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So where are we all supposed to go now?

theverge.com

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Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#81

Post by tacker2000 »

fluidcruft wrote: post #67
standardUser wrote: post #31

The article is supposed to be about the "downfall of social networks" but somehow manages to ignore the fact that Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok are all still thriving with no end in sight. It's basically trying to say that because Reddit is struggling with profitability and Twitter is struggling with being bought by a petty jackass, social networks are in precipitous decline? But I barely think of Reddit or Twitter…

From what I understand TikTok is not currently financially sustainable and is supported by money infusions. I can't remember the numbers exactly but they price user time at something like 20% of what Facebook, YouTube and other financially stable social media do. When TikTok is forced to become economically viable, the cycle will repeat where some new company gets a license to burn cash and undercuts them at the same…

I agree, i also think Tiktok is used by China in a way as to vacuum ap any available information and maybe even to weaken the big US social networks. And for doing that they have to massively subsidise it.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#82

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

23B1 wrote: post #14
brucethemoose2 wrote: post #2

Having been a vigorous Discord user for years: Discord sucks. Its so time inefficient (yet engaging) that I had to delete the apps from my phone and desktop for my own sake. And don't even get me started on the difficulty of actually finding niche information.

The Discord UX alone keeps me off it. Slack has the superior interface but with the Salesforce acquisition, I doubt it'll last for long. They've already snuffed out several communities' utility with their pricing plans.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I find Discord to be utterly confusing. I use it reluctantly when there's a community that uses it, but I don't enjoy using it.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#83

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

brucethemoose2 wrote: post #40
23B1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Discord UX alone keeps me off it. Slack has the superior interface but with the Salesforce acquisition, I doubt it'll last for long. They've already snuffed out several communities' utility with their pricing plans.

Actually I think the UI is pretty good compared to, say, modern Reddit. The usage patterns are the problem.

Hah, while I find Discord UI quite awful, Reddit is worse. People keep telling me Reddit is this fantastic resource, but every time I look I find things with just a few trivial or wrong answers. Maybe I'm holding it wrong.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#84

Post by brucethemoose2 »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #83
brucethemoose2 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I think the UI is pretty good compared to, say, modern Reddit. The usage patterns are the problem.

Hah, while I find Discord UI quite awful, Reddit is worse. People keep telling me Reddit is this fantastic resource, but every time I look I find things with just a few trivial or wrong answers. Maybe I'm holding it wrong.

Yeah I feel the same way about Reddit. Most of the comments are not helpful, many are straight up incorrect, and I don't get the "Google is a Reddit search engine" meme at all.

There are some niches that consolidate useful info there, like fandoms or weird topics/frameworks that are discussed nowhere else, but sadly that is largely moving to Discord.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#85

Post by filoleg »

dtx1 wrote: post #77
filoleg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does poor UX and difficulty of use have anything to do with free vs paid? That's an entirely orthogonal problem. I, personally, am in the camp of people willing to pay for non-shit services that let me avoid ads and other annoyances coming from something being "free". And I vote with my wallet too, which is why I pay for YT Premium and never have to think about the whole ad debacle with YT. Because yeah, "free" t…

Because Good UX cost development time that has to be paid by someone. Nothing can compete with the lock-in and network effect these megacorps have. We have four choices to deal with that: * Close your eyes, cry about bad UX and continue to be treated like literal cattle by them. * Push for legislation that forces these services to be paid only thus making competition on the grounds of how they treat their users possi…

> Good UX cost development time that has to be paid by someone

There is a difference between "we would like to make UX better, but we don't have resources at the moment" and "the [obnoxious monstrosity of a] UX we already have is perfect, and if someone is confused by it, then they are an idiot and should just get good".

Just like in that infamous dropbox HN post discussion, people were railing Drew for "who would even want to use this, you can just trivially set up an rsync cron job on your linux server" (which is an argument about UX quality), not for megacorp lock-in or competitors lacking the same resources.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#86

Post by tacker2000 »

rchaud wrote: post #70

How about websites try cultivating their own audiences in the comments section and messageboards, which was the default until these sites decided that getting traffic from social was all that mattered? 10 years ago The Verge had a thriving comments section, with an audience that migrated from Engadget and Gizmodo. There was even a messageboard to discuss topics in more detail. It ended up getting closed. These days t…

A lot of sites have big comments sections with high quality answers, like the FT. But of course you are always posting at the behest of their mods and on some stories you cant post at all.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#87

Post by standardUser »

hashtag-til wrote: post #52
standardUser wrote: post #31

The article is supposed to be about the "downfall of social networks" but somehow manages to ignore the fact that Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok are all still thriving with no end in sight. It's basically trying to say that because Reddit is struggling with profitability and Twitter is struggling with being bought by a petty jackass, social networks are in precipitous decline? But I barely think of Reddit or Twitter…

I think FB is not thriving, and actually is suffering to attract new people. Insta and tiktok are not searchable so they are useless as archives.

FB is still adding new active users year-to-year and is up to around 3 BILLION monthly active users. Just because it's popular to imagine FB is in decline does not make it true.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#88

Post by Mandatum »

standardUser wrote: post #31

The article is supposed to be about the "downfall of social networks" but somehow manages to ignore the fact that Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok are all still thriving with no end in sight. It's basically trying to say that because Reddit is struggling with profitability and Twitter is struggling with being bought by a petty jackass, social networks are in precipitous decline? But I barely think of Reddit or Twitter…

Reddit is a content network. TikTok is similar but the mechanism for discovery and selection is vastly catered towards casual users.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all remain social. For business it’s a content network, but for most users it’s still social.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#89

Post by standardUser »

pessimizer wrote: post #68
standardUser wrote: post #31

The article is supposed to be about the "downfall of social networks" but somehow manages to ignore the fact that Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok are all still thriving with no end in sight. It's basically trying to say that because Reddit is struggling with profitability and Twitter is struggling with being bought by a petty jackass, social networks are in precipitous decline? But I barely think of Reddit or Twitter…

And wishing Twitter dead is just the wishful thinking of the people who write for newspapers and outlets like the Verge, because they spent 24 hours a day on it and it catered to them. For people who aren't angry about politics, Twitter is just as appealing as it ever was (other than the transition pains.) Among people who are angry about politics, it became less appealing to people who think certain ideas should dis…

Twitter is losing users fast. Even Facebook, which everyone wants to pretend is dying, is still gaining users every single year. And Twitter should be losing users - it's virtually indistinguishable from any other whiny, hate-filled internet comment section, only less anonymous.

Re: So where are we all supposed to go now?

#90

Post by standardUser »

fluidcruft wrote: post #67
standardUser wrote: post #31

The article is supposed to be about the "downfall of social networks" but somehow manages to ignore the fact that Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok are all still thriving with no end in sight. It's basically trying to say that because Reddit is struggling with profitability and Twitter is struggling with being bought by a petty jackass, social networks are in precipitous decline? But I barely think of Reddit or Twitter…

From what I understand TikTok is not currently financially sustainable and is supported by money infusions. I can't remember the numbers exactly but they price user time at something like 20% of what Facebook, YouTube and other financially stable social media do. When TikTok is forced to become economically viable, the cycle will repeat where some new company gets a license to burn cash and undercuts them at the same…

"When TikTok is forced to become economically viable"

Tik Tok is China's greatest soft power accomplishment. It's not going anywhere unless the CCP wills it so. Profitability is entirely irrelevant.

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