Social media is on the decline. Instagram is all ads. No one’s posting on BeReal. TikTok is for influencers. The new place for sharing: group chats.

    • MentalEdge
      link
      fedilink
      English
      89
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Like for real!! I was a semi-lurker on reddit. Posted a couple times a year.

      I just passed 500 posts on Lemmy.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4810 months ago

        I’ve found lemmy to be alot less hostile, don’t care about downvotes, but attacking people because of opinions doesn’t sound like a fun time to me

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          4410 months ago

          The absence of a running karma total is a surprisingly powerful difference. I do still look back at old posts, and it’s nice when there’s votes, but without the little number next to a name or when I mouse-over a profile, there’s no motivation to be the first in a thread to repost a cliche joke or to ragebait for fake internet points.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            1910 months ago

            I think the “not having to be first” is what is so powerful.

            I know that if I comment on a post from a few days ago on a populated community, I’ll likely at least get a reply from OP, if not a bunch of other people finding my comment and replying as well.

            It’s like Lemmy is the nice, small-town version of Reddit (which is probably more similar to Gary Indiana).

          • @Eezyville
            link
            English
            810 months ago

            I hated most of those cliche jokes. Here I am looking for real conversation only to be met with thousands of not witty low effort jokes.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                410 months ago

                There used to be a bot rating bot on reddit that used those comments to see which bots where actually good. It was useful. I’m hoping someone will make the same on lemmy and go back retroactively to index old comments.

              • @Eezyville
                link
                English
                210 months ago

                I think that on some bots it is meant as feedback on its performance but to have 10 users give the same feedback is kinda annoying. Maybe Lemmy can have a feature were humans can approve/disapprove bot performance that doesn’t involve upvote/downvote. It would only be available to bot accounts in the site’s UI. Could possibly expand it’s functionality to something more useful. Or just use the voting system because it’s already in place.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          910 months ago

          Lemmy definitely has a more chill, human vibe than I got with Reddit, given how overrun the latter was with vast armies of shills, bots, alt right trolls, etc.

          Not that it’s all rainbow-pooping unicorns frolicking through flowery meadows here but at least the dick comments tend to be much rarer and often a one off for the person making them.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          310 months ago

          Opinions are fine. Being disingenuous/an asshole at the same time as having an opinion definitely provokes smackdowns, even on lemmy.

      • lom
        link
        English
        210 months ago

        Huh, when I clicked on your profile it says 0 posts…

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          210 months ago

          Profiles are rarely accurate. I viewed the same profile from two different instances (yes the same profile, not the same username from two different instances) and they didn’t even have the age of thr account the same. One was 2 years, one was 2 months. So I wouldn’t trust that. I’d only trust it if you’re logged into that very instance.

          • MentalEdge
            link
            fedilink
            English
            1
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            In this case it’s more likely to be because that’s one of my alts. This is my main.

    • Margot Robbie
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3310 months ago

      Part of the reason is Lemmy’s default sorting algorithm for comments, “Hot”, addresses reddit’s biggest flaw, which is that earlier comments snowballs with upvotes, so it buries late-comers to conversations, leading to the rat-race of everyone trying to get their funny one-liners in as early as possible for maximum karma (which also isn’t a thing here.)

      The “Active” default sort for posts also means that comments are a lot more concentrated to what people are actually talking about and posts tend to be stickier. (also, botting upvote is a lot harder on Lemmy, since it’s easy to bot upvotes, it’s a lot harder to fake real conversations in comments. )

      In fact, it is pointless to comment at all past like 4 hours on any post on reddit since it will just sit unread for hours, but here you can comment 1 day after a post and still have people talking to you.

    • Uranium3006OP
      link
      fedilink
      2210 months ago

      for me, I was motivated to make this my first post because I want to help solve the death of content issue we still have. it’s gotten quite a lot of attention. I think that anywhere bigger, anything of relevance would have already been posted by the time I see it

      • Peacemeal12
        link
        fedilink
        1110 months ago

        Also, for me, it’s the fact I do not feel my data and privacy are being siphoned, sold, and fingerprinted on this platform. Another factor is that I feel the people and interactions are pure and authentic, rather than astroturfed and ambiguous. That may change as the fedicerse grows, but for now it is bringing me back of the older days of the internet.

