I don't think social media is going away, so we have to deal with it somehow. Regulation might be a good idea if we can figure out the right way to do it. Ano

I don't think social media is going away, so we have to deal with it somehow. Regulation might be a good idea if we can figure out the right way to do it. Another thing is that it would help if there at least existed large, successful social media platforms that aren't cesspools. We can't force people to leave Facebook or whatever if they don't want to, but having a good alternative platform that doesn't put the the most inflammatory content in front of the most eyeballs would count for a lot. Social networks are a new thing and we're still figuring out how to moderate large numbers of people, but I think it can be done. I mean, a lot of things seem impossible until someone does it. Search engines used to be plastered with ads and nonsense on the front page until Google came along and demonstrated you don't have to do that. Wikipedia would have sounded like a ridiculous idea before it launched. You just need the right combination of people with a specific goal and the right incentives, technology, and the resources and expertise to build the product, and a minimum-viable community to bootstrap with. (This isn't a new idea, but so far no one seems to have unambiguously succeeded. I wonder what the missing piece usually is?)