Live data from Hacker News

Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

ca.pcmag.com

41–50 of 204 posts

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#42

It seems like so much of social media is just individuals shouting into the void.

It's stochastic communication, sometimes other random voices come back from the void.

Social media is a skinner box for likes and reposts. You don't even want replies unless it's an opportunity to get more likes.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#43
I stopped using Facebook back in 2021 when the majority of my feed was reshared political content with 20+ comments from my friends fighting about divisive social/political issues. It wasn't fun, and it wasn't fostering community, so I left. A few years later I logged in again to see that most of my Facebook friends had also stopped engaging.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But which one - SMS/RCS? iMessage? WhatsApp? Signal? Telegram? Discord?

Whatever the group owner picks, same as it's always been. No one cares about the actual choice, only that it is made.

> No one cares about the actual choice, only that it is made.

If the actual choice requires me to install an app then I care quite a lot and will probably decline to join in.

I don't think that I am the only one who feels this way.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#45
Probably a crazy though, but I sometimes wonder if the pandemic/lockdowns did a number on social media activity too. Maybe a lot of people got burnt out on the whole thing after spending 2-3 years stuck inside with social media as their only way to communicate with friends and family.

That seems to be the point where most communities and social sites I'm on lost a lot of their activity/enjoyment, and where people seemed to start fading away.

Of course, increasing polarisation, an increasingly aggressive/selfish population and worries about privacy probably hit hard too.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried hard but am failing to see how what you say couldn't just be fulfilled by a chat group today (or even back then).

But which one - SMS/RCS? iMessage? WhatsApp? Signal? Telegram? Discord?

Funny, every time I've joined a new group for dancing or art classes or DnD or anything it's always 100% of the time a WhatsApp group, no questions asked. (This is in Ireland).

Never occurred to me that Americans wouldn't have a common group chat app everyone uses. Do Americans not all use iMessage, since pretty much everybody has an iPhone there?

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried hard but am failing to see how what you say couldn't just be fulfilled by a chat group today (or even back then).

But which one - SMS/RCS? iMessage? WhatsApp? Signal? Telegram? Discord?

I have Messager app fatigue at this point (where I live).

- Doctors offices and official services use SMS.

- Some of my close family and friends use Signal (on my pressure).

- The distant boomers use Facebook Messenger

- With the younger people they use Snapchat.

- Almost everyone else in the country uses Whatsapp as that's the dominant messaging app.

- My friends who live in Berlin use Telegram

- Online communities for tinkering and foss projects require Discord.

God I miss the 2000s.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But which one - SMS/RCS? iMessage? WhatsApp? Signal? Telegram? Discord?

Funny, every time I've joined a new group for dancing or art classes or DnD or anything it's always 100% of the time a WhatsApp group, no questions asked. (This is in Ireland). Never occurred to me that Americans wouldn't have a common group chat app everyone uses. Do Americans not all use iMessage, since pretty much everybody has an iPhone there?

>Do Americans not all use iMessage, since pretty much everybody has an iPhone there?

I'm Irish and travel back and forth a lot. First, not everyone has iPhones, Android has 40% of the market.

Older generations use Facebook to manage their clubs. I'm increasingly seeing Whatsapp and occasionally Signal for younger and more tech-savvy social circles. Facebook is non-existent in sub 35 year olds. Its just taking longer to switch over (or away from) Facebook given how tech savvy older folks are here compared to Ireland.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But which one - SMS/RCS? iMessage? WhatsApp? Signal? Telegram? Discord?

Funny, every time I've joined a new group for dancing or art classes or DnD or anything it's always 100% of the time a WhatsApp group, no questions asked. (This is in Ireland). Never occurred to me that Americans wouldn't have a common group chat app everyone uses. Do Americans not all use iMessage, since pretty much everybody has an iPhone there?

I'm probably the wrong person to answer since I don't and never have used any social media, but it seems like groups here mostly use Instagram.

Or just iMessage with fallback to SMS for those not on iPhones. Unlike most of the rest of the world, iPhones dominate in the USA.

Re: Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media

#50

Back in 2005-ish era, I helped reboot a college club (I was the coach/advisor). We started out using forum software to co-ordinate what we were doing but eventually (2008-ish) switched to Facebook as the president of the club pointed out "Alex, everyone is already on Facebook and the notifications from us are in the middle of the notifications for when the next party is" etc. Fast forward to today and the club is reb…

This is what the Bluesky “AT Protocol” is meant to solve, though I fear it might be a bit too late.
Post reply on HN