        • Jelloeater
          link
          fedilink
          English
          1410 months ago

          For what it’s worth, that was a big reason why I moved as well, everyone here actually cares. ❤️

      • Rentlar
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        You bring up one advantage I see from Lemmy. Even though I’ve seen this article posted before (I think by L4Sbot in this technology community), the nature of de-centralized content means that cross-posting onto various servers is actually encouraged to get input from a variety of users from different communities and configs (for example, people who have disabled viewing bot-account posts).

        On Reddit, people would be quick to say “boooooo repoooost”, but I’ve not seen that too much of that, just a few complaints of “there’s too much orange guy and muskrat in my feed”.

    • MoreThanCorrect
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1610 months ago

      Same here. For me it’s because it feels smaller more often instead expecting to be buried.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        810 months ago

        I just want the communities I post in to grow. Just trying to do my part to keep people engaged and encourage others to do the same.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1010 months ago

      I comment about as much as I did on reddit, but I feel like I see less negative replies. It doesn’t seem to matter what I’d post on there, somebody somewhere would have something shitty to say. It’s not my fault society can’t accept my seal clubbing hobby.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        410 months ago

        If you want to go clubbing with 90s phenom and signer of the hit song “Kiss from a Rose”, then you go for it! You are accepted here ❤️

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          410 months ago

          See? This is what people in reddit can’t seem to understand. I say, “I want to go the Arctic and club the shit out some Seal,” and they immediately assume the worst. Just because I like dancing the night away in cold, barren wastelands doesn’t make me a monster.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      910 months ago

      Absolutely, I post much more here because I know actual people will actually read it and may actually respond like they would to an actual human. It’s like the old days of the internet.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        Yeah look I don’t get slurs thrown at me or people abusing the “send help” button. So that’s a bonus.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            110 months ago

            It’s great that they have that. But man it got abused so easily, and it felt kind of silly that you could actually block it. I remember getting it after saying the most middest of takes.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              210 months ago

              I honestly don’t know whether it’s good that they have it or not.

              There must be a myriad of ways that reddit could support the mental health of redditors which would be more effective.

    • Apathy Tree
      link
      fedilink
      English
      410 months ago

      Hey me too! Just the Lemmy side (was never into twitters whole thing) but I actually post stuff here, even if it’s just cross posting.

      I always used an alt to post on Reddit and did so very infrequently. I think I posted maybe 3 things on the 4 years on Reddit?

      I comment a lot more, and have posted a ton more (even without removing the posts! And yea, 5 is a ton more since it’s in the last 2 months rather than 4years!)

      I don’t even clear my comment history as a compulsive thing (I changed me behavior somewhat, to allow for this) because I don’t want to remove activity from the platform. I know it needs me to contribute so I do!

    • AnonTwo
      link
      fedilink
      17
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I mean I think it’s a fine career, it’s the name that’s dumb.

      For the most part they’re just entertainers. The “influencer” name suggests way more than should be.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        33
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Entertainers are supposed to be entertaining though.

        These people have all the “entertainment” value of a late-night infomercial at best. “Oooh, watch me get excited about unboxing this item. Whatever could have Disney sent me this week?”

        The worst problem is that these influencers do gain huge amounts of followers, but rarely fact-check or do hard sciences needed to ya know, give information to viewers? See Linus Tech Tips and the whole crap they’re into right now.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          810 months ago

          You are watching the wrong persons on youtube.
          Aaaand: The thing you think is unfunny might be the funbiest thing since forver for another.

          • veroxii
            link
            fedilink
            English
            510 months ago

            Exactly. And the fact that people have large amounts of followers mean that plenty of people find them entertaining.

        • AnonTwo
          link
          fedilink
          5
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          I mean, they’re mostly indie and could probably easily be compared to stand-up comedians.

          Which if we look at it’s history is a very crash-and-burn career itself. I think a lot of them are entertaining. But it’s certainly a saturated market where it can feel like a needle in a haystack at times.

          And really, the issue with LTT, is an issue. But keep in mind on the internet we largely mock news sites in general for being uninformative and many being glorified blogs. It’s not as uncommon as we unfortunately may think.

