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We can quibble over the definition of social media, but HN is more like forums and usenet dating back to the 80s than it is like Twitter or Facebook. Aside fro
by dasil003 6y ago
We can quibble over the definition of social media, but HN is more like forums and usenet dating back to the 80s than it is like Twitter or Facebook. Aside from temporal ranking of submissions, which is both universal and transparent, it's the same.
The big problem with Facebook and Twitter is a potent mix of incentive for controversy, algorithmic amplification, and groupthink bubbles. These problems exist elsewhere as well, so it's not like it's all social media (eg. television news networks in an age of unlimited media choice), but I don't think HN is a useful example to understand any of the macro-dynamics of todays information culture and political landscape.
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoI disagree. The forums that I used to use simply made the top shown comments/threads the most recent activity. The default HN view is clearly based on some algorithm to calculate what is "worth" being on the front page. I read the high comment topics, and there is a ton of groupthink and pushing controversy. This is also why the HN effect is even a concept. There are enough people here watching controversial topics to hug a modern website to death.
- dasil003 6y agoSure there is groupthink, we're mostly software engineers. But it's a relatively small group, uniform presentation visible to anyone, and very limited reach. Contrast with what's going on in Twitter and Facebook: many orders of magnitude more reach, and it's almost impossible to have any idea what people are seeing or saying in aggregate, and what the many small groupthink bubbles are.