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Unlikely. Most people care about network effect more than they care about authenticity. Small enclaves of hobbyists like HN will always exist but they aren't an

Unlikely. Most people care about network effect more than they care about authenticity. Small enclaves of hobbyists like HN will always exist but they aren't and won't be the mainstream.

toldyouso2022 3y ago
The small enclaves are gonna become a little less small, the plebs are gonna keep plebbing (now with AI) I am an optimist
- andybak 3y ago
  How about small select enclaves of people using generative AI? Or are they plebs by your definition?
bdw5204 3y ago
I expect the large social media platforms to emphasize verification that accounts are controlled by real humans even if they are pseudonymous. X (formerly Twitter) is already heading in this direction. AI social media accounts and even accounts where they're unsure if the account is a genuine human or AI are likely to end up shadowbanned. I suspect newer platforms and small enclaves that want to be larger will be tempted to use AI. Reddit's founders infamously created fake accounts and put fake posts on their platform when it started to make it look active.[0] That was actually a pretty common technique to address the "chicken and egg" dilemma that every new forum has: Nobody wants to join a forum that has no posts and no active users but the forum won't get posts or active users unless somebody joins. AI can solve this problem much more efficiently than if the founders are writing the fake posts. [0]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddit-founders-made-hundreds-of-fake-profiles-so-site-looked-popular/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddi...
- krisoft 3y ago
  > I expect the large social media platforms to emphasize verification that accounts are controlled by real humans even if they are pseudonymous. Of course they are controlled by a real human. The question is if that human is posting or an AI controlled by the human?
rchaud 3y ago
Most people on social media lurk and don't post. They're more or less being chased off the platforms these days due to the bombardment of ads, influencer marketing and UI Tiktokification.
tivert 3y ago
> Unlikely. Most people care about network effect more than they care about authenticity. I think that's excessively cynical take. "People" might care about network effects more than a lot of other things technology people thing they should care about, but I don't think that will extend to socializing with networks of bots. A lot of tech people tend to focus too much on surface appearances and neglect social context. A connection with a bot is not equivalent to a connection with a real person, even when a tech person can't distinguish the posts.

Unlikely. Most people care about network effect more than they care about authenticity. Small enclaves of hobbyists like HN will always exist but they aren't and won't be the mainstream.

toldyouso2022 3y ago

The small enclaves are gonna become a little less small, the plebs are gonna keep plebbing (now with AI) I am an optimist

andybak 3y ago
How about small select enclaves of people using generative AI? Or are they plebs by your definition?

bdw5204 3y ago

I expect the large social media platforms to emphasize verification that accounts are controlled by real humans even if they are pseudonymous. X (formerly Twitter) is already heading in this direction. AI social media accounts and even accounts where they're unsure if the account is a genuine human or AI are likely to end up shadowbanned. I suspect newer platforms and small enclaves that want to be larger will be tempted to use AI. Reddit's founders infamously created fake accounts and put fake posts on their platform when it started to make it look active.[0] That was actually a pretty common technique to address the "chicken and egg" dilemma that every new forum has: Nobody wants to join a forum that has no posts and no active users but the forum won't get posts or active users unless somebody joins. AI can solve this problem much more efficiently than if the founders are writing the fake posts. [0]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddit-founders-made-hundreds-of-fake-profiles-so-site-looked-popular/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/reddi...

krisoft 3y ago
> I expect the large social media platforms to emphasize verification that accounts are controlled by real humans even if they are pseudonymous. Of course they are controlled by a real human. The question is if that human is posting or an AI controlled by the human?

rchaud 3y ago

Most people on social media lurk and don't post. They're more or less being chased off the platforms these days due to the bombardment of ads, influencer marketing and UI Tiktokification.

tivert 3y ago

> Unlikely. Most people care about network effect more than they care about authenticity. I think that's excessively cynical take. "People" might care about network effects more than a lot of other things technology people thing they should care about, but I don't think that will extend to socializing with networks of bots. A lot of tech people tend to focus too much on surface appearances and neglect social context. A connection with a bot is not equivalent to a connection with a real person, even when a tech person can't distinguish the posts.