          But basically a lot of what is souring you on influencers, either has already happened in other careers or is currently happening to others as well, just we don’t think about it as much.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          410 months ago

          Well “entertaining” is subjective. If these people weren’t entertaining, they wouldn’t have so many followers.

          There are absolutely a ton of people out there taking advantage of certain people and manipulating them as opposed to actually being entertaining, but that’s not an “influencer” problem, that’s just a people problem. That happens in every industry with human interaction.

          Plenty of influencers just post content they think their followers will like and use that following to make money as well. And a lot of the time, their followers actually enjoy the things they advertise.

          And the great thing is if you don’t like the concept, you can just not follow them.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          010 months ago

          If you were objectively correct and that folks didn’t find them entertaining, there wouldn’t be the industry and they wouldn’t have their followers. It’s the same phenomenon that makes reality TV such a big money maker.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            5
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            Reality TV is a money maker because you barely need any writers.

            Reality TV was a reaction to the (repeated) writers strikes. Content, no matter the quality, sells eyeballs. Quality almost doesn’t matter in practice. As such, shitty TV that is poorly written makes money because their costs are so low. Not necessarily because people find them entertaining.

            They’re the McDonalds of Hollywood. Low effort, low cost content designed to fill up televisions but keep audiences with “something” between the major shows people watch.


            And no. Reality TV isn’t “real” either, its just unscripted, low effort television. Its roughly WWE where characters (and their actors) are given much leeway into the shots / script because they don’t want to pay real writers to make an actual script.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              310 months ago

              It has a lot of eyeballs. That’s the whole point. They were extremely popular shows. I don’t understand how you’re just swiping that part under the rug as if it didn’t matter. If no one watched them, they’d stop. They watch them because many people found it entertaining to watch. I can’t believe you’re trying to create a conspiracy that a bunch of people watched a show because they… didn’t enjoy it?

            • Uranium3006OP
              link
              fedilink
              110 months ago

              Most TV screen hours are in the background so a lot of shows are just filler to keep the schedule full

      • @JohnDClay
        link
        English
        1310 months ago

        Like they could be a video journalist or a nature photographer or a lifestyle model. All those would be more descriptive than just influencer.

      • Very_Bad_Janet
        link
        fedilink
        1
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        I prefer "content creators. " Sametimes they can be very educational or entertaining. (I watch a lot of comedy, travel, and home workout content.)

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      110 months ago

      It’s a double edged sword. I do like some of the niche content the industry has created. I like coffee and I get a lot of indepth coffee analysis from folks who likely wouldn’t be able to spend the time doing so if they needed “real” jobs. I think it’s the ones where there’s no actual valuable content that is what gets people annoyed. I don’t understand how someone can just play video games in front of a camera. Or where they’re famous for their personality.

  • The Snark Urge
    link
    fedilink
    English
    19010 months ago

    Talking to real friends more interesting than arguing with strangers? Shareholders flummoxed! News at 11.

    • @Klystron
      link
      English
      4610 months ago

      Hey, I take offense to that! I’m going to write a vitriolic response to your seemingly-normal-but-different-viewpoint-than-mine opinion where I’ll use non-applicable slurs and misinformation and then call you dumb if you post a sensible reply!

      • Poggervania
        link
        fedilink
        13
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        tfw you just stand on the sides and then meme on what’s happening with a lame joke instead of contributing your two cents on the socioeconomic practices that are happening in the US that are currently choking its working class to death

        lmaooooooo gottem

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 months ago

        Hey, I take offence to your office! I’m going to write a nonsensical response that parallels your comment where I’ll use no sources and not really make any point whatsoever!

    • Nougat
      link
      fedilink
      1010 months ago

      … real friends …

      I don’t understand.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        12
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        Like text but with noises and fleshy.

        Edit: sometimes they congratulate you on the anniversary of exiting your mother’s birth canal.

