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> All that is overshadowed by the fact that most people straight up don’t have anything interesting to say. Think of the average person. Do you expect them to w

> All that is overshadowed by the fact that most people straight up don’t have anything interesting to say. Think of the average person. Do you expect them to wow you with what they are working on even once a month? Chances are, most people will post pictures of their lunch or repost a stupid meme that they finally discovered. Twitter sort of solves this by letting you follow leaders in their fields, but still the SNR is so low that it’s really difficult to find meaningful interactions and unless you are one of those leaders nobody gives a crap about what you shout into the void. Imagine the implications of actually believing this, because if you thought hard enough about it, you probably don't believe it. For example, if you truly believed this, you must think most people straight up don't have any friends. I mean, why would anyone want to be friends with someone who straight up doesn't have anything interesting to say? Like, do you think the average person, hanging out with their average friends on a regular basis is just mind-numbingly, dumbfoundedly bored? Why do you think they keep hanging out with all those average people? You think they derive zero meaning from their interactions with anyone who isn't a "leader in their field". The dim view you have on humanity blows my mind. There's meaning to be had all around for these average people. This is exactly why average people hate the proverbial elites. You (ostensibly elite) view them as worthless plebs whose social interactions with their friends are so worthless, they don't even deserve the chance to share them online. Only so-called leaders in their field should be allowed to interact publicly online. Their interactions are the only ones with meaning in your view. When I'm on FB or Instagram or Snapchat, and I see the plenty of average people I know interacting, I see all sorts of wonderful, meaningful human interactions. Today, my old high school math teacher posted a joke image of the side effects of the COVID vaccine which included hugs from his grandchildren. His son replied about how he can't wait for him and his grandson to be with him again and many of his friends commented about how touched they were. Who gives a fuck if it's a cringeworthy, stupid meme they discovered? It was a wonderful expression of humanity from completely average, nobodies. There's so much wrong with social networks, but the plebs having no meaning and nothing interesting to say isn't one of them.

IgorPartola 6y ago
I think you are taking what I said a bit out of context. Most people have a half dozen close friends and they find that person interesting or pleasant to be around or whatever it is they see in them. But hand a average person a megaphone in front of a crowd of 10,000 people and they won’t know what to say and will run out of steam quickly. Global social networks are that megaphone. This is why your feed, while having some gems, is also likely full of reposted memes, personality quizzes, and other retweeted/reposted content. If you have no actual special connection to the person who is posting the meme/quiz/repost, it is just noise to you, no? I firmly believe that technology like social networks can bring people closer together and enrich lives of everyone, from luminaries to ordinary folks. And I believe we should build better networks. But if I throw a dart at a completely random Facebook post and read it, there is a very good chance it’ll be a lot less interesting than a random post from e.g. Neil deGrasse Tyson or Neil Patrick Harris or Obama. My point is that having these huge global networks doesn’t actually achieve the goal of furthering friendships or increasing the quality of content the participants read.
- creddit 6y ago
  > Global social networks are that megaphone. Uh, what? No they aren't. If I shared something on FB or Instagram, it would be shared exactly to the people who I'm friends with on FB or follow me on Instagram. I, and I'm willing to bet really large amounts of money at favorable odds to you most other people, don't have anything close to 10K people in either of those categories. Weirdly, despite your favorable comparison, and in fairness to your point, Twitter is much closer to being that megaphone. > This is why your feed, while having some gems, is also likely full of reposted memes, personality quizzes, and other retweeted/reposted content. Actually it's almost entirely not this. It's mostly boring baby photos or engagement photos or posts about middling shit in most people's lives. I wouldn't be surprised if FB downranked that type of content a lot. On IG, it's literally none of that. Mostly baby photos and photos of little trips and outings people do. > If you have no actual special connection to the person who is posting the meme/quiz/repost, it is just noise to you, no? Why would I be connected to that person??? > there is a very good chance it’ll be a lot less interesting than a random post from e.g. Neil deGrasse Tyson or Neil Patrick Harris or Obama. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371154155931377666 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371154155931377666 Just as interesting a meme NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371147864361996293 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371147864361996293 a meme joke about pi. So profound. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371139056218742784 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371139056218742784 Did you know pizza is known as pizza pie and pie and pi are homonyms? Wow, thanks, Neil! Glad a leader in the field like you could hook me up with this interesting content that no average person could! NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371121692064374785 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371121692064374785 Normally, I would need a calculator for this content, but NDT has got my back on Twitter. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1370797127459278856 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1370797127459278856 cute cows are cute, also pithy political statement. An average person might be able to post a cute animal OR make a pithy political statement, but BOTH!? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1369144426845663234 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1369144426845663234 buy my merch! No average person could ever have merch! He produces great content like this on a weekly basis. Even if an average person was able to have merch, could they post about it weekly?? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366730477642649603 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366730477642649603 Faux deep statement with a picture of space. My grandma literally posts shit like this all the time, I'll let her know she's a leader in her field. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366097324276027393 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366097324276027393 LOL dogs smell butts. Classic content no average person could do. NDT:https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1365764623820029959 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1365764623820029959 LOL DAE dogs shed on furniture!? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363840108861005829 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363840108861005829 Same vacuous quips my teacher friends post when they're feeling down. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363159290601758723 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363159290601758723 Seriously, it's all memey bull shit. I'm not even being selective here!!! Let's do NPH. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1364362084985823234 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1364362084985823234 Thanks for saying nice things about me! Average people are never thankful for things in their lives! NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1355157217478123524 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1355157217478123524 Just like MLM shit people post. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1352751015121063937 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1352751015121063937 Shameless self-promotion. Average people don't have personal brands that they self-promote. Just leaders in their field like NPH. This is the vast majority of what he posts. Thank GOD I can get this on Twitter by following leaders in their field instead of FB or Snapchat where people share stupid shit like their vacations with friends. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1328787438232276993 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1328787438232276993 Last one because I can't stand how ridiculous your lionization of these people is over the average person. Here he recommends a book, which of course average people, on account of being illiterate, could never recommend!
bryan_w 6y ago
I agree, there's a lot of valuable posts on my feed. A lot of posts here seem to be written by people who don't use social media

