Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is this the end of social networking?

reb00ted.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 503 posts

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#211

Post by [deleted] »

wincy wrote: post #172
Andrex wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure continuous exposure to schadenfreude is any healthier than the more depressing topics, to be honest.

I mean I don’t actually revel in it, I was being a bit cheeky. I just wanted to reconnect with high school people during Covid so I friend requested a ton of people. It’s sad seeing a guy who was in the “gifted and talented program” with me is apparently now a janitor who posts pictures every day about what concert or sports game he’s at and he’s always alone. I was excited for him because he took a picture with a wo…

[deleted]

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#212

Post by s1artibartfast »

lubesGordi wrote: post #196
atwood22 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GP’s point was that social relationships are increasingly becoming irrelevant to people. Having a personal relationship CRM seems cool, but this shift in society is happening not for lack of good social tools.

In my view this shift is happening because of social media. The social media short cut to having friends turned out to not really work, and now people are trying to figure out how to have friends again. It's the same with dating.

Yeah, it seems like people are doubling down on a losing strategy. The real solution is usually involves going outside your front door and meet people. The same is true with dating.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#213

Post by slyzmud »

mgraczyk wrote: post #102
droopyEyelids wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is video first. I think TikTok is winning because their objective algorithm optimizes for a different outcome. Facebook and YouTube optimize for time spent on the site. Youtube famously cut ad revenue for content that is watched for fewer than 10 minutes. They both make decisions based on what will increase time spent on the site, thinking that's the best way to sell ads. TikTok optimizes for content that peo…

Facebook does not optimize directly for time spent, it's too hard. I know because I worked on these algorithms. Time spent is a metric Facebook monitors and works to increase over time, but basically no work is done to increase time spent directly. Facebook also tries to give more reach to content that people like. There are whole teams of people that work on that, they are just less good at it than TT. Tiktok optimi…

Could you share what metrics they optimistize or monitor? Or how do they improve their algorithms? I don't know how much you can tell but I always wanted to hear it from someone who has worked with them

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#214

Post by hammyhavoc »

labster wrote: post #162
hammyhavoc wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is HN the digital equivalent of going to a bar looking for a fight?

No, it’s not. And you better be shut up about it if you know what’s good for you, pardner.

This honestly made my day. LOL

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#215

Post by somewhereoutth »

mulmen wrote: post #34
beebmam wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People want their bubbles. We’re all here on HN for that exact purpose. 100% disagree. I'm here to find ideas I disagree with and tell people how they're wrong. I'm not looking for an agreeable experience here. I'm also here to learn about new tech.

Bubbles don't need to be harmful. HN is a bubble. There are ideas that are not allowed here. There are other ideas that are explicitly promoted. This is the value proposition of HN. You are free to go elsewhere to get other perspectives or interactions. This is as it should be.

Some ideas are objectively sick regardless of the forum.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#216

Post by randomdrake »

Everyone seems pretty wrapped up in the social part. But I think many forget that “media” was actually a big part of this.

Photos weren’t always so easy to share. Having places where media was only based on your friends or people you knew was incredibly novel and useful. A single website you could log in to in order to view photos (and eventually videos) related to you was novel when we all had flip phones and a “camera phone” was special.

Sharing media was tough. Photos - let alone, video - required tech, bandwidth, and a whole-ass computer.

I think that in addition to the social aspect dwindling, changing, or evolving, we must also account for the fact that media is so much easier to create, share, and consume. This is true with friends, relatives, and strangers; locally and afar.

We don’t “need” social media anymore because the media part is mostly solved. Fewer and fewer people don’t have a connected media viewer and creator in their pocket at all times anymore.

Being social with media is as simple as texting someone, or many people. And we do it in high definition all day, every day. No login. No ads. No algorithm.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#217

Post by s1artibartfast »

robryan wrote: post #150
1337biz wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least Tiktok doesn't force me to watch their stupid ads like YouTube does. I am too lazy to install adbockers on my mobile and tablet. But the force-watching of Youtube ads is one of the worst ideas in advertising.

At least they provide a premium ad free service.

And they told me about it every damn time I log on to YouTube

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#218

Post by Liuser »

myspy wrote: post #23

The Path app was a good social network in hindsight. Share your stuff and look at others stuff. All sorted by date. No algorithms. Which is why it probably failed. Facebook sucks and I‘d hope that politicians in Germany would take action against it. Start with the algorithmic timelines. All content only your friends and interests. Nothing from outside to addict you further.

I wonder if timing may have been off. I'd like to imagine that re-introducing it today there'd be more appetite for a personal social network, now that Facebook/Meta is pivoting away.

But, yes I agree, I used to use Path also with just a group of 5 friends around 2013. The app was cleanly designed and it definitely felt intimate.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#219

Post by thundergolfer »

thenerdhead wrote: post #161
mgraczyk wrote: post #40

TikTok is winning because it is video first. The more immersive the media, the more profitable the ads. Facebook is having trouble pivoting it's products to video. Facebook is betting big that the next more-immersive medium after video will be VR. That's basically the whole story. Notice I didn't use the word "algorithm" or "social"? These takes are tired and naive, TikTok isn't addictive in any operationally useful…

While you aren't using the words "algorithm" or "social", another perspective to see is that the "medium" is not just video. It is a specific type of short, repeatable, and trivialized pieces of video content. Created by mostly individual creators in niche social networks that convey extreme feelings of pain and pleasure in an infinite feed. TikTok is addictive in every category. People are addicted to it just like p…

Also Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. The addictive quality of entertainment is a central theme, and the book contains the memorable Samizdat videotape that’s so entertaining you watch it immobilised until you die. The Samizdat is the reduction ad absurdim of TikTok era social media addiction.
Post reply on HN