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Man, if this is the end of social media, then it can’t come too soon.
by chris_wot 4y ago
Man, if this is the end of social media, then it can’t come too soon.
- Der_Einzige 4y agoTikTok next please!
- spike021 4y agoSocial media isn't inherently bad, if you can learn how to self-curate. I've made pen pal friends on international trips who I stay in contact with on Instagram and Twitter because it doesn't make sense to exchange phone numbers. I use lists and muted words/phrases on Twitter to only see tweets from people I care about reading, on topics I mostly am fine with. I guess for people who still browse Facebook and Twitter like they did 15 years ago, then social media should get buried. But there are some pretty effective ways to curb its toxicity and reap benefit from it these days.
- cmsonger 4y ago"Social media isn't inherently bad, if people across the world can learn how to self-curate." Is equivalent to "Social media is bad" IMO. There are always going to be "enough" people who can't self-curate that social media will be harmful.
- spike021 4y agoBut you could say the same thing about nearly everything. Sure there are millions upon millions of books. Someone who enjoys reading won't elect to read books they know are a waste of time or something that will be offensive to them. Same can be said for consuming newspapers (anyone else just skip the front page and go right to a special section you actually care about, like sports or business instead of politics?), TV, movies, video games? Music? So are all things bad because some people are incapable of deciding for themselves how to consume said things?
- andsoitis 4y agoIt is self evident that not all products are equally good or equally bad to individuals or society. You simply cannot compare reading books to taking opium, for instance.
- spike021 4y agoSo then you can make the same argument for social media, which further proves my point. It's not one-sided at all.
- chris_wot 4y agoI’d argue that you cannot. Social media inherently needs to hold your attention for as long as possible, and will do that through controversy, misleading and false information, and an attempt to manipulate. It’s part and parcel of the product, and extremely harmful to society as a whole.
- spike021 4y agoI think you're misunderstanding the argument altogether, honestly. The argument isn't whether social media is toxic but whether users can do some work themselves to filter out as much of the toxicity as possible and still benefit from using it. This thread is really just a circle; things in the right moderation aren't so unhealthy.
- woodruffw 4y ago"The dose makes the poison" is as true for social media as it is for everything else. I agree that self-curation (and restricting your time) are critical; the problem is that social media companies are incentivized to de-curate and addict you to their product.
- electrondood 4y ago"Junk food isn't inherently bad, if you can learn to self-discipline." This ignores the fact that it's 100% engineered to be as addictive as possible, just like social media. You may have found a way to use social media that works for you, but the net effect on society is still negative.
- s1k3 4y agoReddit and HN are also social media…
- MattPalmer1086 4y agoI don't know about that. Is any web site that has user comments social media now? That seems an overly broad definition. HN isn't particularly social as far as I can see. I don't have a network of friends. It doesn't facilitate personal connections or groups.
- aworks 4y agoAs a quick check, here's the first definition from a google search of social media: "websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking." I was surprised by the "or". https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Asocial+media&oq=define%3Asocial+media&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.2752j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Asocial+media&oq=def...
- chris_wot 4y agoYour definition of social networking uses itself. That’s not a great definition…
- nytesky 4y agoWere 90s newsgroups and BBS social media?
- nytesky 4y agoWouldn’t email suffice for international pen pals?
- spike021 4y agoGiven that we are friends through shared hobbies that involve photos of things in the hobby, that wouldn't work nearly as well.
- AlbertCory 4y ago+1 Social media has been a net minus for society. That doesn't mean "no benefits" but rather "benefits far outweighed by costs." As for Google: some DC cynic once said "Never believe anything until it's been officially denied." So has their PR team denied it yet?
- daveevad 4y agoWould you mind disambiguating DC, best I got is data-center, which doesn't make a bunch of sense. I do like that quote though.
- AlbertCory 4y agoDistrict of Columbia
- daveevad 4y agothank you and that should have been obvious. perhaps i need to get out of the industry more.
- AlbertCory 4y agoNo problem. I thought of adding periods, so it would be "D.C." and probably should have.
- telotortium 4y agoWashington D.C.
- paxys 4y agoSocial media will not "end", just continue to evolve from one form to another and one platform to another.
- cvwright 4y agoIf this is the end of FB and Twitter, it can’t come too soon.
- nowherebeen 4y agoSocial media has a lifetime value. It will go from one company to the next.
- Kiro 4y agoWhy are you posting here if you want HN gone?
- chris_wot 4y agoI don’t consider it to be social media. It’s a tech site I can add comments to. I’m not here to socialise. There are strict policies around discourse. It’s frowned on to speak about politics and can get you banned. We never called bulletin boards “social media” back in the day. And they weren’t.
- Kiro 4y agoIt's definitely social media by every definition of it.
- chris_wot 4y agoNot according to Oban and Wildman, who define social media as having the following characteristics: “To define “social media” for our current purposes, we synthesize definitions presented in the literature and identify the following commonalities among current social media services: 1) Social media services are (currently) Web 2.0 Internet-based applications, 2) User-generated content is the lifeblood of social media, 3) Individuals and groups create user-specific profiles for a site or app designed and maintained by a social media service, 4) Social media services facilitate the development of social networks online by connecting a profile with those of other individuals and/or groups.” Obar, J.A. and Wildman, S. (2015). Social media definition and the governance challenge: An introduction to the special issue. Telecommunications Policy, 39(9), 745-750. Quello Center Working Paper No. 2647377 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2647377 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2647377
- Kiro 4y agoAll those points are true for HN.