  • Sagrotan
    link
    fedilink
    English
    8610 months ago

    I’ve seen the birth of it in my lifetime, I’ll see the death of it in my lifetime. Way to go, evolution!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3410 months ago

      It had the potential to be good. But as with everything, once capitalisms tendrils flowed through it the benefit to anyone except those wishing to reap a profit is gone. I’m hoping the fediverse gets the support it needs because infrastructure is expensive and we have something good here

      • UristMcHolland
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1510 months ago

        There used to be a time when corporations were taxed so hard they did everything they could to reinvest their money into the company/employees/communities just to avoid it going to taxes. Unfettered capitalism destroys the humanity in everything it touches.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            510 months ago

            Yes, the name itself gives it away that the only thing to be considered, real or not, is to be the capital and the extraction of value over everything under the sun…

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1310 months ago

        The worst part is the Cambridge Analitica kinda shit that they figured out eventually, the orange cunt, brexit and other modern calamities were fueled by the social networks reach into private activities or otherwise. It sucks cause it exposes how easy normal people will go down the rabbit hole.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          810 months ago

          Yup, and it wasn’t even just them, using social media to fuel insurrection in the US has been Russia’s playbook for a long time, and while their failures in Ukraine show how unprepared they were for outright warfare, they had no trouble using US social media platforms to stir the pot and promote right wing tendencies

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        610 months ago

        You underestimate capitalism if you think the fediverse is safe. It’s going to be a constant fight against an immortal enemy. It’s only a matter of time. I just hope it’s after mine.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          110 months ago

          True, everyone has the point at which they sell. Since https://lemmy.world/u/ruud maintains the biggest mastodon and lemmy instances I guess it’s up to him what his price is as the kick off point. I imagine once a corporation took over the biggest instances they’d probably be defederated and then the same cycle of exodus for the 10% of users that care would occur. Granted that could happen to any instance, I’m only mentioning this one because it is the largest

      • @cantstopthesignal
        link
        English
        6
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        I was in college and I still do not understand it. My friends were like dude there’s girls on it and you can poke them. But there’s girls out in the real world. Now it’s the reverse where meeting people on the internet is more normal than meeting IRL.

  • I Cast Fist
    link
    fedilink
    English
    6510 months ago

    Social media in general is in the following stage of Enshitification:

    • Launch
    • Growth at all costs, user focus
    • Use size to bring advertisers
    • Gradually shift focus to advertisers and money bringers
    • Ensure users are way too invested to quit
    • >> Sell out <<

    It’s no surprise that people only end up seeing “carefully curated” content, it’s what “sells”, or rather, ensures people stay in the stupid app. From TFA: “While sharing has tailed off, consuming content hasn’t slowed”

    I have an Insta account for some of the part time 3D printing I do, but since I’m not a “content creator”, my stuff has almost zero reach. Whenever I open the app, it’s roughly 1:1:1 posts of “recommended”, someone I actually follow, advert. 2/3 of everything shown to me is stuff I didn’t ask for, not to mention when the advertises are actual scams or fucking pyramids

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1110 months ago

      I first heard the term ‘enshitification’ on the last episode of On the Media. Perfect description

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    62
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    I still visit Reddit but I no longer engage in any way, other than reading comments. No up/down voting, not commenting, no reporting spam. Nothing but reading with multiple layers of ad-blocking.

    PS: the overall quality/value has dropped precipitously

    • Tygr
      link
      fedilink
      English
      2110 months ago

      I deleted all 6 of my accounts. I can’t upvote or comment and I like it that way. Reddit no longer values me as a content producer by eliminating my fav apps, so I no longer value Reddit.

      • @MyNameIsIgglePiggle
        link
        English
        6
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        I have used it just a handful of times where adding “Reddit” to the end of a search would get me what I was looking for - usually “peer reviewed” options on some topic.

        1 time I went for commentary on a niche reality tv show to feel validated in my hate for the designated villain.

        I am not logged in and don’t interact any further

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      9
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I deleted my main Reddit account but still find myself going back there occasionally for specific topics. For example, I haven’t found a good place on Lemmy to ask travel questions.

      • Takatakatakatakatak
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -710 months ago

        place on Lemmy to ask travel questions.

        Good luck. One poster would ask if you like sex and travel, then tell you to “Go and get fucked.”

        Another would accuse you of being a bourgeois lib who is killing the planet with your capitalist excesses.

