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The End of Social Media

miikavonbell.com

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Re: The End of Social Media

#31

Post by goatkey »

ramesh31 wrote: post #5

YouTube is the only "social network" that I can defend. I honestly think it's the very best thing to ever come out of the Web. The key to it though is using it without a Google login and with cookies disabled. This gives you the default algorithm free experience and forces you to engage your brain to think about what you want to see, rather than being spoon fed down a rabbit hole.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I really enjoy YouTube Premium. It’s nice to have the option to pay for an ad free experience, which is particularly useful on iOS mobile as uBlock origin doesn’t work. Having the ability to easily download videos for offline viewing and turn off auto play (which I think is also available without premium) is nice, too.

I am sure they are still hoovering up all my data but I hope they at least heed the signal that some people will pay for ad-free alternatives!

Re: The End of Social Media

#32

Post by input_sh »

duxup wrote: post #11

Problems I see: - Most content produced by people on social media is not good and you probably don't want to see it. Serendipity of a bunch of crappy content "I had a bad day nobody ask me about it" is not something you want, but it is serendipity. - Social media isn't where you go to get info on Crocodiles, not sure how that would even work? That's Wikipedia. ... or if we're talking social media, YouTube (I searched…

> and you probably don't want to see it.

Hard disagree. I want to see everything from everyone I follow in a specific newest-to-oldest order. I also don't want to see other shit in my feed (X liked Y, who to follow, whatever), but I'm fine with having it outside of the main feed (be it a sidebar or a click away).

I also want to "tag" my follows into lists (family, close friends, topic X, topic Y), allowing me to filter through the timeline.

Currently only Twitter and Mastodon allow me this use case, and that's what I use on a semi-regular basis. Everything that deviates from that (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube's home feed) also loses me as a regular visitor with zero exceptions.

But the reason everything deviates from that eventually is clickthrough rate on ads. If my timeline is confusing enough, I'm more likely to click on ads.

Re: The End of Social Media

#33

Post by bodge5000 »

"The end of social media" is quite a lofty statement, bearing in mind that facebook, twitter, ect... are social media, but social media isnt facebook, twitter.

It'd be like if there were some massive drama involving Netflix and YouTube. You wouldnt call it the end of streaming, or web based video. There'd be a massive shift in the market certainly, and I think eventually social media will look completely different to how it looks now, but thats not the end.

It might sound like I'm arguing over semantics but I'd disagree.

Re: The End of Social Media

#34

Post by marcofiset »

zhdc1 wrote: post #24
animanoir wrote: post #17

I believe blogging will have a Renaissance since it has all the benefits from "social networks" but excluding the ads, the unnecessary "likes", and focus on the fundamentals which are sharing and discussing, just like forums, but blogs will be about individuals mainly.

I'm skeptical. Blogs are difficult for subject matter experts (people skilled in a domain, and not necessarily skilled at making money off of the web) to monetize.

Not everyone is using social media to make money.

Re: The End of Social Media

#35

Post by thickened »

Miika-

This article is a dog whistle for right-wing behaviour and is quite frankly problematic, starting with this quip in the first paragraph which sets the stage: "[...] instead of letting algorithms and machine learning decide what is good for you."

We've spent a good twenty years now, and longer really, building the infrastructure to ensure that when it comes to the World Wide Web, FAAMNG+ companies - not just restricted to US-centric ones but globally really - can make sure that the things you see, and the way the algorithms work, are done in a way that is good for you.

I used to be against mass surveillance, logging everything, but seeing this kind of an article in 2021 sends shivers up my spine. I'm quite worried. Is this what we should look into next?

Re: The End of Social Media

#36

Post by moate »

crazy_horse wrote: post #2

I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding rude, but what is this saying that adds insight to what I've been reading on places like HN for a decade? Is it true that people are getting dumber? Big claim, no evidence. Do paragraphs exist? I'm looking for solution. Saying nobody knows what the future looks like ain't it.

The "people are getting dumber" argument really rubbed me the wrong way as well. It's glib and pithy and people love to make this claim when talking about things they don't like about society.

"I dislike ads and only stupid idiot babies would tolerate platforms with ads, therefore everyone using the majority of websites is an idiot" is such lazy thinking. IDK, I'm a huge fan of social sciences which means I might as well be the devil to many engineers/HN posters.

Re: The End of Social Media

#38

Post by optimalsolver »

ramesh31 wrote: post #5

YouTube is the only "social network" that I can defend. I honestly think it's the very best thing to ever come out of the Web. The key to it though is using it without a Google login and with cookies disabled. This gives you the default algorithm free experience and forces you to engage your brain to think about what you want to see, rather than being spoon fed down a rabbit hole.

>YouTube is the only "social network" that I can defend.

What about Hacker News?

Re: The End of Social Media

#39

Post by chrisseaton »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #10
markbnj wrote: post #4

>> Some time ago I tried to find information about Crocodiles, the animals. Instead, I got results about Crocs shoes and zero information about the actual crocodiles. I just entered 'crocodile' into Google search while signed into my normal private account, and got a ton of useful information about crocodiles. Shoes were nowhere to be found in the first 30 or 40 results that I scanned. I don't know if the OP is using…

the OP probably searched for 'Crocs'. Even DDG floods the front page with the footwear. I'm not sure this is a great example.

> the OP probably searched for 'Crocs'

Why would you do that when searching for crocodiles?

Re: The End of Social Media

#40

Post by selfhoster11 »

zhdc1 wrote: post #24
animanoir wrote: post #17

I believe blogging will have a Renaissance since it has all the benefits from "social networks" but excluding the ads, the unnecessary "likes", and focus on the fundamentals which are sharing and discussing, just like forums, but blogs will be about individuals mainly.

I'm skeptical. Blogs are difficult for subject matter experts (people skilled in a domain, and not necessarily skilled at making money off of the web) to monetize.

Not everyone wants to monetize in the first place.
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