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Is this the end of social networking?

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Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#411

Post by kayxspre »

holoduke wrote: post #394
agileAlligator wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average person has about 150 people they care about. 100 friends is par for the course imo

150? What about 5-10? I don't believe you can have 150 people you really care for.

I wouldn't say that the figure of Facebook friends is an indication of number of people I really cared. I do care some of them (sometimes sending wishes for them), but a majority of them are either my classmate in high school, a junior in university, a (former) co-worker, or someone whom I met in social gathering that shared common interests and wanted to hear/talk with them. It's like the use of Facebook as a directory since everyone has one.

Conversely, there are plenty of friends whom I know personally, but did not connect via Facebook (we use IM for that). This may probably be counted towards the close friends I really cared for; only few (no more than 10) people fits this criteria of mine.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#412

Post by badtension »

throwaway0asd wrote: post #171
abvdasker wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely believe that AB testing as practiced by every major tech company (and the incentives it creates) has caused much of this. AB testing is a really unsophisticated way of measuring extremely short-term incremental gains in isolation. That's how we've ended up with products which have gradually become so hostile to users. Because individually the changes seem like small wins, but taken together and over the l…

I was the A/B test engineer for one of the most well known dot com brands about a decade ago. A/B testing media (advertising) is extremely misleading compared to testing against something transactional. The goal of a transactional sequence, called a conversion (payment in exchange for a product or defined service), is a supremely simple metric. Although the goal is simple to define and recognize the costs associated…

I can't say I understood everything you said (is all usage of word "media" == "advertising"? what are "illegal job deals"?) but just wanted to ask: is A/B testing ever not harmful to end users in the long run? Excluding some very minor UI testing like CTA button color which I presume doesn't really matter.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#413

Post by Falkon1313 »

spdionis wrote: post #90
wwweston wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don’t need social networks to keep in touch with anyone anymore, their original raison d'être is gone. In what sense? The underlying social motivation/interest is still present. And it's not like fundamental communications capabilities have actually changed. Chat's been around since the 90s and SMS is the new email. And social network applications grew and thrived in those situations because pull-and-scan-socia…

Chat has not been around since the 90s, not in the form that is used today.

It didn't have emojis or videos back then, but otherwise it hasn't changed much.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#414

Post by badtension »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #327
sircastor wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know if you remember or were ever exposed to the “Facebook is going to start charging for its services!” Panic posts that happened in the mid-2010s. It was always false, but when it comes to the internet, people have a strong sense of entitlement. They do not like the idea of paying for things.

Which is exactly where I would focus if I was making a product. I’m so sick to death of these awful “free” services. I can’t be the only one.

I am thinking about it now that I prepare for releasing a small B2C app. I thought about going freemium initially, then changed my thinking to maybe adding ads to the free version, but as I read more and more about dark patterns and sucking clients dry on every occasion (by big corps) I think of going paid only (monthly/yearly or one time) + 1 month free trial (no registration, no credit card). Simple, easy to understand, all cards on the table plus much less incentive for "finding creative revenue streams" (selling user data) in case ad revenue is low.

Perhaps it is a very bad decision which will never work, I don't know. I guess in this ecosystem the only way to at least not lose is not to play, otherwise we will all be eventually brought down to aggressive A/B testing, ad infested, tracking, no-privacy environment, to match other products... I don't want that kind of world.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#415

Post by Eupraxias »

pjlegato wrote: post #186
wwweston wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that I think about it, this is correct on at least one front: I can recall chat systems that existed in the 80s . What's the feature of today's chat systems makes them qualitatively different from those that are 30+ years old?

Today's chat systems are far more accessible to people with minimal to no technical background. Install an app on your phone and you're good to go. Almost anyone can and does use them. The level of technical knowledge required to connect to IRC or a BBS in the 80s was far higher, which meant that only a tiny fraction of people bothered.

Chat definitely existed in the 80's.

One of my first childhood memories was my brother showing me a real-time chat with someone in Germany. It was 1982. The letters appeared one... by... one... on the screen. It was probably a subconscious part of why I went on to study German later.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#416

Post by techdragon »

Falkon1313 wrote: post #407
techdragon wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was looking into using this recently, but the project seems to be somewhat stalled. It’s gone from regular monthly releases, up to February this year, to nothing for months, not a good sign for something I’m considering adopting to maintain an important part of my life. Between this and some syncing issues that didn’t yet have fixes, I dropped it before putting in the effort to get fully on board and I still need t…

Stalled or relatively stable? If the software changed out from under you every single day with daily updates, would that make it more worthy of considering adopting for long-term use? Or would you still think it was not a good sign because you hadn't gotten an update in the last few hours? If they did hourly releases, would you still look askance at it because it had been 6 minutes since the last release? People's id…

I think having a regular scheduled monthly update to a PHP web application with a web based UI as well as using WebDAV features intended to synchronise with an array of third party (often proprietary) software that you probably have exposed on the internet… isn’t that weird. You want to make sure you keep up with security updates and have a chance to regularly incorporate contributions from an active community of users.

