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> digital public square I don't know if you know this or not, but the technology exists for anyone to participate in a "digital public square" without use of t

by riffic 6y ago

> digital public square I don't know if you know this or not, but the technology exists for anyone to participate in a "digital public square" without use of the incumbent services (Facebook, Twitter, et cetera). These services are not the digital public square. They are private spaces (like a shopping mall.) it would be wholly incorrect to make that assumption.

vladvasiliu 6y ago
The technology may well exist, but is it being used by a sufficient amount of people? Just like if all people happen to congregate in a private mall for one reason or another, if someone's excluded from that mall it doesn't matter all that much that there are public parks where anyone can go if no one actually goes there.
- riffic 6y ago
  > but is it being used by a sufficient amount of people? yes, it is. It's a pretty healthy and vibrant ecosystem (I'm referring to the W3C ActivityPub ecosystem here because I didn't mention it in the grandparent comment)
  - vladvasiliu 6y ago
    While I think that it would be great for people to use decentralized alternatives to FB and Twitter, I think that at least as of today they are very, very far from having the same kind of reach, despite the ecosystem being healthy and vibrant. So again, even though I think that we as a society would gain a lot from using these technologies, in the year 2020 they really don't have the same "public square" effect that FB and Twitter have, simply because most "regular" people (as in "not in tech") have probably never even heard of them, whereas everybody and their grandma is on Facebook. Also, the fact that FB and Twitter aggressively attempt to bring people to their platforms likely blurs the line between them being a private venue or a public square.
op03 6y ago
At the shopping mall they dont hand out as much Dopamine, as FB and Twitter have. People don't even realize what is going on. The addicts are getting cut of from their favorite drug. A drug that has conditioned their behavior for 10-15 years. FB and Twitter, every time they make these moves all over the world, need to check out how good ol Alex Jones is doing. Cause thats where a lot of ppl who get cut off will be in a year or two.
rightbyte 6y ago
Funny that you mention public squares vs shopping malls. In many places in the US the shopping malls have replaced the public squares and stores. Maybe shopping mall alleys should be considered public space instead.

by riffic 6y ago

vladvasiliu 6y ago

The technology may well exist, but is it being used by a sufficient amount of people? Just like if all people happen to congregate in a private mall for one reason or another, if someone's excluded from that mall it doesn't matter all that much that there are public parks where anyone can go if no one actually goes there.

riffic 6y ago
> but is it being used by a sufficient amount of people? yes, it is. It's a pretty healthy and vibrant ecosystem (I'm referring to the W3C ActivityPub ecosystem here because I didn't mention it in the grandparent comment)
- vladvasiliu 6y ago
  While I think that it would be great for people to use decentralized alternatives to FB and Twitter, I think that at least as of today they are very, very far from having the same kind of reach, despite the ecosystem being healthy and vibrant. So again, even though I think that we as a society would gain a lot from using these technologies, in the year 2020 they really don't have the same "public square" effect that FB and Twitter have, simply because most "regular" people (as in "not in tech") have probably never even heard of them, whereas everybody and their grandma is on Facebook. Also, the fact that FB and Twitter aggressively attempt to bring people to their platforms likely blurs the line between them being a private venue or a public square.

op03 6y ago

At the shopping mall they dont hand out as much Dopamine, as FB and Twitter have. People don't even realize what is going on. The addicts are getting cut of from their favorite drug. A drug that has conditioned their behavior for 10-15 years. FB and Twitter, every time they make these moves all over the world, need to check out how good ol Alex Jones is doing. Cause thats where a lot of ppl who get cut off will be in a year or two.

rightbyte 6y ago

Funny that you mention public squares vs shopping malls. In many places in the US the shopping malls have replaced the public squares and stores. Maybe shopping mall alleys should be considered public space instead.