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Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

nytimes.com

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Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#171

Post by Kiro »

josephg wrote: post #157
quotemstr wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chronological is just one ordering. Why are you so attached to it? Why must deviating from this one specific ranking approach lead to "chaos"? Algorithmic ranking is not evil. A tiny minority of people rail against algorithmic ranking, but the vast majority, as demonstrated by their engagement , prefer the algorithmic model. Should we let this tiny vocal minority dictate policy, data be damned?

> Algorithmic ranking is not evil. A tiny minority of people rail against algorithmic ranking, but the vast majority, as demonstrated by their engagement, prefer the algorithmic model. Should we let this tiny vocal minority dictate policy, data be damned? I was listening to the Next Billion Seconds podcast the other day. They made the point that in social media 'engagement' is a polite euphemism for 'addictiveness'.…

Addictiveness isn't inherently a bad thing though. I'm addicted to working out.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#172

Post by Uberphallus »

mehwoot wrote: post #131
mygo wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they’re just optimizing for the wrong metric. If the metric was “user satisfaction” they could target it day and night and nobody would be complaining.

The reason goodharts law exists is because its hard to measure things like user satisfaction, so we're left with poor proxies like user engagement.

Most metrics would imply prison is great: low bounce rate, average session length of a couple of years, very flat retention curve.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#173

Post by mayankkaizen »

As compared to the situation 3 years back, now none of my friend (me included) is even slightly active on any social media (except for whatsapp). Even people are getting less active on whatsapp. I am a member of like 12 whatsapp group, and almost 10 of those are silent most of the time.

I wonder if this is generally true. May be I (and my friends) am getting older.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#174

Post by pymai »

Alex3917 wrote: post #23
drb91 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with new technologies are going to come novel and compelling forms of social interaction. What, Web 3.0 will come with booze? While I am entertained by social media, I can't remember the last time I actually interacted with anyone in a substantive way. I'd much rather hit the bar and admit to myself that social media isn't very social.

> Web 1.0 lets individuals create and express ideas > Web 2.0 lets groups create and express ideas > Web 3.0 lets societies create and express ideas It's blockchain. Blockchain is what gets us from web 2.0 to web 3.0. The technology is almost here, and after another few years of basic R&D the stuff we're going to be able to start building is going to transform society in ways that are barely even imaginable today.

the safe network will be live in a few years so don't waste your time on r&d

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#175

Post by trophycase »

dangero wrote: post #167
Alex3917 wrote: post #7

We might be at a local maximum, but we're nowhere near the peak. What we're seeing is an end of the race to the bottom. What's happened is that most of the major social networks only hire and promote people who make decisions primarily based on analytics. As a result these sites no longer have any real communities or organic content, and have been completely hollowed out by math-friendly refrigerator magnet junkfood.…

I've noticed a similar effect with fast food restaurants. Fast food up-and-coming competitors tend to offer higher quality, fresher food at a slightly higher price. Problem is that when you look back at McDonald's 50 years ago, it had higher quality and fresher ingredients than it does today. Profit motive drove slow incremental decreases in quality till eventually new competitors could differentiate by offering a pr…

It's basically just the life cycle of nearly every corporation due to their incessant need to grow. Offer a great product and build a strong customer base, then slowly cut costs by worsening product or externalizing costs.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#176

Post by emiliobumachar »

drb91 wrote: post #80
lsalvatore wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe those "fucked" artists should invent their own characters. You know, being creative instead of copying other people's ideas.

Being creative and copying ideas are not mutually exclusive. For instance, I love the harry potter universe. I just happen to think that JK Rowling is a terrible writer. I would pay hundreds of dollars for quality fan fiction, ideally licensed or legal. There’s really no mechanism for any human on the planet to tell a story in this universe and widely distribute it legally. Arguably this is more of an issue with copy…

As a heads up, you're in luck. Ms. Rowling happens to allow a large fan fiction community to thrive royalty-free, as long as no money changes hands.

I have read and particularly recommend Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

http://www.hpmor.com/

Many other works set in the HP universe exist.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#177

Post by dcposch »

leon_sbt wrote: post #69

I really wish social media would "peak" to towards meeting people in real life semi-spontaneously. No profiles, no media uploads, no digital showboating. The best relationships I have with other people fall in this category. Real life,common interests,no digital uploads. Just add attributes of your geolocation and hobbies [biking, yoga,tensorflow,etc] or let it crawl your digital profile(s) to autobuild your attribut…

Lunch Club is almost exactly what you described.

lunchclub.ai

So far I've found it to be a lot of fun

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#178

Post by alexashka »

Alex3917 wrote: post #7

We might be at a local maximum, but we're nowhere near the peak. What we're seeing is an end of the race to the bottom. What's happened is that most of the major social networks only hire and promote people who make decisions primarily based on analytics. As a result these sites no longer have any real communities or organic content, and have been completely hollowed out by math-friendly refrigerator magnet junkfood.…

The 'forms' may be different, the desires and needs stay the same.

People want to communicate with as little friction as possible - then some smarty pants thinks why don't I insert myself in the middle and be the creepy overlord.

It'd be novel and compelling if people thought beyond themselves for one second and wondered what they'd actually like to spend their life on. That'd be novel and compelling. It's been novel and compelling since the beginning of time, because it happens so rarely. I don't expect that to change. Sorry, carry on :)

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#179

Post by chewz »

Alex3917 wrote: post #7

We might be at a local maximum, but we're nowhere near the peak. What we're seeing is an end of the race to the bottom. What's happened is that most of the major social networks only hire and promote people who make decisions primarily based on analytics. As a result these sites no longer have any real communities or organic content, and have been completely hollowed out by math-friendly refrigerator magnet junkfood.…

I have quit FB like 6 years ago and stopped using Twitter (I still have account I guess) like 2 years ago.

It doesn't mean the web became a lonely place for me - Github, HN, some music apps, Instagram, Duo, e-mail etc. What I have left behind is pictures of newborns, awkard 'friends', news and shallow exchanges - which I am not fond of also in real.

Re: Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

#180

Post by personlurking »

leon_sbt wrote: post #69

I really wish social media would "peak" to towards meeting people in real life semi-spontaneously. No profiles, no media uploads, no digital showboating. The best relationships I have with other people fall in this category. Real life,common interests,no digital uploads. Just add attributes of your geolocation and hobbies [biking, yoga,tensorflow,etc] or let it crawl your digital profile(s) to autobuild your attribut…

I'd join in a heartbeat. Sounds like the platonic version of the speed dating app I wish existed:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17356401

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