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Is this the end of social networking?

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Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#441

Post by pasabagi »

Andrex wrote: post #147
pasabagi wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you come from a wealthy background, you get the really depressing version: the school bully who loved ICP posts about how they got a new job with McKinsey, the slimy moron who used to spread shit about you is the CEO of a up-and-coming startup, and the guy who was too dumb to understand how truly dumb he was is now at a senior position in a thinktank.

That's the disingenuous presupposition. A more positive one would be those people actually got better at their skills and improved as people. I'd like to think I'm a better person than I was in high school. But if you're constantly exposed to their social feeds, you would have the data and probably know better. :)

I guess from plain statistics, you could say that the number of talented people from wealthy backgrounds is roughly the same as talented people generally, so my feeling is that there is a sizable slice of jobs where you just secure rents through connections and you don't actually need to be talented.

From my observations, some industries (film, for instance) will give people a chance, then get rid of them if they don't work out - so a lot of people I vaguely knew had very brief acting careers.

Other companies seem to trundle along with really dysfunctional leadership, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, I suspect it's because the explicit aim of the company (say, mining) is not what the company is actually doing (say, some kind of rent extraction) so it doesn't matter that the CEO has no skills to speak of.

Also, when you know the people, and you see like an interview they've given, you can usually tell if they're bullshitting.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#442

Post by daniel-cussen »

dont__panic wrote: post #17

> [TikTok]'s addiction-based advertising machine is probably close to the theoretical maximum of how many advertisements one can pour down somebody’s throat. Well put. It's interesting that we pivoted in my adult lifetime from: 1. Myspace's emphasis on sharing things on your own webpage, essentially a hosted blog 2. Facebook's evolution from "hosted blog" to "friend update aggregator" to "chat client" to "friend upda…

You're answering your own question with your own essay on this-here social network for essays. Yeah there's no pictures, yeah there's no private messages, yeah there's very little of meeting someone and becoming friends. (And in fact, on BookFace which is for YC founders, I divine there are all those things, as options, this is the public-facing everyone's-welcome version of that. They share software.) But I have made some friends, like alisonkisk to some extent, and who else, cercatrova, and recently Cyberdog. And a few others reaching each other over email, there's some people. It's not a totally deserted wasteland, like you'd think from the purity of text. A literally Islamic degree to which it's iconoclastic, just pure text, like not even ASCII art, this is fully compatible with the most extreme forms of literalist Christianity and Islam.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#443

Post by froglets »

There is an appeal to TikTok that I haven’t noticed elsewhere, but it is hard to explain. Content trends are like a game of telephone, so it’s interesting to see what creators choose to carry over into their own content and pass along. It’s fascinating to watch trends evolving so quickly and imo those trends are a special kind of authentic content space that advertisers haven’t really been able to break into and ruin yet.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#444

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

badtension wrote: post #414
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 unders…

Mine is a free app, that does nothing without a physical device. The DRM system is no login no account, the device is the key. No update costs. Everything calm. The device is even fungible for its purpose. A tool to do a thing and fucks off.

We’re leaving money on the table, for sure, but I really don’t care. I’m going to make something that is biased to the customer, and they’re going to appreciate it.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#445

Post by throwaway0asd »

badtension wrote: post #419
throwaway0asd wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The goal of any product oriented business is purchase through a point of sale. That is called a conversion. Dark patterns emerge when a seller attempts to influence the behavior of a purchaser beyond decisions most beneficial to the purchaser, which is not always intentional.

One example of dark pattern elimination occurs when steps in a purchase process are dramatically reduced. That reduction eliminates opportunities for messaging but increases the potential for transaction quantity.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#446

Post by csours »

woweoe wrote: post #313
csours wrote: post #14

Users of social media will learn how to deal with righteousness. Until we do, social media will suck big league. Social Media strongly encourages Hot Takes, because those get clicks. I found myself examining how I comment on reddit, and what people call "The Hivemind". You can't have nuanced discussions on social media, someone will infer what kind of asshole you exactly are, and that's the end of the discussion. Som…

Reddit is horrific because the moderation on the website is so heavily biased towards the current mantra of the US Democrats, regardless of topic and country involved. Why so many of the public ditched forums, where replying to an older comment can continue a conversation for new people to see, with Reddit is a mystery to me as well. Reddit has become a slur in the Indian diaspora for example.

> "Reddit is horrific because the moderation on the website is so heavily biased towards the current mantra of the US Democrats"

Two notes:

1. The moderation on the site is driven by the culture of the people on the site. In sociology and politics you can approach things from the top or the bottom - what does the King say or what does the Populace say. Even a King's powers are not unlimited, they need political support from someone, and those people need political support - you can see this many times in history when a king is de-throned (I'm saying king, but you can substitute any political leader)

2. I don't think it's the moderation or the mantra that make reddit a horrific hellscape. I think it's the feeling of righteousness around certain topics. Righteousness is very useful to leaders. It is very motivating, it gets people to take action and vote or give money to a campaign. It's completely natural to feel righteous about topics of morality.

Social media turns that feeling of righteousness into clicks and interactions. When you have clicks and interactions, you can sell ads. This doesn't even need to be an intentional from the company or platform. People will do it automatically.

Unfortunately, that feeling of righteousness may not be personally or socially rewarding in the long term, and it is very destructive to authentic and meaningful conversations.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#447

Post by badtension »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #444
badtension wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 unders…

Mine is a free app, that does nothing without a physical device. The DRM system is no login no account, the device is the key. No update costs. Everything calm. The device is even fungible for its purpose. A tool to do a thing and fucks off. We’re leaving money on the table, for sure, but I really don’t care. I’m going to make something that is biased to the customer, and they’re going to appreciate it.

Looks like a good way to go, I hope you succeed and have fun in the process!

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#448

Post by matlin »

robjan wrote: post #250
matlin wrote: post #59

The approach at my company is to be group chat first. We think there is a distinction between social media (FB, Instragram, Twitter) and pure social networking. I think social networks that are unbounded and broadcast centric actually demonstrate anti-network effects where the more followers/friends you get the less value you get from your network unless of course you're trying to be an influencer. The ideal network…

Tried to download the app but it seems to be geo-restricted

Which country are you coming from? We initially restricted to the US because we haven't done any translations / internationalization yet.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#449

Post by matlin »

pasttense01 wrote: post #321
matlin wrote: post #59

The approach at my company is to be group chat first. We think there is a distinction between social media (FB, Instragram, Twitter) and pure social networking. I think social networks that are unbounded and broadcast centric actually demonstrate anti-network effects where the more followers/friends you get the less value you get from your network unless of course you're trying to be an influencer. The ideal network…

Not even a Windows desktop option--just Apple and Google Play.

We have launched web app that is in beta and actually have windows and Mac(M1) apps that just not published yet.

Re: Is this the end of social networking?

#450

Post by Velc »

woweoe wrote: post #307

Reddit is the worst of all the social media considering how toxic the moderation is. You just leave the site full of anger and a desire to shout at all the misinformed on that site. TikTok is similar to TV. People would sit around the TV for hours per day, TikTok is usually in the magnitude of minutes. The algortyhm also does not feel politically or culturally motivated, unlike Reddit.

Agreed. Reddit is complete trash now. I think reddit peaked in 2013. Aaron Swartz is rolling in his grave.
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