IgorPartola 6y ago

I think you are taking what I said a bit out of context. Most people have a half dozen close friends and they find that person interesting or pleasant to be around or whatever it is they see in them. But hand a average person a megaphone in front of a crowd of 10,000 people and they won’t know what to say and will run out of steam quickly. Global social networks are that megaphone. This is why your feed, while having some gems, is also likely full of reposted memes, personality quizzes, and other retweeted/reposted content. If you have no actual special connection to the person who is posting the meme/quiz/repost, it is just noise to you, no? I firmly believe that technology like social networks can bring people closer together and enrich lives of everyone, from luminaries to ordinary folks. And I believe we should build better networks. But if I throw a dart at a completely random Facebook post and read it, there is a very good chance it’ll be a lot less interesting than a random post from e.g. Neil deGrasse Tyson or Neil Patrick Harris or Obama. My point is that having these huge global networks doesn’t actually achieve the goal of furthering friendships or increasing the quality of content the participants read.

creddit 6y ago
> Global social networks are that megaphone. Uh, what? No they aren't. If I shared something on FB or Instagram, it would be shared exactly to the people who I'm friends with on FB or follow me on Instagram. I, and I'm willing to bet really large amounts of money at favorable odds to you most other people, don't have anything close to 10K people in either of those categories. Weirdly, despite your favorable comparison, and in fairness to your point, Twitter is much closer to being that megaphone. > This is why your feed, while having some gems, is also likely full of reposted memes, personality quizzes, and other retweeted/reposted content. Actually it's almost entirely not this. It's mostly boring baby photos or engagement photos or posts about middling shit in most people's lives. I wouldn't be surprised if FB downranked that type of content a lot. On IG, it's literally none of that. Mostly baby photos and photos of little trips and outings people do. > If you have no actual special connection to the person who is posting the meme/quiz/repost, it is just noise to you, no? Why would I be connected to that person??? > there is a very good chance it’ll be a lot less interesting than a random post from e.g. Neil deGrasse Tyson or Neil Patrick Harris or Obama. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371154155931377666 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371154155931377666 Just as interesting a meme NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371147864361996293 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371147864361996293 a meme joke about pi. So profound. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371139056218742784 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371139056218742784 Did you know pizza is known as pizza pie and pie and pi are homonyms? Wow, thanks, Neil! Glad a leader in the field like you could hook me up with this interesting content that no average person could! NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371121692064374785 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1371121692064374785 Normally, I would need a calculator for this content, but NDT has got my back on Twitter. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1370797127459278856 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1370797127459278856 cute cows are cute, also pithy political statement. An average person might be able to post a cute animal OR make a pithy political statement, but BOTH!? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1369144426845663234 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1369144426845663234 buy my merch! No average person could ever have merch! He produces great content like this on a weekly basis. Even if an average person was able to have merch, could they post about it weekly?? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366730477642649603 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366730477642649603 Faux deep statement with a picture of space. My grandma literally posts shit like this all the time, I'll let her know she's a leader in her field. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366097324276027393 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1366097324276027393 LOL dogs smell butts. Classic content no average person could do. NDT:https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1365764623820029959 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1365764623820029959 LOL DAE dogs shed on furniture!? NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363840108861005829 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363840108861005829 Same vacuous quips my teacher friends post when they're feeling down. NDT: https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363159290601758723 https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1363159290601758723 Seriously, it's all memey bull shit. I'm not even being selective here!!! Let's do NPH. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1364362084985823234 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1364362084985823234 Thanks for saying nice things about me! Average people are never thankful for things in their lives! NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1355157217478123524 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1355157217478123524 Just like MLM shit people post. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1352751015121063937 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1352751015121063937 Shameless self-promotion. Average people don't have personal brands that they self-promote. Just leaders in their field like NPH. This is the vast majority of what he posts. Thank GOD I can get this on Twitter by following leaders in their field instead of FB or Snapchat where people share stupid shit like their vacations with friends. NPH: https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1328787438232276993 https://twitter.com/ActuallyNPH/status/1328787438232276993 Last one because I can't stand how ridiculous your lionization of these people is over the average person. Here he recommends a book, which of course average people, on account of being illiterate, could never recommend!

bryan_w 6y ago

I agree, there's a lot of valuable posts on my feed. A lot of posts here seem to be written by people who don't use social media