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I think this decade tide is going to turn against public global social networks. It's going to happen for all platforms as people see how detrimental social med

I think this decade tide is going to turn against public global social networks. It's going to happen for all platforms as people see how detrimental social media really is and how under equipped these companies are in moderating their network for misinformation. It will not be end of social media but an exodus is going to happen from these existing networks to more privately deployed social networks where individuals from community moderate their own networks. The only barrier at the moment is we need at least a dozen open source self hosted solutions. These have to be very simple to host and moderate. Even a layman should be able to host and moderate.

josh2600 5y ago
This is a very hackernews take. The majority of people love Twitter as a product. A vocal minority are upset about disinformation, but most people think it’s entertaining. We know this because it generates more clicks. A ministry of truth that could regulate is also fraught with peril for obvious reasons. It’s a catch-22 if you value liberal philosophy.
- quaintdev 5y ago
  Sure this very well could be my wishful thinking but let's wait a decade to prove me wrong :)
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Not convinced that people will move to segregated communities, but I don’t think love of twitter is a majority. Not very many people I know use twitter.
  - foogazi 5y ago
    Don’t users self-segregate by virtue of the follow lists? I’m not plugged into the firehose Your FB or Twitter experience might converge on a topic but we each choose our own adventures
    - nicoburns 5y ago
      To a large extent one can't do this on these platforms, especially Facebook. As they have a tendency to algorithmically include "recommended content". Even if they did, I suspect there is enough overlap into people's follow lists that one would not be able to split these platforms into discrete subsets without cutting off some follows
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  don't a lot of twitter users regularly complain about how much they hate it, or take breaks or whatever? > but most people think it’s entertaining. We know this because it generates more clicks. All this shows is that it fosters engagement. That can also mean it's addictive - which it is because it's designed to be. That doesn't mean it is really entertaining in a nourishing way.
sebow 5y ago
The shake has been arguably happening since 2016(i would say even sooner, but those efforts were more of hobbyists and explorers), where polarization was exacerbated by certain "political views" these social networks hold.However even though a lot of platforms have risen up and cool technologies (mastodon, IPFS-based hosting,etc) emerged, the core problem still somewhat exists: centralized power: whether it be the registrar, the hosting(which many people look into solving, because that's arguably the most critical point, and some have managed to somewhat de-couple from the monopolized 'cloud'), payment processors, ISPs,etc. All of these remain vastly centralized, and even though we haven't see extreme censorship in the west, the issue is a slippery slope, and that doesn't mean we won't see it in the future.(Unless politicians & philosophers try to push something akin of a "bill of rights" to the internet space, which would mean they are smart, so let's not hold our breaths on that) I'm more hyped, though i know progress is slow, in decentralized solutions in the hardware and networking space.Because the way i see it, even with something like bitcoin or any other decentralized solution that is mostly software-based, you're still at the mercy of couple entities.Again, process is slow in the HW space because most of the corporations/monopolies that are potentially abusive also hold most of manufacturing.

josh2600 5y ago

This is a very hackernews take. The majority of people love Twitter as a product. A vocal minority are upset about disinformation, but most people think it’s entertaining. We know this because it generates more clicks. A ministry of truth that could regulate is also fraught with peril for obvious reasons. It’s a catch-22 if you value liberal philosophy.

quaintdev 5y ago
Sure this very well could be my wishful thinking but let's wait a decade to prove me wrong :)
nicoburns 5y ago
Not convinced that people will move to segregated communities, but I don’t think love of twitter is a majority. Not very many people I know use twitter.
- foogazi 5y ago
  Don’t users self-segregate by virtue of the follow lists? I’m not plugged into the firehose Your FB or Twitter experience might converge on a topic but we each choose our own adventures
  - nicoburns 5y ago
    To a large extent one can't do this on these platforms, especially Facebook. As they have a tendency to algorithmically include "recommended content". Even if they did, I suspect there is enough overlap into people's follow lists that one would not be able to split these platforms into discrete subsets without cutting off some follows
beaconstudios 5y ago
don't a lot of twitter users regularly complain about how much they hate it, or take breaks or whatever? > but most people think it’s entertaining. We know this because it generates more clicks. All this shows is that it fosters engagement. That can also mean it's addictive - which it is because it's designed to be. That doesn't mean it is really entertaining in a nourishing way.

sebow 5y ago

The shake has been arguably happening since 2016(i would say even sooner, but those efforts were more of hobbyists and explorers), where polarization was exacerbated by certain "political views" these social networks hold.However even though a lot of platforms have risen up and cool technologies (mastodon, IPFS-based hosting,etc) emerged, the core problem still somewhat exists: centralized power: whether it be the registrar, the hosting(which many people look into solving, because that's arguably the most critical point, and some have managed to somewhat de-couple from the monopolized 'cloud'), payment processors, ISPs,etc. All of these remain vastly centralized, and even though we haven't see extreme censorship in the west, the issue is a slippery slope, and that doesn't mean we won't see it in the future.(Unless politicians & philosophers try to push something akin of a "bill of rights" to the internet space, which would mean they are smart, so let's not hold our breaths on that) I'm more hyped, though i know progress is slow, in decentralized solutions in the hardware and networking space.Because the way i see it, even with something like bitcoin or any other decentralized solution that is mostly software-based, you're still at the mercy of couple entities.Again, process is slow in the HW space because most of the corporations/monopolies that are potentially abusive also hold most of manufacturing.