between…

[dead]

Re: Social Quitting

#53

Post by _visgean »

ipaddr wrote: post #49
travisgriggs wrote: post #37

There’s that old saying “God gave you two ears and one mouth, please use in that proportion.” So much of the social aspect of the internet has been about “giving more people a voice”, and we’ve chased that desire at the blogging, milli-blogging, micro-blogging level. I’m undecided, but I have a hunch that the increase in “speaking” via the internet has not increased at the same level as encouraging people to “listen.…

I want to agree with your ideals but there are 1,000x more people who read and rarely share. The viewed stat on a top rate hn submission is probably 50,000 views on average where comments are measured in the hundreds.

On the same topic: https://www.axios.com/2022/03/08/political-polarization-twit...

Re: Social Quitting

#54

Post by Gigachad »

LarryMullins wrote: post #47
travisgriggs wrote: post #37

There’s that old saying “God gave you two ears and one mouth, please use in that proportion.” So much of the social aspect of the internet has been about “giving more people a voice”, and we’ve chased that desire at the blogging, milli-blogging, micro-blogging level. I’m undecided, but I have a hunch that the increase in “speaking” via the internet has not increased at the same level as encouraging people to “listen.…

Seems pretty simple. Like a noisy restaurant; if everybody is talking at once then nobody can hear anything.

That would be more like group chats. You hear the people close to you. Social media is different where a small group are screaming very loud and drown out the majority.

Re: Social Quitting

#55

Post by Gigachad »

btheshoe wrote: post #48

It seems to me that the deaths of Twitter and Facebook are being greatly exaggerated (by this article, and by the vibes generally). A decrease in users is not the same thing as a mass exodus. And I'm frankly skeptical of any claims that Twitter is facing an existential decrease in users.

“The great resignation”, “quiet quitting” and now “social quitting” are all instances of the media turning tiny observed trends or even normal operations in to some great names social shift when the reality is not much has changed.

Re: Social Quitting

#56

Post by antipotoad »

Gigachad wrote: post #55
btheshoe wrote: post #48

It seems to me that the deaths of Twitter and Facebook are being greatly exaggerated (by this article, and by the vibes generally). A decrease in users is not the same thing as a mass exodus. And I'm frankly skeptical of any claims that Twitter is facing an existential decrease in users.

“The great resignation”, “quiet quitting” and now “social quitting” are all instances of the media turning tiny observed trends or even normal operations in to some great names social shift when the reality is not much has changed.

Yet.

The builders of the next generation of social tools are doubtless already busy. I’d venture to say we’re looking for the wrong thing, if we’re expecting the Facebook-killer to be another giant platform.

Re: Social Quitting

#57

Post by throwaway82388 »

Swizec wrote: post #12
nostrapollo wrote: post #5

Hard to tell from my phone but are there any sources for the ‘exodus’ numbers? I don’t get the same impression that this post is laying out.

It’s a vibe shift. The hard numbers may not be there (yet?), but the early signs are. Facebook has been dead for years, unless you count instagram. Twitter never actually caught on with the normies. Gen Z is on TikTok. In my friend groups everything that used to happen on Facebook now happens on private WhatsApp, iMessage, and Slack groups.

Vibe shift is just another term for a change in elite aspirant opinion. The vibe is localized to highly trend conscious social and professional milieus. These scenes are often regarded as a cultural vanguard, but are in fact often detached from the majority of the population, and are less harbingers of broad shifts in public opinion, and more simple reporters on their own microclimates. That is all to say, the hard numbers might not materialize for some time, if at all, and not for the reasons presently stated.

Re: Social Quitting

#58

Post by ako »

esperent wrote: post #43
nuc1e0n wrote: post #6

Doctorow continues to be as wise as ever.

Unfortunately I disagree. I always want to like Doctorow. In theory we have similar political views and I love that there's a famous writer who espouses them. But then I read his work and pretty much always find it lacking. For example, this post. It starts with a very clear point: huge numbers of users are leaving Facebook and Twitter, to the point where these companies are in serious trouble and will soon go the wa…

Trends can be observed without the actual data. The fact that he doesn’t have the data to proof it, doesn’t mean he’s wrong. I’ve observed the same trend, hardly anybody I know still uses Facebook, same for Twitter. WhatsApp however is an essential communication tool: sportclubs, schools, all use WhatsApp for last minute info. Not sure if Facebook/meta is in trouble, as instagram and WhatsApp seem to pretty popular.

Re: Social Quitting

#59

Post by pmontra »

nostrapollo wrote: post #5

Hard to tell from my phone but are there any sources for the ‘exodus’ numbers? I don’t get the same impression that this post is laying out.

Anecdotally I know exactly one person using Twitter to tweet and that's only because he shares some of those tweets to a Telegram channel. When he does I might check those messages on Twitter but I often don't.

All the messages I exchange with friends in WhatsApp groups are not happening inside Facebook groups and are diverting traffic from there. In the last many years FB has been a site I use to announce work events and to say thank you to happy birthday messages once per year. That's too be polite because my direct contacts say happy birthday to me on WhatsApp or in person.

Re: Social Quitting

#60

Post by Existenceblinks »

> the operators of these services had cracked the nut of making eternal social media

Now I wonder how many % of drug addicts successfully quit if it were free and legal.

It sounds like a scary psycho jail in sci-fi movie.

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