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Stop trying to make social networks succeed

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Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#51

Post by _bkyr »

mattbuilds wrote: post #19

I think the VC world's obsession with growth has tainted how we (me included) view things, especially stuff like social media. There is a fixation with growing and doing it rapidly that I believe is harmful. I don't know when this switch flipped, but I've felt it gradually building up over time. Things can just be what they are, grow naturally and then die naturally. I suspect that injecting cash and attempting to ac…

I believe it's really the outcome of capitalism and greed taking something that was organic (forums and chat) and monetizing it to death. Facebook monetized your family and friends, Instagram monetized your vanity / creativity, etc.

You can see this incorporation of the internet with the classic Craiglist image: - https://scalecuts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Craigslist-... - https://mediacloud.theweek.com/image/private/s--X-WVjvBW--/f...

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#52

Post by telotortium »

jrm4 wrote: post #15

Couldn't disagree more. Big "winners" in this space can be dangerous, but they can also be an important tool/unfortunate necessity when it comes to national or global "news." Which is to say, yes, I want a good replacement for Twitter because social media more-or-less succeeded where "the Rodney King story" failed.

I think the George Floyd/BLM movement has already largely failed, despite all the attention it got in 2020 and the amount of donations given to BLM and related causes - at least $10 billion.[0] Besides Juneteenth, what are the actual long-term effects of the movement in terms of material benefits for BIPOC people? DEI and ESG got a lot more popular, but that was always for the benefit of the consciousnesses of (largely white) PMC progressives, along with the relatively small number of minority employees hired as a result. Even those are getting rolled back in the face of economic headwinds, conservative counterattacks, and the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action, with an opinion whose logic can easily extend to affirmative action by private employers.

[0] https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/white-journalists-are-t...

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#53

Post by the-printer »

> Stop trying to make social networks succeed, stop dreaming of a universal network. Instead, invest in your own communities. Help them make long-term, custom and sustainable solutions. Try to achieve small and local successes instead of pursuing an imaginary universal one. It will make you happier.

I appreciate the realist point of view in this paragraph and the two that precede it.

I’d like to go a step further and propose that we should deemphasize the explicit desire to develop communities online for what feels like the sake of having an online community. Online communities should be derivatives of offline identities, roles, interests etc, more often than not. But as more people seem to find “themselves” in a digital landscape that isn’t inherently social as much as it is social under certain contexts, the lines are being blurred, or disregarded entirely.

I used to be indifferent to federated networks, but I now understand the appeal of them when it comes down to being able to engage with predefined communities.

There is a lot to be said about the number one issue that newcomers confront being “which instance do I join?”.

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#54

Post by magic_hamster »

The author mixes services such as Whatsapp and telegram which are mostly messaging apps with "social network" features, and full blown social networks that revolve more around posts, followers and content.

Meta launched a new platform today and got 10M people to sign up in the first 7 hours.

I am lost for words. Not sure how anyone still wants anything to do with Meta. How can you possibly want more social platforms by Meta. Meta couldn't die fast enough in my opinion.

And yet, millions of people signed up. I guess social networks can still succeed.

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#55

Post by telotortium »

dspillett wrote: post #30
lapcat wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I want a good replacement for Twitter because social media more-or-less succeeded where "the Rodney King story" failed. Could you please explain this? I know what the Rodney King story is, but I don't understand the relevance here.

I read that as “the Rodney King story” being the story in the traditional news or later documentary format. Without the social media explosion, the situation might not have got the attention it needed meaning the story fizzled out (or, more cynically, the police would have been able to control the narrative long enough for the general public not to pay attention because something else was happened elsewhere to take o…

Rodney King was before my time, but the main Rodney King riots happened after the cops involved were acquitted, right? The main difference does have a little to do with social media, in that the George Floyd death video could be reshared in real time. The main reasons BLM took off in 2020 is that it had already taken off in 2014 and, importantly, most people were in COVID lockdown for 2 months by that point and had become a little stir-crazy.

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#56

Post by lapcat »

vinyl7 wrote: post #41
mattbuilds wrote: post #19

I think the VC world's obsession with growth has tainted how we (me included) view things, especially stuff like social media. There is a fixation with growing and doing it rapidly that I believe is harmful. I don't know when this switch flipped, but I've felt it gradually building up over time. Things can just be what they are, grow naturally and then die naturally. I suspect that injecting cash and attempting to ac…

It has really made me pessimistic about tech and products in general. There's the free and great stage, then the market is captured, then enshittification, then death. I don't get excited about new products or new tech because I know the cycle. Hype then bust. New thing comes out and I'm just meh about it, because it'll bust soon enough so it's not worth getting invested in it. Or new version will come out next year…

> It has really made me pessimistic about tech and products in general. There's the free and great stage, then the market is captured, then enshittification, then death.

Mark Zuckerberg an hour ago: "Our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point." https://www.threads.net/t/CuW5-eWL34x

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#57

Post by flyinghamster »

vinyl7 wrote: post #41
mattbuilds wrote: post #19

I think the VC world's obsession with growth has tainted how we (me included) view things, especially stuff like social media. There is a fixation with growing and doing it rapidly that I believe is harmful. I don't know when this switch flipped, but I've felt it gradually building up over time. Things can just be what they are, grow naturally and then die naturally. I suspect that injecting cash and attempting to ac…

It has really made me pessimistic about tech and products in general. There's the free and great stage, then the market is captured, then enshittification, then death. I don't get excited about new products or new tech because I know the cycle. Hype then bust. New thing comes out and I'm just meh about it, because it'll bust soon enough so it's not worth getting invested in it. Or new version will come out next year…

> then death

...or a perpetual zombie state as a "brand" that has absolutely nothing to do with its original owner. Trusted names from my youth (GE, Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Maytag, Zenith, etc.) mean nothing these days. Packard Bell has been resurrected twice now.

Re: Stop trying to make social networks succeed

#58

Post by MSFT_Edging »

skizm wrote: post #42
mattbuilds wrote: post #19

I think the VC world's obsession with growth has tainted how we (me included) view things, especially stuff like social media. There is a fixation with growing and doing it rapidly that I believe is harmful. I don't know when this switch flipped, but I've felt it gradually building up over time. Things can just be what they are, grow naturally and then die naturally. I suspect that injecting cash and attempting to ac…

> I suspect that injecting cash and attempting to achieve an unnatural growth is probably not good for both the quality of the product and the long term stability of it. Right, but that's not the point. VCs (and most founders / anyone holding equity) just want to get our before the hockey-stick graph starts turning into an S-graph. The product itself is mostly irrelevant (to everyone except the users that is).

> but that's not the point. VCs (and most founders / anyone holding equity) just want to get our before the hockey-stick graph starts turning into an S-graph.

Most efficient system in the world, ladies and gentlemen

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