3 ms·

Interesting; I’d consider forums to be one of the earliest forms of social media. What is the distinction for you?

deleted 5y ago
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barrenko 5y ago
Not only that, they were the PERFECT form of social media. Then the name got co-opted so marketing peple could push crap around more easily.
Macha 5y ago
Lack of singular identity or algorithmic feeds would be the big two for me. Forums are decentralised so you are someone else on the forum for game A than on the forum for hobby B, unless you work to link your identities. Whereas the big social media platforms aspire to be a one stop shop. Additionally forums generally sort by "newest thread first" or "most recently replied thread first" rather than trying to push the "hottest" threads or "trending threads" or similar at you.
- rumblerock 5y ago
  To add onto this, the identities on good forums, with reputation scores, post counts, tenure, etc. served as a useful proxy for some degree of expertise or experience with the general topic at hand. On Facebook everyone has a transparent identity, yet somehow seems more like an anon if outside of your real life circle. On Twitter post and follower counts don't correlate with having thoughtful or informed opinions. On Reddit shitposting dilutes everything, with a dash of Instagram-like flex culture for karma points, and the effect / bias towards a hive mind is too powerful.
codingdave 5y ago
Forums were content-centric, while social media is person-centric. Every user got the same content, with the same experience. I consider HN a forum for these reasons - even though the content is ordered algorithmically and are voted on, Rando A gets the same view as Rando B (for the most part)
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Yeah, when I think about social media I think something like MySpace or our local IRC-Galleria. That is where user presence is main thing and not discussion like usenet or BBS or simple forums. Not even sure if I would consider Discord a social media...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Not only that, they were the PERFECT form of social media. Then the name got co-opted so marketing peple could push crap around more easily.

Macha 5y ago

Lack of singular identity or algorithmic feeds would be the big two for me. Forums are decentralised so you are someone else on the forum for game A than on the forum for hobby B, unless you work to link your identities. Whereas the big social media platforms aspire to be a one stop shop. Additionally forums generally sort by "newest thread first" or "most recently replied thread first" rather than trying to push the "hottest" threads or "trending threads" or similar at you.

rumblerock 5y ago
To add onto this, the identities on good forums, with reputation scores, post counts, tenure, etc. served as a useful proxy for some degree of expertise or experience with the general topic at hand. On Facebook everyone has a transparent identity, yet somehow seems more like an anon if outside of your real life circle. On Twitter post and follower counts don't correlate with having thoughtful or informed opinions. On Reddit shitposting dilutes everything, with a dash of Instagram-like flex culture for karma points, and the effect / bias towards a hive mind is too powerful.

codingdave 5y ago

Forums were content-centric, while social media is person-centric. Every user got the same content, with the same experience. I consider HN a forum for these reasons - even though the content is ordered algorithmically and are voted on, Rando A gets the same view as Rando B (for the most part)

Ekaros 5y ago
Yeah, when I think about social media I think something like MySpace or our local IRC-Galleria. That is where user presence is main thing and not discussion like usenet or BBS or simple forums. Not even sure if I would consider Discord a social media...