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Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

arstechnica.com

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Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#111

Post by jstanley »

grishka wrote: post #109

Social media as a concept can definitely be fixed. Just stop doing algorithms, period. Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Social media is meant…

> Just stop doing algorithms

While we're at it, shall we stop storing data?

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#112

Post by grishka »

jstanley wrote: post #111
grishka wrote: post #109

Social media as a concept can definitely be fixed. Just stop doing algorithms, period. Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Social media is meant…

> Just stop doing algorithms While we're at it, shall we stop storing data?

You know what I meant.

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#113

Post by gyomu »

grishka wrote: post #109

Social media as a concept can definitely be fixed. Just stop doing algorithms, period. Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Social media is meant…

> Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option.

Congrats, you now have platforms no one will care about, as attention span gets sniped by competitors who want to maximize engagement and don't care about your arbitrary rules (ie, literally what happened 15 years ago).

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#114

Post by grishka »

adamors wrote: post #105
fireflymetavrse wrote: post #101

Why can't it be fixed? Just remove algorithms and show only subscribed content in chronological order. That's how most of the early platforms worked and it was fine.

Probably because there's no monetary incentive for that, so "can't". It would mean the big social media companies collapsing, because their entire raison d'etre at this point is mass-manipulation.

> It would mean the big social media companies collapsing

And what would be the downside of that? :D

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#115

Post by pkamb »

KaiserPro wrote: post #18
duxup wrote: post #2

A lot of talk goes into how Facebook or other social media use algorithms to encourage engagement, that often includes outrage type content, fake news, rabbit holes and so on. But here's the thing ... people CHOOSE to engage with that, and users even produce that content for social media platforms for free. It's hard to escape that part. I remember trying Bluesky and while I liked it better than Twitter, for me it wa…

> But here's the thing ... people CHOOSE to engage Kinda, but they also don't really realise that they have much more control over the feed than they expect (in certain areas) For the reel/tiktok/foryou-instagram feeds, it shows you subjects that you engage with. It will a/b other subjects that similar people engage with. Thats all its doing. continual a/b to see if you like what ever flavour of bullshit is popular.…

Maybe the TikTok algorithm is better, but the "I don't like this" action on Meta properties just blatantly does not work. I still get the same type of clickbait content no matter how many times I try to get rid of it. Maybe watching other types of Reels would do it, but no thanks.

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#116

Post by grishka »

gyomu wrote: post #113
grishka wrote: post #109

Social media as a concept can definitely be fixed. Just stop doing algorithms, period. Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Social media is meant…

> Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Congrats, you now have platforms no one will care about, as attention span gets sniped by competitors who…

What do you mean by "no one"? There is definitely demand for such a platform.

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#117

Post by xanderlewis »

gyomu wrote: post #113
grishka wrote: post #109

Social media as a concept can definitely be fixed. Just stop doing algorithms, period. Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Social media is meant…

> Strip the platforms of any and all initiative. Make them dumb pipes. Stop pretending that people want to use social media for entertainment and news and celebrities. Stop trying to turn it into interactive TV. Stop forcing content from outside of my network upon me. Make the chronological feed the only option. Congrats, you now have platforms no one will care about, as attention span gets sniped by competitors who…

> you now have platforms no one will care about

I would care, and I imagine there are others who would too. I don’t use social media anymore (at all!) because of this. If I could have the chronological feed restored and no intrusion of other content I’d redownload immediately. There must be a market for this.

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#118

Post by sien »

unsignedint wrote: post #59

Social media as a vessel for diverse discussion is a tall order. It’s too public, too tied to context, and ultimately a no-win game. No matter how carefully you present yourself, you’ll end up being the “bad guy” to someone. The moment a discussion touches even lightly on controversy, healthy dialogue becomes nearly impossible. Think of it this way: you’re hosting a party, and an uninvited stranger kicks the door ope…

It's not solved in real life. It's a huge ask that it should be solved on the internet.

Where are good discussions between really different viewpoints anywhere?

Re: Study: Social media probably can't be fixed

#120

Post by fergie »

> these platforms too often create filter bubbles or echo chambers.

I thought the latest research had debunked this and showed that the _real_ source of conflict with social media is that people are forced out of their natural echo-chambers and exposed to opinions that they normally wouldn't have to contend with?

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