6 ms·

Is HN a form of social media?

by tickerticker 7y ago

edejong 7y ago
Thanks for that question tickerticker. Upvoted you so you get extra status. Let’s see what lsanger might reply later?
milkytron 7y ago
I would think yes.
webgoat 7y ago
I'd say yes, considering that most of the content is random dialogue among other posters. Also the lax policy on acceptable content makes HN look as clickbait as reddit most of the time.
- MegaButts 7y ago
  > Also the lax policy on acceptable content makes HN look as clickbait as reddit most of the time. You really think HN has a comparable amount of clickbait to reddit?
- shearskill 7y ago
  Strong disagree on that. Reddit has bots and a massive troll population, neither is present in such a way that affects user experience.
saagarjha 7y ago
Very much so, I think.
ArtRichards 7y ago
TellHNs definetly are.
dang 7y ago
Does that mean we get a day off?
- pvg 7y ago
  A silent suffering, and intense; The rock, the vulture, and the chain, All that the proud can feel of pain, The agony they do not show, The suffocating sense of woe Think that's a no.
- drivingmenuts 7y ago
  Sure, but you’ll need to file double the outraged Instagrams on the day after to make up for it.
reshie 7y ago
i would say yes. so are blogs,forums,chats,etc. networking itself is social in a form. media is perhaps key. media definition "(Communications & Information) the means of communication that reach large numbers of people, such as television, newspapers, and radio" and internet i would say and i would say broadcasting not necessarily interacting. now social is the means of people interacting with other so anything with like comments would fall into social media but pure social would be like chat. social media would be very forum in function but can of course be more distinct like face book though it may fall more under a social paradigm.
johnchristopher 7y ago
Some have argued it is on the basis that it's online and people are writing stuff. In the absence of any useful definitions I'd say it's not because few here seem attached to the name of people commenting. Personally, you all have the same face, the same voice and are one and the same person. Way too many people to feel anything social about it to me.
danboarder 7y ago
I would define online forums, newsgroups, and IRC/IM chat as predecessors to the current generation of social media, which are focused on the individual profile. On social media you follow people, while on forums you follow topics. From that understanding, I think HN is more of a forum, which is an online media format that predates what we define today as social media. (but it certainly similar to varying degrees, as are online media venues like Reddit).
- yoz-y 7y ago
  > On social media you follow people, while on forums you follow topics. This is a very good summary, thank you. How about Reddit? It does have a few “celebrities” but in general it is about topics.
- PavlovsCat 7y ago
  To me, a forum is about topics and people can discuss them at their own leisure, bumping them in the process. In contrast slashdot, reddit, HN are more like "what topics are currently on", and if only few people are interested in a topic and visit the site apart from each other, no story they are interested in will make it to the front page, and they can't even discuss it "slowly, sometimes", like they could on a forum with a search function. On reddit you at least get informed of replies to your comments, but discussions older than X are automatically closed, so that's not enough use to shift the balance for me.. I remember when a topic being locked felt like something rather grave, where either mods or users fucked up - now it's built-in. And sometimes discussion even gets substituted with clicking buttons.. which is also not about the topics, but another form of using outside force (something other than words) on words.
  - zrobotics 7y ago
    I don't think you are entirely wrong, but IME bumping an old forum thread will, more often than not, result in other members getting annoyed at necroing a thread. And while discussion does somewhat get replaced with like buttons, I have seen entirely too many "+1" posts on forums; people want to do something to show they like/agree with a poster even when they have nothing constructive to add. Although on this site, I don't think I'm alone in only downvoting posts that are flamebait or factually incorrect, rather than opinions I disagree with. There is a bit of an echo chamber effect here, but it is nowhere near as bad as Slashdot or most forums get.
espeed 7y ago
Yes. HN is a form of social media -- it's a social media exemplar -- the exception that proves it's possible to have an open system for high-quality public discourse, even if such a system is hard to establish and even harder to maintain. Paul Graham has said, "he hopes to avoid the Eternal September that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community" [1]. Hacker News launched 12 years ago in 2007, it's a testament to Graham, the moderators, the algorithms behind it, and the community members that HN has been able to keep its system for high quality intelligent discourse from devolving over time. If HN doesn't resemble most other social media systems -- so much so that people have to ask -- this is why. Establishing such a system is hard to do, and even harder to maintain. So far HN has been an exception, not the rule. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News
- F-0X 7y ago
  Strong disagree. HN is not a social media. Because we do not use it for social purposes. This site has no concept of user relationships, and it does not encourage you to use real/identifying information about yourself to use it. It is centred on topics and discussion - sites like this, Reddit, and other forums can develop social networks, but this is a byproduct and not the intent, which I think is the single most important factor. HN's purpose is not to keep you in touch with your friends or community, thus it is not a social media.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    It seems to have the key components. An ephemeral timeline and new posts page, user submitted stories and content, and the like/upvote. It's not a social network though. There's no concept of friends. Twitter is part way between the two. It barely groks user relationships - you subscribe to someone to see their stuff in your feed and that's about as far as it goes.
    - doute 7y ago
      Yes, very much so and it is also apparent by the content. You also don't have to have formal network to have a social network. The significant part is whether something behaves differently in the context of the network. Which I think one could clearly say about hacker news.
buboard 7y ago
I believe it is, it is a medium of influence, and social dynamics are often present. It's just so much smaller than the megaphones of FB & twitter.
swebs 7y ago
You're talking to people, aren't you?

