Social media decline: Users are shifting to messaging apps and group chats • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by TheRealPomax » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:09 PM UTC

wodenokoto wrote: post #20

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’s not advertisers that keeps users from posting. Plenty of people doom scroll on Facebook and instagram. ads hasn’t scared users away all that much. It’s that the platforms have been invaded by professionals coupled with an expanded “suggested for you” posts with a little bit of platforms pushing users to grow their graphs endlessly. This creates a combination where posting isn’t really for your friends, it’s for…

You don't have to be scared away. It just needs to be shit enough that you're going to use a second social medium alongside. Then it's just a normal "use the fun one more, use the shit one less" until you realise the shit one just makes you feel like shit and you stop using it entirely.

And of course, there'll always be a segment that never gets to that realization, keeping the corpse animated.

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

#112

Post by listenallyall » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:11 PM UTC

tfgg wrote: post #106

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…

What was remarkable is how Facebook's Threads app jumped straight to being full of advertisers and hucksters - they didn't think that maybe the right way to bootstrap a social network would be to make it full of authentic conversations, at least to start with.

Because it was seeded from Instagram, a platform which promotes people who look good (like myself, of course) not necessarily people with anything interesting to say. "Authentic conversations" was never a possibility.

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

#113

Post by ModernMech » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:13 PM UTC

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…

I don't remember the correct term, maybe someone can help, but this is what happens to "scenes".

Cool kids do their own thing (art, music, whatever), some people notice and like what they're doing and enjoy it genuinely. They spread the word and more people join the scene. Then posers come in and try to imitate the cool kids, but can't really capture the same spark.

Scene grows and an eternal September commences where the original intent of the cool kids and genuine interest of the original fans is lost, as newcomers are there just to be part of the scene. Eventually they dominate the scene.

Finally advertisers and capitalists see a money making opportunity and they monetize the whole thing, ruining it for everyone.

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

#114

Post by ModernMech » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:14 PM UTC

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #22

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?)

Slashdot will never be okay again. I go there every so often to check, and it's still a dumpster fire.

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

#115

Post by goodbyesf » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:21 PM UTC

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…

Yep. It's how 'you'tube became 'corp'tube. Remember when the selling point of youtube was 'you'?

> Then the advertisers, professionals, and hucksters will swoop in, do their thing, and slowly overshadow the old "normal" users.

It's more insidious than that. Corporations demand special treatment, favorable algorithms and censorship. In the past, when breaking news occurred, I checked youtube, reddit, etc to get more raw news from ordinary people. Now it's all censored on these platforms. Similar to how 'you' can't use bad words on youtube, but corporate entities can. The scales have been tipped overwhelmingly to one side. But I guess that was inevitable.

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

#116

Post by aleph_minus_one » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:22 PM UTC

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…

> Users will flock to a platform, make it their own.

As a user (in particular as a non-paying one), you never make the platform your own. This feeling is pure entitlement.

If you want to make a platform your own, set up your own web platform.

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

#117

Post by sdfghswe » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:27 PM UTC

> "It's really bizarre to me that everyone's gone to this place in their mind that content has to be so curated," Bruening told us. "So curated that you can't show what you're cooking for dinner, because that's not cool enough."

Uuuuuh what? Everyone is doing the thing you want to do, but everyone else is doing it better, so you're complaining. If you were number 1, would you be complaining as well? Sounds like you're just a bitter loser.

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

#118

Post by dylan604 » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:31 PM UTC

listenallyall wrote: post #112

tfgg wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was remarkable is how Facebook's Threads app jumped straight to being full of advertisers and hucksters - they didn't think that maybe the right way to bootstrap a social network would be to make it full of authentic conversations, at least to start with.

Because it was seeded from Instagram, a platform which promotes people who look good (like myself, of course) not necessarily people with anything interesting to say. "Authentic conversations" was never a possibility.

Also possible that they were given early access?

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

#119

Post by ddingus » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:33 PM UTC

seydor wrote: post #107

They went full circle and now they are back to passive TV zapping , but now it's called doomscrolling on tiktok and watching mr beast It wasn't good while it lasted, in fact in retrospect we will see it was one of the most insane, narcissistic periods of modernity. good riddance I really hope people re-re-discover forums

Me too. The value captured in forums is very high. It is relevant for years.

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

#120

Post by 1-6 » Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 3:34 PM UTC

After a certain point, social media has become a source for recycled garbage. It's costly to create original content and content creators aren't being properly compensated for their efforts. AI will only further this decline as content creators will have a cheap source of unoriginal content.