        Another would go on a rant about privilege and how your very ability to ask such questions in a public space speaks to your total lack class consciousness and your ignorance of “The Movement” or something like it.

        In short, check out Vang Vieng in Laos and have a great time.

    • @cantstopthesignal
      link
      English
      710 months ago

      Did you not enjoy your tenth fight video of the day?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      010 months ago

      I read AITA on Lemmy via a bot, that is the last vestige of Reddit I haven’t dropped.

  • shinomoroll
    link
    fedilink
    English
    6010 months ago

    Those platforms are business media now, not social media anymore.

    • @Aderyna
      link
      English
      610 months ago

      This is really interesting to think about. On my photography IG the one users who are still having good reach are the ones who are promoting their patreon/presets/editing services, are constantly trying to earn money in some way and are posting a million reels every day.

      More casual photographers like me are getting zilch. I used to get 1000 likes on 95% of my stuff with some going viral. Now I get 200 if I’m lucky, my reach in general is in the hole and I refuse to spend hours editing reels and begging for the algorithms attention. I’m close to shutting it down but I help mod a page right now so I’m hanging on for a bit yet.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    5910 months ago

    The fediverse, while still social media, has a level of authenticity unrivaled by most major social medias in my opinion. Hopefully it stays that way!

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1010 months ago

      Has any communication system managed to do that? Once certain types of people catch the scent of profit, they tear the medium apart searching for every penny of it.

      Letters became junk mail. Email became spam. Newspapers and magazines became mostly ads and shilled content. Television became for-profit news and reality content.

      That authenticity is just going to make it more appealing to astro-turf.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 months ago

        we need to shitpost more. a neighborhood that is high in crime does not appeal to advertisers. like north korea, they live in paradise whilst convincing the rest of the world that it’s a shithole.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      310 months ago

      ah i guess that’s in the process of changing. you can see this happening right now. more right-wing memes, more “look at this cool movie/toy/outfit… i found. it’s really me, a normal human being just like you!”

      • @ZodiacSF1969
        link
        English
        310 months ago

        Lol I would bet the majority of that crap is from just normal people.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            5
            edit-2
            10 months ago

            Seems extremely unlikely. There’s very little reach on here compared to elsewhere. It’s not easily quantifiable nor can it be easily verified. It’s extremely easy to hack metrics. There’s no business sense to pay someone for posts on the fediverse yet. Don’t be paranoid and don’t become conspiratorial.

            Edit: added “yet” because those things could possibly change.

          • @atzanteol
            link
            English
            310 months ago

            Anyone who disagrees with you is a bot amiright?

            … wait, am I a bot?

  • Resol van Lemmy
    link
    fedilink
    English
    5710 months ago

    I also noticed how my social media usage (even on Lemmy and Mastodon) is consistently declining, I haven’t opened the clients I use for either platform in days (or possibly more than a week). It’s bad because I was pretty invested in the fediverse, but it’s good because now I can actually do something productive, or even go outside.

  • brothershamus
    link
    fedilink
    5610 months ago

    No app better defines the changing nature of social media than Instagram. The app started as a digital scrapbook — a place to keep up with real-world connections, close friends, and family. While other networks had more users (Facebook) or generated more news (Twitter), Instagram seemed to define the ideal form of this era of social media. Instagram became a verb, an aesthetic, and a generational signifier.

    huUURP! BLAAaahhriifgghhh. . .

    Garbage marketing platform dies horribly. Thousands of clueless “journalists” bereft.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 months ago

        Usenet and freenet haven’t changed at all. /List to list servers. Scroll until u find what u want Cake

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          210 months ago

          Usenet has changed a little. Everyone ignores the first rule of Usenet now. Granted it was getting to be a rundown joke, but anyone will talk about Usenet. Secondly, the backbones have been pruned back quite a bit. Another thing about that is which backbone you use matters more as DCMA takedowns happen differently depending on not only the company, but country too. Differences in laws obviously, and the manner in which they are handled directly impacts your file (or logs). A NA backbone server might have automated takedown requests, whilst a Euro server may require the request in writing. Having accounts in more than one backbone is quite beneficial. Block account for fill or whatever.