Is HN a form of social media?

edejong 7y ago

Thanks for that question tickerticker. Upvoted you so you get extra status. Let’s see what lsanger might reply later?

milkytron 7y ago

I would think yes.

webgoat 7y ago

I'd say yes, considering that most of the content is random dialogue among other posters. Also the lax policy on acceptable content makes HN look as clickbait as reddit most of the time.

MegaButts 7y ago
> Also the lax policy on acceptable content makes HN look as clickbait as reddit most of the time. You really think HN has a comparable amount of clickbait to reddit?
shearskill 7y ago
Strong disagree on that. Reddit has bots and a massive troll population, neither is present in such a way that affects user experience.

saagarjha 7y ago

Very much so, I think.

ArtRichards 7y ago

TellHNs definetly are.

dang 7y ago

Does that mean we get a day off?

pvg 7y ago
A silent suffering, and intense; The rock, the vulture, and the chain, All that the proud can feel of pain, The agony they do not show, The suffocating sense of woe Think that's a no.
drivingmenuts 7y ago
Sure, but you’ll need to file double the outraged Instagrams on the day after to make up for it.

reshie 7y ago

i would say yes. so are blogs,forums,chats,etc. networking itself is social in a form. media is perhaps key. media definition "(Communications & Information) the means of communication that reach large numbers of people, such as television, newspapers, and radio" and internet i would say and i would say broadcasting not necessarily interacting. now social is the means of people interacting with other so anything with like comments would fall into social media but pure social would be like chat. social media would be very forum in function but can of course be more distinct like face book though it may fall more under a social paradigm.

johnchristopher 7y ago

Some have argued it is on the basis that it's online and people are writing stuff. In the absence of any useful definitions I'd say it's not because few here seem attached to the name of people commenting. Personally, you all have the same face, the same voice and are one and the same person. Way too many people to feel anything social about it to me.

danboarder 7y ago

I would define online forums, newsgroups, and IRC/IM chat as predecessors to the current generation of social media, which are focused on the individual profile. On social media you follow people, while on forums you follow topics. From that understanding, I think HN is more of a forum, which is an online media format that predates what we define today as social media. (but it certainly similar to varying degrees, as are online media venues like Reddit).

yoz-y 7y ago
> On social media you follow people, while on forums you follow topics. This is a very good summary, thank you. How about Reddit? It does have a few “celebrities” but in general it is about topics.
PavlovsCat 7y ago
To me, a forum is about topics and people can discuss them at their own leisure, bumping them in the process. In contrast slashdot, reddit, HN are more like "what topics are currently on", and if only few people are interested in a topic and visit the site apart from each other, no story they are interested in will make it to the front page, and they can't even discuss it "slowly, sometimes", like they could on a forum with a search function. On reddit you at least get informed of replies to your comments, but discussions older than X are automatically closed, so that's not enough use to shift the balance for me.. I remember when a topic being locked felt like something rather grave, where either mods or users fucked up - now it's built-in. And sometimes discussion even gets substituted with clicking buttons.. which is also not about the topics, but another form of using outside force (something other than words) on words.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  I don't think you are entirely wrong, but IME bumping an old forum thread will, more often than not, result in other members getting annoyed at necroing a thread. And while discussion does somewhat get replaced with like buttons, I have seen entirely too many "+1" posts on forums; people want to do something to show they like/agree with a poster even when they have nothing constructive to add. Although on this site, I don't think I'm alone in only downvoting posts that are flamebait or factually incorrect, rather than opinions I disagree with. There is a bit of an echo chamber effect here, but it is nowhere near as bad as Slashdot or most forums get.

espeed 7y ago

Yes. HN is a form of social media -- it's a social media exemplar -- the exception that proves it's possible to have an open system for high-quality public discourse, even if such a system is hard to establish and even harder to maintain. Paul Graham has said, "he hopes to avoid the Eternal September that results in the general decline of intelligent discourse within a community" [1]. Hacker News launched 12 years ago in 2007, it's a testament to Graham, the moderators, the algorithms behind it, and the community members that HN has been able to keep its system for high quality intelligent discourse from devolving over time. If HN doesn't resemble most other social media systems -- so much so that people have to ask -- this is why. Establishing such a system is hard to do, and even harder to maintain. So far HN has been an exception, not the rule. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_News

F-0X 7y ago
Strong disagree. HN is not a social media. Because we do not use it for social purposes. This site has no concept of user relationships, and it does not encourage you to use real/identifying information about yourself to use it. It is centred on topics and discussion - sites like this, Reddit, and other forums can develop social networks, but this is a byproduct and not the intent, which I think is the single most important factor. HN's purpose is not to keep you in touch with your friends or community, thus it is not a social media.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  It seems to have the key components. An ephemeral timeline and new posts page, user submitted stories and content, and the like/upvote. It's not a social network though. There's no concept of friends. Twitter is part way between the two. It barely groks user relationships - you subscribe to someone to see their stuff in your feed and that's about as far as it goes.
  - doute 7y ago
    Yes, very much so and it is also apparent by the content. You also don't have to have formal network to have a social network. The significant part is whether something behaves differently in the context of the network. Which I think one could clearly say about hacker news.

buboard 7y ago

I believe it is, it is a medium of influence, and social dynamics are often present. It's just so much smaller than the megaphones of FB & twitter.

swebs 7y ago

You're talking to people, aren't you?