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What is the value of the social network other than the network and the interactions it enables? I think there is a fundamental disconnect here that people keep

What is the value of the social network other than the network and the interactions it enables? I think there is a fundamental disconnect here that people keep glossing over because abstractly it seems like there must be some way to convert social networks into economic engines but because all social networks are about digital content the only point between the digital and the concrete is the advertising which is the only time social media participants actually see anything connected to any real world economics. I'm going to make a prophetic statement and say that all digital social networks in the long run limit are not sustainable. The digital content generated on them has no real economic value and probably never will because the social connections they enable are inherently not monetizable.

svnt 3y ago
There are myriad ways that networks produce value. One immediate one is attention — if you think the ability to direct attention does not have value, I suggest you try selling anything to anyone without it.
- climatologist 3y ago
  I already mentioned advertising and how it's the only real economic activity enabled by social networks. Unless Twitter enables some kind of payment processing and gives the participants the ability to actually exchange money for goods and services Twitter will continue to be an economic loss leader. Most people on social networks do not contribute to the real economy in any meaningful way. Same logic applies to bluesky networks and servers.
  - svnt 3y ago
    I would maybe phrase it differently but I guess I don’t disagree: social networks should be publicly-owned and exist for the public good. The reason the model runs the way it does and collapses is because we inherently understand that most communication should not be economically restricted. We don’t have a good social network because capitalism isn’t a good way to create them.
    - climatologist 3y ago
      Yes, that's a good way of putting it.

svnt 3y ago

There are myriad ways that networks produce value. One immediate one is attention — if you think the ability to direct attention does not have value, I suggest you try selling anything to anyone without it.

climatologist 3y ago
I already mentioned advertising and how it's the only real economic activity enabled by social networks. Unless Twitter enables some kind of payment processing and gives the participants the ability to actually exchange money for goods and services Twitter will continue to be an economic loss leader. Most people on social networks do not contribute to the real economy in any meaningful way. Same logic applies to bluesky networks and servers.
- svnt 3y ago
  I would maybe phrase it differently but I guess I don’t disagree: social networks should be publicly-owned and exist for the public good. The reason the model runs the way it does and collapses is because we inherently understand that most communication should not be economically restricted. We don’t have a good social network because capitalism isn’t a good way to create them.
  - climatologist 3y ago
    Yes, that's a good way of putting it.