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Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

bbc.com

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Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#111

Post by close04 »

chownie wrote: post #93
close04 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And no, HN is not social media in any normal sense of the word. The pedantry involved in that comparison is extremely tiresome. For an arbitrary definition of "normal"? The last remark is unwarranted and can only have a chilling effect on the conversation. Or outrage bait, a typical sign on social media. Why is it not social media? It exhibits the same signs as seen on any social media platform. Can you define soci…

Is it not clear at this point that the real issue is how lacking the term "social media" even is? We have people here arguing that BBSs were social media, it will not be long until email is considered social media. At this point it's a vague term meaning "a place where you talk to another person online" and nothing more than that. I'm solidly of the opinion especially after seeing so many arguments of this form on HN…

> Is it not clear at this point that the real issue is how lacking the term "social media" even is?

It's very clear. Empirically a common sign across all social media is basing very strong opinions on very vague personal interpretation of something that that will forever stay unwritten so it can't be challenged. Anyone can just cement their claim to eternal correctness by ending a personal opinion with some outrage bait like "anyone who doesn't agree with me is tiresome".

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#112

Post by spike021 »

While I partly agree, I also disagree. I still use Instagram a lot to keep in touch with friends I've made in different places. Generally as long as they are making posts then my feeds have those posts. It's only when they do not and supposedly IG "runs out" that I don't.

Personally what I hate more is that there are some content creators I've been happy to support over the years and now instead of doing regular content posts they now do the "collab post" thing as an ad that looks like a regular post. Some of them may do but many do not.

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#113

Post by Tangurena2 »

everdrive wrote: post #3

Social media is now exactly what cable television used to be, but worse; it exists solely to coerce you. You make you feel insecure, you leverage your emotions for someone else's aims. Due to the changes in technology, social media is far more effective at this than cable TV ever could be, but the concept is the same. It's some remote person attempting to manipulate you by also packaging something enticing along with…

Social media was first (that I know of) weaponized in 2016 by Cambridge Analytica to manipulate Facebook users to vote for Brexit & Trump. I'm surprised that the article left those totally out.

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Ana...

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#114

Post by [deleted] »

everdrive wrote: post #3

Social media is now exactly what cable television used to be, but worse; it exists solely to coerce you. You make you feel insecure, you leverage your emotions for someone else's aims. Due to the changes in technology, social media is far more effective at this than cable TV ever could be, but the concept is the same. It's some remote person attempting to manipulate you by also packaging something enticing along with…

[deleted]

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#115

Post by KellyCriterion »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #94
everdrive wrote: post #3

Social media is now exactly what cable television used to be, but worse; it exists solely to coerce you. You make you feel insecure, you leverage your emotions for someone else's aims. Due to the changes in technology, social media is far more effective at this than cable TV ever could be, but the concept is the same. It's some remote person attempting to manipulate you by also packaging something enticing along with…

I must be using social media wrong because all I see on my timeline are funny pics and niche porn.

Are you on the correct site/app?? :-P

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#116

Post by ThunderBee »

defmetrix wrote: post #65

The only social media I really use is linkedin and X. I find linkedin useful for following companies and colleagues, and im pretty picky about who I accept or request as a friend. I also find X to be insightful, but I only use it to follow people for stock research.

X is excellent for following niche research interests but they’ve been pushing quite hard to force political news/opinions into the feeds which is really annoying.

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#117

Post by yifanl »

austin-cheney wrote: post #26
everdrive wrote: post #3

Social media is now exactly what cable television used to be, but worse; it exists solely to coerce you. You make you feel insecure, you leverage your emotions for someone else's aims. Due to the changes in technology, social media is far more effective at this than cable TV ever could be, but the concept is the same. It's some remote person attempting to manipulate you by also packaging something enticing along with…

> And no, HN is not social media in any normal sense of the word. The pedantry involved in that comparison is extremely tiresome. I am thrilled you pointed this out. I also get tired of seeing that.

We keep saying it, because it's what it is. There's some black box (that can _sometimes_ be reached via dang) that determines what you see on HN's front page, and this place is just as susceptible to trends and rabbit holes as any short form video app, it just doesn't have the funny sound effects.

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#118

Post by baggachipz »

AlfredBarnes wrote: post #79
exabrial wrote: post #41

A new game: determine when you meet someone if they use tik-tok or not without asking them. People's opinions are groomed and programmed. It's pretty hilarious how small minded people are.

I could very quickly sus out what was on FOX news last night by the conversations my coworkers have.

> sus out

Intentional typo as a good pun?

Re: Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

#120

Post by bryanlarsen »

everdrive wrote: post #3

Social media is now exactly what cable television used to be, but worse; it exists solely to coerce you. You make you feel insecure, you leverage your emotions for someone else's aims. Due to the changes in technology, social media is far more effective at this than cable TV ever could be, but the concept is the same. It's some remote person attempting to manipulate you by also packaging something enticing along with…

> HN is not social media in any normal sense of the word.

The article's main claim is that traditional social media is not social media any more. That Facebook et al are now junk entertainment. So IMO HN hews much closer to the traditional role of social media than Facebook et al do.

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