4 ms·

I deleted Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, but I'm still here on HN. You don't have to quit all social media to get rid of the toxic sites. If I was on Reddit

I deleted Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, but I'm still here on HN. You don't have to quit all social media to get rid of the toxic sites. If I was on Reddit, I'd just sub to things like gardening and cute animal memes. If I was still into car clubs I'm sure I'd still be posting on the old car forums.

azangru 4y ago
I've been wondering about what the term social media means. It came into circulation fairly late, around 2010 or so; although we used to have all sorts of phpbb forums prior to that, and nobody bothered calling them social media. Some people say social media are centered on people and their social graphs whereas the older forums were centered around topics. If so, HN would not qualify as social media, nor would reddit.
- awelxtr 4y ago
  Reddit is trying really hard to become a social media and it's giving a lot of tools to users to treat it as such. But I agree with you that the most basic (or old) experience of reddit is not of a social media platform.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History_of_social_media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History_of_social...
awelxtr 4y ago
Is HN really a social media though? You can't dm users, you can't subscribe to/follow users and the content on the page isn't catered to you: it's the same for everyone. I don't really believe message boards are social media.
- matwood 4y ago
  It's type of social media - maybe social media light? I haven't used FB in years, sometimes check Twitter when linked to something there, do check reddit (but follow only a few subs), and HN obviously. For me, online boards/social are for anonymous-ish socializing. My IRL friends I see/text/email.
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  Yup, HN is a web forum, not social media. Forums actually predate social media by a lot—going back to Internet news groups, which were organized topically. The key point is that conversations are transactional around content; the only interactions are in public comment threads under links or text posts. Social media is the opposite: you start by connecting with people, and then talk about whatever you or your connections feel like talking about.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#Definition_and_features https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#Definition_and_fe...

azangru 4y ago

I've been wondering about what the term social media means. It came into circulation fairly late, around 2010 or so; although we used to have all sorts of phpbb forums prior to that, and nobody bothered calling them social media. Some people say social media are centered on people and their social graphs whereas the older forums were centered around topics. If so, HN would not qualify as social media, nor would reddit.

awelxtr 4y ago
Reddit is trying really hard to become a social media and it's giving a lot of tools to users to treat it as such. But I agree with you that the most basic (or old) experience of reddit is not of a social media platform.
0xbadcafebee 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History_of_social_media https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#History_of_social...

awelxtr 4y ago

Is HN really a social media though? You can't dm users, you can't subscribe to/follow users and the content on the page isn't catered to you: it's the same for everyone. I don't really believe message boards are social media.

matwood 4y ago
It's type of social media - maybe social media light? I haven't used FB in years, sometimes check Twitter when linked to something there, do check reddit (but follow only a few subs), and HN obviously. For me, online boards/social are for anonymous-ish socializing. My IRL friends I see/text/email.
snowwrestler 4y ago
Yup, HN is a web forum, not social media. Forums actually predate social media by a lot—going back to Internet news groups, which were organized topically. The key point is that conversations are transactional around content; the only interactions are in public comment threads under links or text posts. Social media is the opposite: you start by connecting with people, and then talk about whatever you or your connections feel like talking about.
0xbadcafebee 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#Definition_and_features https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media#Definition_and_fe...