          With regards to companies, some US companies have been buying European ones which potentially makes using that backbone/server more tenuous. I don’t think I’ve experienced any issues from that, but it might be impossible for me to know. Unless I get…dundundunnn…The Letter.

        • teft
          link
          fedilink
          English
          110 months ago

          I would think dalnet is still up. Those fuckers are like cockroaches. Only a nuke will take them out.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      310 months ago

      Discord is better than IRC imo. I used IRC for a VERY long time and Discord was the one that finally killed it for me. We’ll see if it lasts. I guess if they kill themselves (and they keep trying to), IRC will still be there waiting. Used to be on Rizon!

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        Discord is sooo awful imo. Every server has annoying “rule bots” or people constantly changing the look/feel of the channels or trying to engage you with @all or @channel (which you can ignore but it’s still annoying)… even the more technical ones have the same vibe. IRC is so much easier to communicate in IMO.

  • Margot Robbie
    link
    fedilink
    English
    4510 months ago

    Also, if no one is posting on social media, then what the hell are we all doing right now then?

    • @Spambox
      link
      English
      2610 months ago

      deleted by creator

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1810 months ago

        The internet has been almost entirely enshittified by large corporations and government overreach. I really do wish there was a way to get back to Web 1.0 of mostly user-generated, self-hosted content, without the slow internet speeds or crappy web design motifs.

        Might be possible if everyone is forced underground due to adblockers possibly getting killed off.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          4
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          Web 2.0 was the advent of user generated content. Web 1.0 was not. It was site-generated content for the most part. Some forums possibly. But it was extremely static and was very poor way to find user generated content.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          110 months ago

          I blame javascript. If it weren’t for people fucking with the time travel machine WE’D be the ones in the original timeline, and no one would have to suffer in this timeline where javascript got invented.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      910 months ago

      My Facebook is only memes, only from the large meme pages, not the ones I like that I have to check manually since they’ll never end up in my feed. And news articles.

      It started with Facebook just hiding what your friends are posting. It still happens that someone shares a photo once a year or so, but I will never get shown it. I just browse my friend’s profiles manually.

      • squiblet
        link
        fedilink
        510 months ago

        That was extremely dissatisfying about Facebook. I’d see an endless stream of crap from people that I barely knew and didn’t care about at all, and then when I’d look at a profile of someone I actually knew and did want to keep up with, I’d see posts about significant and interesting things that happened in their lives which Facebook never showed me. I tried to get them to stop showing me irritating posts about politics - unfollow people, block people, mark “show less posts like this”, then it would come up with more political posts from people I didn’t even recognize. Meanwhile, oh, colleague got married…. sure, just never show me that post and show me 15 idiotic political memes instead.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          210 months ago

          and we’d voice our opinion AS THESE CHANGES WERE HAPPENING and people would cry “things change you just don’t like change hur durr i’m so progressive”

    • arglebargle
      link
      fedilink
      English
      810 months ago

      I don’t consider this or reddit social media. I don’t know anyone, nor do I care to.

      Instead it is like a collection of forums since forever like in the bbs days.

      I pick and choose what rooms to go in and learn something. But it isn’t about me, or staying connected. You know, the social part.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        610 months ago

        This and Reddit are 100% social media. Right now, writing this, we are socializing on this media.

        Maybe I’m wrong, but this is how I’ve viewed it for years

        • arglebargle
          link
          fedilink
          English
          4
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          No, I don’t think so. Not in the sense that social media became defined. Web forum, and bbs rooms, existed long before the term. The key difference and turning point was removal of anonymity, and the concept of self promotion. I know they are similar and overlap, but the evolution from one to the other did occur. Reddit and Lemmy still have more in common with news aggregation and forums than say a Titter, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Most of the content here is in reference to something else, end then discussion are on that.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          110 months ago

          nah. Social Media has a sort of implied entertainment attached to it, which is not a good description of, e.g., this very discussion. This -can- be social media if you’re just lurking, but for us conversing here this is now a forum. We’re sharing thoughts and discussing.

          • Vashti
            link
            fedilink
            English
            110 months ago

            …for entertainment. For fun.

            I don’t think many of us would come here if it wasn’t fun.

