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Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

businessinsider.com

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Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#21

Post by c4mpute »

falcor84 wrote: post #7

I wonder whether Google+ and its Circles would have seen better success if it was launched now.

Circles was a great idea. But not really good enough. I'd have liked an "ignore" circle, like banning users on other platforms, just quietly, like the shadowbans some implement on a personal feed level.

Also, Circles was the only good thing about Google+. The rest was average to bad, and the forced integration into all kinds of Google services, the forced realnames, and the lack of third-party integrations killed any kind of goodwill/benefit-of-doubt anyone might have had.

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#22

Post by FrustratedMonky »

c4mpute wrote: post #12

I think this is an eternal cycle. Maybe related to what has been called "enshittification", but not the same: Users will flock to a platform, make it their own. The platform will grow. Then the advertisers, professionals, and hucksters will swoop in, do their thing, and slowly overshadow the old "normal" users. Then old users will leave, leaving a wasteland of ads and glossy shiny. I'd like to call it "glossification…

Yes

Early Digg was pretty good.

Early Reddit had a lot of good help guides and interesting perspectives.

Now on HN. And crossing fingers.

(Slashdot seemed to go through the cycle, bottom out, and is ok again?)

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#23

Post by andrewgioia »

> "How does a brand show up in somebody's DMs or Discord server if they're not invited?" Haberman said. But in many ways, that's the point. People can still go on Instagram to check on their favorite celebrities and influencers, but young people don't want brands and marketers infiltrating the closed communities where they spend most of their time.

All people don’t want brands in their closed communities!

Anecdotally I strongly agree with the article. I pretty much only use Discord and group texts anymore among friends and family (though I do self host and share on Mastodon/Pixelfed/Lemmy it’s a fraction). Any time I poke around on traditional social media it just feels like a wasteland, 90% ads/curated content. Fine if you want to go read a magazine for a bit I guess but a shell of what it was like a decade ago.

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#25

Post by c4mpute »

quchen wrote: post #15
c4mpute wrote: post #12

I think this is an eternal cycle. Maybe related to what has been called "enshittification", but not the same: Users will flock to a platform, make it their own. The platform will grow. Then the advertisers, professionals, and hucksters will swoop in, do their thing, and slowly overshadow the old "normal" users. Then old users will leave, leaving a wasteland of ads and glossy shiny. I'd like to call it "glossification…

How is this not the same? It sounds exactly like I understand enshittification. Literally: > First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. (Source: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ ) Do you mean that the context here i…

I see the difference in that "enshittification" is what the platform owner does. "Glossification" is what the users do. Of course both are closely related.

To elaborate, with an example: ebay has once been a platform to find things non-professional people would sell from their attic on the cheap, as an auction. Then professional sellers came in, first with auctions (either more expensive ones, or by using sockpuppet accounts to drive up the bid). That was glossification. ebay then of course went through enshittification, with fixed-price offers, selling preferred spots, etc. But interestingly, they currently seem to try to revert some of that, because glossification and enshittification affect their bottom line, so now non-commercial sellers get zero fees and their own classifieds' platform

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#26

Post by agent008t »

bluetomcat wrote: post #5

It's not social media anymore. In their feed, people are bombarded with ads, news, jokes as regular "content creation" and group posts where strangers with a narrow interest in, say, collectible figurines are posting pictures of their new purchase.

It all went to shit the moment 'timeline' became 'feed'.

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#27

Post by FrustratedMonky »

quchen wrote: post #15
c4mpute wrote: post #12

I think this is an eternal cycle. Maybe related to what has been called "enshittification", but not the same: Users will flock to a platform, make it their own. The platform will grow. Then the advertisers, professionals, and hucksters will swoop in, do their thing, and slowly overshadow the old "normal" users. Then old users will leave, leaving a wasteland of ads and glossy shiny. I'd like to call it "glossification…

How is this not the same? It sounds exactly like I understand enshittification. Literally: > First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. (Source: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ ) Do you mean that the context here i…

They are definitely related. The social media 'enshitification' is a subset of all tech/industry 'enshitification'

Think the Doctorow 'Enshitification' was more broader than just social media, and was all technology, even non-social apps eventually turn bad as the goals switch from being focused on the user and providing value, to corporate greed trying to extract money from the user.

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#28

Post by steveBK123 »

c4mpute wrote: post #12

I think this is an eternal cycle. Maybe related to what has been called "enshittification", but not the same: Users will flock to a platform, make it their own. The platform will grow. Then the advertisers, professionals, and hucksters will swoop in, do their thing, and slowly overshadow the old "normal" users. Then old users will leave, leaving a wasteland of ads and glossy shiny. I'd like to call it "glossification…

It is also an age/generation thing. FB was cool until your aunt was there. Then IG was cool until the same. TikTok probably well through that cycle. etc.

Re: Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats

#29

Post by matsemann »

I posted a lot on facebook in high school. Had maybe 50 friends there, like my classmates, soccer team etc. Posted at least once a day what I was doing, same did everyone else, and we discussed in during lunch next day. Or I would post a general "going to the soccer field, just join in", and we'll be a group there. Then joining university and getting new groups of friends, it didn't feel relevant to "spam" everyone with these things anymore. And then friends and family joined. Then I got a job and new groups, and suddenly there's 500+ friends on there I don't want to tell everything to...

And the opposite problem with people I follow on social media. I care about your tech writings, or your sport performances or whatever. But not everything else you post. I want a slice of you, not everything.

Hence, silence.

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