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

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

#141

Post by OhSoHumble »

rickcarlino wrote: post #89

Social media companies became so obsessed about maximizing ROI on short form video content that they stopped being a platform to share with friends and turned into Temu Youtube. You won’t see your friends stuff on any of them because it’s designed to work that way. Group chats are the only way to have a meaningful conversation if you a casual non-technical Internet dweller.

All of that is intentional. There isn't enough money to be made connecting people. Revenue streams are driven by ads attached to media interaction. Connecting people is low engagement. We, as consumers, have rewarded this revenue model by proving that it works. If you don't want to contribute to it then don't use these large platforms.

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

#142

Post by kimos »

mmsimanga wrote: post #80
alexpotato wrote: post #23

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…

South African here. Just about all notifications have moved to WhatsApp. Most school classes have a group for the parents, extended family group, immediate family group, residents association group, high school classmates group, gym class group, home town group ... the list goes on. Sounds like a lot but most groups tend to have few messages.

Canadian here.

I have a WhatsApp account and the app on my phone with zero contacts in it. Nobody here uses it. But every time I leave the country I need it for some service or business or who knows what. It seems like the rest of the world all agreed to use this app and Canada (and I think the US) just said “naw thanks…” and have no common app or method.

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

#143

Post by nradov »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #68
CatMustard wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Americans primarily use iMessage/SMS/RCS. You only need one messaging app and everyone has it pre-installed on both iOS and Android. WhatsApp does not solve any problems for the typical American user. Most Americans don't install WhatsApp unless they spend a lot of time overseas some place where it is required to do anything. Even international group chats seem to be more Discord-based in recent years.

SMS/RCS doesn't work for any group larger than a few people. You always end up with multiple parallel streams going that each include different subsets of the group, and sometimes other random people outside the group.

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

#144

Post by [deleted] »

kimos wrote: post #142
mmsimanga wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South African here. Just about all notifications have moved to WhatsApp. Most school classes have a group for the parents, extended family group, immediate family group, residents association group, high school classmates group, gym class group, home town group ... the list goes on. Sounds like a lot but most groups tend to have few messages.

Canadian here. I have a WhatsApp account and the app on my phone with zero contacts in it. Nobody here uses it. But every time I leave the country I need it for some service or business or who knows what. It seems like the rest of the world all agreed to use this app and Canada (and I think the US) just said “naw thanks…” and have no common app or method.

[deleted]

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

#145

Post by [deleted] »

dartharva wrote: post #26
alexpotato wrote: post #23

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…

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).

[deleted]

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

#146

Post by FireBeyond »

rationalist wrote: post #137
watwut wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bsky actually uave linear followed accounts only feed.

Facebook has it too, or at least they did as of last year when I last used Facebook. On the desktop version of the website, click on the "Friends" "Feed" (and there might have been a sort by date as well you had to then click on).

Nope, it's gone.

You don't get sorting options for that Feed. And depending on your luck that might be three clicks off the home page to even that (See More > Feeds > Friends).

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

#147

Post by FireBeyond »

asdff wrote: post #134
codedokode wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

More so that they are more prolific.

And they often don't mind ads attached to their every post. Especially if they earn a little bit from each.

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

#148

Post by FireBeyond »

sumolessons wrote: post #118
yason wrote: post #104

Social media as it was born touched a novel point of contact that didn't quite exist before. It was a powerful shift from what we had before. Social media allowed you to be in touch with people in a way that wasn't possible with phone calls, text messages, instant messaging, email, or domain-specific forums. What I could do in Facebook in 2010 was stay "friends" with selected acquaintances such as old classmates with…

I think this is really well said. Instagram is probably the closest for me though I use it far less.

Meanwhile IG has hugely alienated -its- original target audience. My feed: "Reels. Suggested for you. Ad. Threads. Suggested for you. Ad. Followee. Ad. Threads." and 90% of it is short form video content, and even more annoying still content which is for some reason a 10s video.

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

#150

Post by MikeNotThePope »

kimos wrote: post #142
mmsimanga wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

South African here. Just about all notifications have moved to WhatsApp. Most school classes have a group for the parents, extended family group, immediate family group, residents association group, high school classmates group, gym class group, home town group ... the list goes on. Sounds like a lot but most groups tend to have few messages.

Canadian here. I have a WhatsApp account and the app on my phone with zero contacts in it. Nobody here uses it. But every time I leave the country I need it for some service or business or who knows what. It seems like the rest of the world all agreed to use this app and Canada (and I think the US) just said “naw thanks…” and have no common app or method.

What are people using in Canada? SMS?
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