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The rise of TikTok is a recent example of how this isn't necessarily true. Prior to that, Snap Chat, Instagram, Discord, and even Facebook itself are all exampl

The rise of TikTok is a recent example of how this isn't necessarily true. Prior to that, Snap Chat, Instagram, Discord, and even Facebook itself are all examples of disruptive new social networks that quickly surpassed existing incumbents.

toastercat 5y ago
Yep, and none of these use open protocols like Matrix, XMPP, or ActivityPub. Makes you wonder if these technologies will always just remain popular with niche communities. EDIT: Just to be clear, I do think it's possible that an open protocol like ActivityPub can take off with the masses. I think the real issue is that apps like Mastodon offer an experience that is mostly just a copycat of Twitter, so there is no real killer reason for existing Twitter users to hop on over. Same goes for Pixelfed, Pleroma, Element, etc.
Taek 5y ago
I don't think its that simple. The fact that you can name most all of them in a few words is evidence enough that its like striking lightning. And, with the exception of Facebook, all of them represent completely new ideas rather than incremental changes. If you want to play in the social media game, you need something revolutionary and completely different, not just an incremental or even 10x improvement over what's already there. And I don't really count MySpace, that was before tech mastered the art of the monopoly.
- dleslie 5y ago
  There's a great deal more that I didn't state because I wasn't making an exhaustive list; you could do worse than by starting by looking at wikipedia[0]. I'm not sure why new ideas are a problem here, but I'd also argue that everything I listed had clear forebearers from which their designs developed from. MySpace and the Microsoft Antitrust case were in the same era; and there were monopolistic companies before then, in tech. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_serv...

toastercat 5y ago

Yep, and none of these use open protocols like Matrix, XMPP, or ActivityPub. Makes you wonder if these technologies will always just remain popular with niche communities. EDIT: Just to be clear, I do think it's possible that an open protocol like ActivityPub can take off with the masses. I think the real issue is that apps like Mastodon offer an experience that is mostly just a copycat of Twitter, so there is no real killer reason for existing Twitter users to hop on over. Same goes for Pixelfed, Pleroma, Element, etc.

Taek 5y ago

I don't think its that simple. The fact that you can name most all of them in a few words is evidence enough that its like striking lightning. And, with the exception of Facebook, all of them represent completely new ideas rather than incremental changes. If you want to play in the social media game, you need something revolutionary and completely different, not just an incremental or even 10x improvement over what's already there. And I don't really count MySpace, that was before tech mastered the art of the monopoly.

dleslie 5y ago
There's a great deal more that I didn't state because I wasn't making an exhaustive list; you could do worse than by starting by looking at wikipedia[0]. I'm not sure why new ideas are a problem here, but I'd also argue that everything I listed had clear forebearers from which their designs developed from. MySpace and the Microsoft Antitrust case were in the same era; and there were monopolistic companies before then, in tech. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_serv...