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

Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 265 posts

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#71

Post by haunter »

KineticLensman wrote: post #2

> “The thing about Letterboxd is there isn’t a ‘central town square’ like there is on X; it’s a very single-channel conversation,” says Gracewood. Comments happen in-line – similar to those on the Guardian and Observer websites – meaning that it’s less possible to performatively repost content into a main feed in order to encourage a pile-on. Similar situations exist on platforms such as Goodreads and Strava, where i…

>The thing about Letterboxd is there isn’t a ‘central town square’ like there is on X; it’s a very single-channel conversation,”

The problem with Letterboxd that it's gamified and there is an incredible amount of noise and it's getting worse.

Top reviews are all just copy paste like baits.

"Me when watching a Ghibli film :cryingemoji:" 20k likes

"Yes I'd let Ethan Hawke visit me every single night" 10k likes

etc

It's a good site but also must users are writing dogshit

Just look at the popular reviews page https://letterboxd.com/reviews/popular/this/week/

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#73

Post by brushfoot »

"Users near you" functionality is sorely needed in online spaces, considering how much interaction has moved online.

Reddit has worked around their lack of it to some degree with location-based subreddits like r/AtlFilmmakers. But subreddits are high maintenance, and they isolate content. Plus, the naming conventions aren't standard. Maybe there's r/AtlFilmmakers for filmmakers in Atlanta, but another subreddit for musicians uses the state in the name instead of a city.

It's a bit like folders vs. tags. It would be nicer to have a single filmmaking subreddit with the option to filter on users' locations -- and default filtering out of location-specific posts in other places.

That wouldn't just make for better dating, though it probably would compared to something like Tinder. It could also lead to stronger local communities and better health outcomes.

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#74

Post by tasuki »

sublinear wrote: post #70
mritchie712 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

especially good when that common activity isn't: we're both drinking at this bar

Easiest way to meet someone is for them to be a friend of a friend. I rarely date someone outside my extended circle even if I was trying to. We inevitably happen to know someone in common. That said, bars are a great way to expand that circle. Dating is just one aspect of socializing. People who go to bars specifically just to "pick up" are creepy.

> People who go to bars specifically just to "pick up" are creepy.

What does that mean?

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#75

Post by nemo44x »

IgorPartola wrote: post #11

Sharing a common interest is the best way to meet lots of new people. It creates low stakes interaction opportunities and removes the creep factor (if you are at a meetup for fans of model trains along with like a dozen other people, it’s not weird that you are talking to some of them). Better than any app, go get a hobby in person and get out there to meet people who are into it. Chances are you present yourself way…

This is why clubs exist and have for centuries. Country clubs, rotary club, computer club, Masonic, etc. There’s a ton of them but you don’t see younger people joining them as much today.

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#76

Post by Almondsetat »

dagelf wrote: post #58
marginalia_nu wrote: post #3

Can't be overstated how good having a setting centered on some common activity with low stakes social interaction is for building relationships, romantic as well as platonic. Hookup culture just isn't for everyone, and the notion that it is has been the cause of a lot of grief and agony.

Umm.. yes it can. Common interests are WAAAY overrated. It's barely even a starting point... asymmetry is there it's at, why "partner" with yourself, when you can partner with your literal compliment, someone who has what you lack.... to make not just a bigger half, but an actual whole?!

It's not about common interests, it's literally just about showing up and being exposed to the same people for a prolonged amount of time. The activity is just an excuse.

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#77

Post by diggan »

brushfoot wrote: post #73

"Users near you" functionality is sorely needed in online spaces, considering how much interaction has moved online. Reddit has worked around their lack of it to some degree with location-based subreddits like r/AtlFilmmakers. But subreddits are high maintenance, and they isolate content. Plus, the naming conventions aren't standard. Maybe there's r/AtlFilmmakers for filmmakers in Atlanta, but another subreddit for m…

> "Users near you" functionality is sorely needed in online spaces, considering how much interaction has moved online.

Funny this got mentioned as France just successfully got that very feature removed from Telegram by arresting the founder and citing that feature as the one being used most for abuse.

Bunch of sources about that here: https://ground.news/article/telegram-to-start-moderating-pri...

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#78

Post by dqv »

brushfoot wrote: post #73

"Users near you" functionality is sorely needed in online spaces, considering how much interaction has moved online. Reddit has worked around their lack of it to some degree with location-based subreddits like r/AtlFilmmakers. But subreddits are high maintenance, and they isolate content. Plus, the naming conventions aren't standard. Maybe there's r/AtlFilmmakers for filmmakers in Atlanta, but another subreddit for m…

TikTok is the only app I’ve encountered that gets this right. I’ve made connections with people from my town and places just outside where I live. I’d love to see more apps do what TikTok does.

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#79

Post by bradlys »

Trasmatta wrote: post #25
IgorPartola wrote: post #11

Sharing a common interest is the best way to meet lots of new people. It creates low stakes interaction opportunities and removes the creep factor (if you are at a meetup for fans of model trains along with like a dozen other people, it’s not weird that you are talking to some of them). Better than any app, go get a hobby in person and get out there to meet people who are into it. Chances are you present yourself way…

This is the common advice, but it's also resulted in many of these hobby based events being overrun by people who are primarily there looking to find a date. It can be a weird dynamic. My suggestion is get a hobby that you explicitly are interested in, but don't go in with an expectation that you'll find someone, or make that your primary goal. > Chances are you present yourself way better in the real world vs online…

> My suggestion is get a hobby that you explicitly are interested in, but don't go in with an expectation that you'll find someone, or make that your primary goal.

The issue here is that you need to have hobbies that are explicitly good for finding partners. For instance, I love riding motorcycles. I am happy to do group oriented aspects of the hobby like track days or group rides, etc. The amount of women in that activity is near zero. The same is true for cars. It's almost entirely men. Even if you say there's 10% women showing up - that's still a horrific 9:1 ratio.

I find it super annoying because my hobbies are so masculine and male dominated. I have to actually go out and do things that I'm not really that passionate about or interested in as a way to meet women - and then I have to be really good at said hobbies.

Fortunately, I am someone who is able and willing to suffer through things that I don't enjoy for a goal but it is going to contradict all the most popular advice out there of "do what you love and love will follow". It's just simply not true. All the women I've met were through activities or hobbies that I had no real interest in doing. I was simply doing them to improve my odds in regards to dating women.

Who cares if you're interested. Just do the fucking work.

Re: Have ‘hobby’ apps become the new social networks?

#80

Post by zeroCalories »

anal_reactor wrote: post #66
marginalia_nu wrote: post #3

Can't be overstated how good having a setting centered on some common activity with low stakes social interaction is for building relationships, romantic as well as platonic. Hookup culture just isn't for everyone, and the notion that it is has been the cause of a lot of grief and agony.

I spent years attending various language courses where I literally sat and talked to people, but I never became friends with any of them. If anything, it usually felt like stepping into a world of individuals hand-picked to have nothing in common with me, except for the fact that they were trying to learn a language too.

I have that feeling at work. I've spent years talking to people daily but never gotten to know them. But for stuff like hobbies I've never had trouble filling the time talking about the hobby. You don't find it interesting to talk about why you're both learning the language, or what books/media in that language you enjoy?
Post reply on HN