I think you're right. It doesn't mean it's the healthier way, because with social comes the whole social-feedback system attached to it (upvotes, dogpilling, et

I think you're right. It doesn't mean it's the healthier way, because with social comes the whole social-feedback system attached to it (upvotes, dogpilling, etc), but it is indeed the mechanic that seems to drive user engagement. It's also what's leveraged to keep users consuming content and to return for more. You see who follows who, who has many followers that might be worth following, etc etc... the closest the web had to that was the visitor counter? Or like you said the comments box like Disqus? As an anecdote: Many years ago I used to visit a "technews site" that used spread theories/inside info about the tech industry (mostly just copied from forums in the form of "leaks"), very mediocre with no basis for 80% of the content, and the whole thing about it was fanboyism around AMD vs NVIDIA vs INTEL and PC vs CONSOLES, all the engagement happened in Disqus comments - spreading memes, making fun of eachother, insults, etc. I stopped visiting that site because it was trash, sometimes they got things right though. A few weeks ago I was watching some game trailer, and in the part of the Tech Reviewers quotes, there they were - WCCFTech! "I thought, wow, how the hell did they get to be side by side with the big boys?" And I knew the answer, fanboyism + FUD and a comments section to let people vent. Good for them.