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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

#211

Post by quotemstr »

terryf wrote: post #205
quotemstr wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your theory were true --- that apparent engagement increases really just represent navigational inefficiency --- you'd see drops in other metrics, like user retention and visits. But you don't. What you see is that people use the thing more. It's hard not to interpret that as better.

I'm not saying it's navigational inefficiency - it's giving me useless stuff that's really hard to stay away from. I don't want a platform that gives me a free shot of opium every now and then just to get me to stay there. Being addictive is not a net positive!

Who are you to say that content which someone else enjoys is useless?

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

#214

Post by logicallee »

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.…

>Web 3 is just getting started though, and with new technologies are going to come novel and compelling forms of social interaction.

Can you elaborate on this? What do you mean by Web 3, what are examples? What is just getting started?

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

#215

Post by terryf »

quotemstr wrote: post #211
terryf wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying it's navigational inefficiency - it's giving me useless stuff that's really hard to stay away from. I don't want a platform that gives me a free shot of opium every now and then just to get me to stay there. Being addictive is not a net positive!

Who are you to say that content which someone else enjoys is useless?

I'm quite the person to say that it is useless to me.

I also am quite free to have the opinion that a lot of content is simply a waste of time. I also propose the question of how much actual enjoyment it produces and the quality of said enjoyment. You are free to think otherwise :)

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

#216

Post by chrisvalleybay »

logicallee wrote: post #214
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.…

>Web 3 is just getting started though, and with new technologies are going to come novel and compelling forms of social interaction. Can you elaborate on this? What do you mean by Web 3, what are examples? What is just getting started?

Decentralization is one part of Web 3. ActivityPub could be one technology that is relevant to this story.

Edit: Moving things out of silos, re-focusing on the content and its value to people, instead of what's relevant to advertisers – as have been mentioned throughout this thread.

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

#217

Post by tokyodude »

lloeki wrote: post #187
danepowell wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an example of Goodhart's Law: "When a metric becomes a target, it ceases to be a good metric." Optimizing for something as abstruse as "engagement" seems like a great way to completely ignore everything that actually makes social networks compelling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

> Optimizing for something as abstruse as "engagement" seems like a great way to completely ignore everything that actually makes social networks compelling. Or anything else, for that matter. The most shocking part of Android Pie release[0] was the repetition of the "drive engagement" mantra (in the post as well as surrounding articles). Fundamentally, phones are tools; how good is any tool to me when it's purposely…

I wish there was some kind of pledge or iOS/Android rule not to waste my time.

Example: I'm on 2 dating app. I want notification on so I can make sure to receive messages from actual people but I get one notification every day from each app "You should check for new matches today!" Nether app has a way to turn off that notification.

Google Maps now does something like this too where they are trying to get me to add reviews and photos so Google Maps starts notifying me "Add a review of that place I think you just visited?" I think Google Maps at least had a way to turn it off though not 100% sure.

In general though the more some service bugs me with anything the less I want to do business with that service. That includes mailing lists. Hate them! Don't add me. I didn't opt-in! Etc...

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

#218

Post by CM30 »

joeblau wrote: post #2

My main question is: Where are people going? It seems like there is a slight dip in usage across all social media, but I'm trying to figure out where those hours/days/weeks are being spent. Are people turning to more real-life activities, just broadcasting and communicating less, turning to other up and coming platforms, or relying more on private messaging?

I've seen a fair few people and communities move to Slack, Discord and other such chat systems. Perhaps the 'public' side of social media is getting to them, so they're moving more in moderated communities rather than free for alls.

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

#219

Post by Klover »

xf00 wrote: post #201
lloeki wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Optimizing for something as abstruse as "engagement" seems like a great way to completely ignore everything that actually makes social networks compelling. Or anything else, for that matter. The most shocking part of Android Pie release[0] was the repetition of the "drive engagement" mantra (in the post as well as surrounding articles). Fundamentally, phones are tools; how good is any tool to me when it's purposely…

> A tool should make me more efficient, hence, for the same task, make me use it less! It makes sense when you consider Android phones as a set of tools used by advertisers to reach consumers. The more eyeballs the more efficient the tool becomes.

It shows in both app stores on either platform. The play store gives me lots of suggestions on apps to download based on activity, and the iOS store has these write ups to promote apps. Both get them money.

Does Android have something like Siri suggestions with P? Because that seems intended to do the exact opposite of what you’re saying. It is the feature that suggests your notes app if you often use your notes app in the grocery store location. It would be a good use for Android instead of the constant asking to review the store.

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