4 ms·

I don't think it would qualify, since there's no connection between users' profiles. You can't set up a "friends" list, or any other kind of group.

briefcomment 6y ago
Regardless of whether it's social media or not, HN is a huge digital waste of time. Try to think of more than 10 posts that really improved your life over the years. Now realize that you probably look at more than 50 HN posts a day. I would spend much less time on HN, but it's an addiction, like most things digital.
- swiley 6y ago
  I've found a lot of good things on HN. I'd say it's near a net zero as far as time lost vs new things learned goes.
- ryan-allen 6y ago
  My experience has been different. I consider HN to be a kind of 'finger on the pulse' for my profession as a programmer, and in that regard it's fantastic. Reddit, on the other hand, is a huge time sink (some good, some bad, I read an awful lot of short fiction on Reddit, and I consider that a positive). I can think of dozens upon dozens of posts that were useful over the years! In a way HN has reduced the amount of networking I have had to do in order to see what people are interested are in, as they are posted here!
the_af 6y ago
I must agree with the parent commenter: HN is social media. Oh, maybe it's not exactly like facebook or Twitter, but it ticks so many other boxes. I could list many, and argue about them (arguing: another staple of social media), but the most important to me is that HN is effectively a procrastination tool, and it's associated with that mental "fix" of instant gratification. It's different from facebook in that HN is more heavily moderated and more focused, but other than that, it triggers the same kind of (bad) habits, at least in my case.
- incompatible 6y ago
  You are free to pick a different definition. "Permits arguing and procrastination" would make it a pretty big category, including all online forum and chat systems back to the Usenet / BBS and maybe CompuServe / Prodigy days (I don't know enough about the last two).
  - MattRix 6y ago
    uh yeah, those things are absolutely social media as well
    - incompatible 6y ago
      Usenet seemed more social than HN, as I remember it from the 1990s. You'd go back to the same groups, and see the same people posting. On HN, I don't usually see any name I remember.
      - the_af 6y ago
        I regularly see names I remember on HN: tptacek, pron, dragonwriter, lmm, coldtea, etc. It's not exactly the same as contacts on Facebook, though it's closer to Reddit. Definitely social media.

briefcomment 6y ago

Regardless of whether it's social media or not, HN is a huge digital waste of time. Try to think of more than 10 posts that really improved your life over the years. Now realize that you probably look at more than 50 HN posts a day. I would spend much less time on HN, but it's an addiction, like most things digital.

swiley 6y ago
I've found a lot of good things on HN. I'd say it's near a net zero as far as time lost vs new things learned goes.
ryan-allen 6y ago
My experience has been different. I consider HN to be a kind of 'finger on the pulse' for my profession as a programmer, and in that regard it's fantastic. Reddit, on the other hand, is a huge time sink (some good, some bad, I read an awful lot of short fiction on Reddit, and I consider that a positive). I can think of dozens upon dozens of posts that were useful over the years! In a way HN has reduced the amount of networking I have had to do in order to see what people are interested are in, as they are posted here!

the_af 6y ago

I must agree with the parent commenter: HN is social media. Oh, maybe it's not exactly like facebook or Twitter, but it ticks so many other boxes. I could list many, and argue about them (arguing: another staple of social media), but the most important to me is that HN is effectively a procrastination tool, and it's associated with that mental "fix" of instant gratification. It's different from facebook in that HN is more heavily moderated and more focused, but other than that, it triggers the same kind of (bad) habits, at least in my case.

incompatible 6y ago
You are free to pick a different definition. "Permits arguing and procrastination" would make it a pretty big category, including all online forum and chat systems back to the Usenet / BBS and maybe CompuServe / Prodigy days (I don't know enough about the last two).
- MattRix 6y ago
  uh yeah, those things are absolutely social media as well
  - incompatible 6y ago
    Usenet seemed more social than HN, as I remember it from the 1990s. You'd go back to the same groups, and see the same people posting. On HN, I don't usually see any name I remember.
    - the_af 6y ago
      I regularly see names I remember on HN: tptacek, pron, dragonwriter, lmm, coldtea, etc. It's not exactly the same as contacts on Facebook, though it's closer to Reddit. Definitely social media.