A contributing factor to the “stalled” impression was that the original team/developers had publicly announced a new product March 2022… the exact same month that regular updates stopped.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#417

Post by Eupraxias »

pasquinelli wrote: post #268
moreira wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it might just be that that’s not needed anymore. The social networks of the past were useful as a way to keep in touch with people. MySpace, early Facebook, and the countless others from back then. Now everyone’s online 24/7, and accessible on multiple services all at the same time, all the time. You don’t need social networks to keep in touch with anyone anymore, their original raison d'être is gone. What’s…

> What’s sought after now is meeting -other-, new, like-minded people and content. For that we have twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and whatnot. yeah, but meeting people there isn't really meeting people. the friends you have on those aren't real friends. you can stay in touch with a friend on social media, but if your friendship is only there it's only pretend.

Reddit is often great for reading nifty content, but the infantile, monoculture avatars turn me off from ever wanting to 'connect' with anyone.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#418

Post by throwaway0asd »

badtension wrote: post #412
throwaway0asd wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was the A/B test engineer for one of the most well known dot com brands about a decade ago. A/B testing media (advertising) is extremely misleading compared to testing against something transactional. The goal of a transactional sequence, called a conversion (payment in exchange for a product or defined service), is a supremely simple metric. Although the goal is simple to define and recognize the costs associated…

I can't say I understood everything you said (is all usage of word "media" == "advertising"? what are "illegal job deals"?) but just wanted to ask: is A/B testing ever not harmful to end users in the long run? Excluding some very minor UI testing like CTA button color which I presume doesn't really matter.

From a revenue perspective the words media and advertising are interchangeable. The word media is preferred because it speaks to a business segment as opposed to something like an agency.

A/B testing is great when you are helping eliminate confusion and dark patterns nobody can articulate more directly.

Illegal job deals was an autocorrection of my phone. I meant illegal drug deals and didn’t catch the change.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#419

Post by badtension »

throwaway0asd wrote: post #418
badtension wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say I understood everything you said (is all usage of word "media" == "advertising"? what are "illegal job deals"?) but just wanted to ask: is A/B testing ever not harmful to end users in the long run? Excluding some very minor UI testing like CTA button color which I presume doesn't really matter.

From a revenue perspective the words media and advertising are interchangeable. The word media is preferred because it speaks to a business segment as opposed to something like an agency. A/B testing is great when you are helping eliminate confusion and dark patterns nobody can articulate more directly. Illegal job deals was an autocorrection of my phone. I meant illegal drug deals and didn’t catch the change.

Thank you, I have been reading about dark patterns recently and how damaging they are so you really got my attention now.

I will try to do my own research on how it's done but if you can expand a bit on confusion and dark pattern elimination that would be very much appreciated. I feel like everything I ever stumbled upon regarding A/B testing was "sales funnel optimization" which seems to be the root of much evil.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#420

Post by dont__panic »

midoridensha wrote: post #240
dcow wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I've just stopped using social media because there's no reason to have the type of reach it gives you unless you're, well, advertising (whether that's yourself and/or personal brand, a product, a political position, etc.). However, even though rare, every once in a few years I really do need to reach out to someone I don't regularly talk to digitally or get in touch with someone I was much more connected t…

>I think there's truly a place for a hyper pared down "global phone book" type of application. We have this: Facebook. At least that's what I use it for. I keep a list of most of my friends there, and use it to chat with many of them, including video chat. I don't post anything, ever, and almost never look at anyone else's posts. It's just a glorified "friend phone book and chat app".

But by participating in Facebook (even just leaving your account there!) you contribute to the network effect and make Facebook seem more useful to others. This helps Facebook snare other, less tech-savvy individuals in their dark patterns of ads and engagement. I don't it goes without saying that people who spend too much time on Facebook these days suffer psychologically for it.

I know that for you it's just a "friend phone book and chat app" but for others it's basically a casino. Consider deleting your account and keeping in touch with your friends via other mediums (email, text, letters, and phone calls go a long way!) instead, for the good of the community at large.

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