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You are assuming it needs to be replaced at all. These services are vapid additions to your life and once they are gone I think people will realize they didn't

You are assuming it needs to be replaced at all. These services are vapid additions to your life and once they are gone I think people will realize they didn't need to exist in the first place.

InternetUser 8y ago
Take my own changing habits, for example: over a span of 15 years, I "migrated" from MySpace to Tumblr to Reddit and a few news websites. I have only ever used Facebook except to promote a website. I think tens of millions of people, mostly young guys, prefer playing videos games over any form of social networking or even writing comments in response to ANY type of content.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  games plus discord is a form of social network in some ways.
  - SXX 8y ago
    And Discord really don't much power over their userbase unlike Facebook (have massive networking effect) and Twitter (have popular personalities). If Discord ever going to mess with things like censorship or forcing people into paid plans users could migrate really fast. * Gamers are either tech-savvy or always have friends who are. * Gamers stick to their small communities and leaders. If you superstar and announce that you're leaving Facebook nobody will follow, but gamers always follow their group / clan / whatever leaders. * Also there is at least few companies like Valve, Blizzard, Epic Games who hold huge part of the market and have extremely loyal customers. They could certainly manage to set competition for Discord if there will be opening.
volkk 8y ago
you are assuming that people only use these services for vapid interactions. plenty of people that live in censored countries use twitter to find out what is going on around them
- jpindar 8y ago
  I live in the US and I use Twitter to find out what is going on around me. For example, when I lose electrical power, my utility company posts updates on Twitter. My local TV stations and newspapers also post breaking news there.
  - tk75x 8y ago
    The only reason those services use Twitter is because that's where all the people are. I'm not saying this isn't a beneficial use case, but Twitter isn't necessary for these kinds of services. I would even go so far as to say that corporate entities using Twitter to provide their users a service (outage reports) they should pay for the privilege or be forced to set up their own notification networks.
delecti 8y ago
You're seriously generalizing. I only met my wife because of services like this; we met on Instagram and got to know each other over Twitter. I have other friends I similarly met and keep in contact with mainly over Twitter. I'm very glad the services exist. There are alcoholics who have dozens of drinks a week and there are people who responsibly augment a night of socializing with a drink or two. Alcohol isn't fundamentally irredeemable because some people develop problems, and neither is social media.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  but alcohol is not backed by a company containing thousands of engineers whose job is to make it more addictive.
  - delecti 8y ago
    I know what you're saying, but there's plenty of marketing behind alcohol, and it's already addictive to the point that withdrawal can literally kill you.
    - beaconstudios 8y ago
      marketing doesn't make the product itself more addictive. Alcohol is physically addictive, but so is the dopamine hit you get from many social networking features. The point I was trying to make is that AFAIK no-one's trying to make alcohol the product more addictive, where there are many very intelligent people working to make Facebook the product more addictive.
      - apatters 8y ago
        Alcopops are a recent example of the alcohol industry finding a way to make their product more addictive (by adding sugar, another addictive substance).
        ascorbic 8y ago

You are assuming it needs to be replaced at all. These services are vapid additions to your life and once they are gone I think people will realize they didn't need to exist in the first place.

InternetUser 8y ago

Take my own changing habits, for example: over a span of 15 years, I "migrated" from MySpace to Tumblr to Reddit and a few news websites. I have only ever used Facebook except to promote a website. I think tens of millions of people, mostly young guys, prefer playing videos games over any form of social networking or even writing comments in response to ANY type of content.

beaconstudios 8y ago
games plus discord is a form of social network in some ways.
- SXX 8y ago
  And Discord really don't much power over their userbase unlike Facebook (have massive networking effect) and Twitter (have popular personalities). If Discord ever going to mess with things like censorship or forcing people into paid plans users could migrate really fast. * Gamers are either tech-savvy or always have friends who are. * Gamers stick to their small communities and leaders. If you superstar and announce that you're leaving Facebook nobody will follow, but gamers always follow their group / clan / whatever leaders. * Also there is at least few companies like Valve, Blizzard, Epic Games who hold huge part of the market and have extremely loyal customers. They could certainly manage to set competition for Discord if there will be opening.

volkk 8y ago

you are assuming that people only use these services for vapid interactions. plenty of people that live in censored countries use twitter to find out what is going on around them

jpindar 8y ago
I live in the US and I use Twitter to find out what is going on around me. For example, when I lose electrical power, my utility company posts updates on Twitter. My local TV stations and newspapers also post breaking news there.
- tk75x 8y ago
  The only reason those services use Twitter is because that's where all the people are. I'm not saying this isn't a beneficial use case, but Twitter isn't necessary for these kinds of services. I would even go so far as to say that corporate entities using Twitter to provide their users a service (outage reports) they should pay for the privilege or be forced to set up their own notification networks.

delecti 8y ago

You're seriously generalizing. I only met my wife because of services like this; we met on Instagram and got to know each other over Twitter. I have other friends I similarly met and keep in contact with mainly over Twitter. I'm very glad the services exist. There are alcoholics who have dozens of drinks a week and there are people who responsibly augment a night of socializing with a drink or two. Alcohol isn't fundamentally irredeemable because some people develop problems, and neither is social media.

beaconstudios 8y ago
but alcohol is not backed by a company containing thousands of engineers whose job is to make it more addictive.
- delecti 8y ago
  I know what you're saying, but there's plenty of marketing behind alcohol, and it's already addictive to the point that withdrawal can literally kill you.
  - beaconstudios 8y ago
    marketing doesn't make the product itself more addictive. Alcohol is physically addictive, but so is the dopamine hit you get from many social networking features. The point I was trying to make is that AFAIK no-one's trying to make alcohol the product more addictive, where there are many very intelligent people working to make Facebook the product more addictive.
    - apatters 8y ago
      Alcopops are a recent example of the alcohol industry finding a way to make their product more addictive (by adding sugar, another addictive substance).
      - ascorbic 8y ago