The things I feel are broken about social media won't be fixed by decentralization. They'll be fixed by better business models. What most concerns me about soci

The things I feel are broken about social media won't be fixed by decentralization. They'll be fixed by better business models. What most concerns me about social media is: - privacy is not only not respected, but in fact actively and aggressively undermined - online culture is increasingly polarized and extremist. Misinformation and disinformation are symptoms of this. The reason for this, as I see it, is that social media platforms make their money off the actual online conversations. So to make money, they need to get more and more people on their platforms, they need to trigger strong emotional responses to "engage" their users, and they need to mine as much personal information from their users so that they can sell that to advertisers and other interested parties. Contrast that with pre-digital social networks and hubs, like bars and pubs. The business model there is to sell food and drink, with the providing of a social place as an ancillary service, not the main product. To make money as a pub, you provide food and drink people actually want and an atmosphere they enjoy, but you're not attempting to directly monetize your customers' conversations. I'd like to see a decentralized social network in the sense of online conversation hubs attached to actual businesses. No "global" platform, just thousands of smaller hubs where certain online shops get known for hosting good online conversations which draws an audience who _then buys things_. Social networks need to go back to being a way to attract customers, not actually being a direct source of income.