        • arglebargle
          link
          fedilink
          English
          3
          edit-2
          10 months ago

          No, I don’t think so. Not in the sense that social media became defined. Web forum, and bbs rooms, existed long before the term. The key difference and turning point was self promotion, and the removal of anonymity. I know they are similar and overlap, but the evolution from one to the other did occur. Reddit and Lemmy still have more in common with news aggregation and forums than say a Titter, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Most of the content here is in reference to something else, end then discussion are on that.

          If you look up the history of the term the turning point is definitely the change to having real personas and real people connect. That is where the “social” part comes from. The term “social networking”. But we are not social networking here. Do you actually know anyone here? Do you want to?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            210 months ago

            preach. If anyone wants an example of what is meant by “forum” if you’re too accustomed to modern takes on it, visit places like news.ycombinator.com or just browse reddit using old.reddit.com and go in some less “popular” subs that aren’t just people posting random pics and videos.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 months ago

        That’s basically how most of Instagram works and is what the article is about. No one knows folks on those platforms either. They aren’t “social” anymore. No one shares anything personal, it’s all “content” created for millions of followers by influencers and the like. This is probably more like social media than current platforms are. It’s closer to what social media was when it started.

    • andrew
      link
      fedilink
      English
      710 months ago

      I’m assuming you’re just here studying nerds for your next blockbuster where you’re playing Ada Lovelace or something.

      • Margot Robbie
        link
        fedilink
        English
        910 months ago

        … I don’t know what you’re talking about.

        On a purely coincidentally note, how likely would you be in watching an Ada Lovelace biopic? No reason, just asking.

        • @agamemnonymous
          link
          English
          310 months ago

          Depends. Is it written by Sydney Padua?

            • @agamemnonymous
              link
              English
              310 months ago

              You’d better make this happen or some anonymous nerd on the Internet will be marginally disappointed, and I don’t think you want that on your hands.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      710 months ago

      I see your point, but I only used Reddit for a long time and the difference was the anonymity, so it’s social media but minus the personal brand.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        Might as well say Instagram isn’t social media either, nor is Facebook or Twitter. Social media is just a platform where one of the biggest parts of it is the commenting system. Its a social media platform for content aggregation. The commenting makes it social.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          110 months ago

          There are tons of “but Lemmy isn’t social media because blah blah blah!!!” comments here by the kids who think they are too cool to be lumped in with the instagram / facebook crowd.

      • @Spambox
        link
        English
        110 months ago

        deleted by creator

  • igorlogius
    link
    fedilink
    English
    40
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    if someone posts on social media and nobody reads it … does the poster even exist?

  • stopthatgirl7
    link
    fedilink
    36
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    I almost never use Facebook anymore because whenever I’m on it, all I see are posts from groups I’m not even in, ads, videos, and interspersed in all that algorithmically chosen content, the occasional post from people I actually follow and know. Social media isn’t social any more.

    Even fricking tumblr now has videos on it, and you can only shut “tumblr live” off for a week at most before they come back.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        210 months ago

        A solid amount of new memes I see are from Tumblr posts. A lot of people went back prior to Twitter changing ownership, and then many more after that too.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      710 months ago

      There was a bizarre transition to “other page” content on Facebook. It realised nobody posts there anymore, and tried to transition to a quasi Reddit. But the content it displays is pure garbage.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        410 months ago

        Facebook now fills half my page with the worst boomer memes. Then something updated and it scrolls the page right while I’m reading something. I don’t know why I even bother anymore.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      710 months ago

      Yea. My whole Facebook feed is full of ads and posts from people I don’t even have on my friend list. I got fed up and barely go on there anymore.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      110 months ago

      God yeah Tumblr is so frustrating now. Like I get that a site needs to make money and I’m not even opposed to the gimmicks they have. But changing the look of it (which has been changed before but at least it made sense a lot of the time) to what is essentially a clone of Twitter. It’s frustrating to see a site I love so much, decide to kill itself and for what?

      That and also the fact that they allow racism, transphobia, homophobia to fester. You’d think that a site that is pretty popular with the LGBTQIA+ crowd, they sure like to keep people around who would harm us.