4 ms·
One of the contributing factors here is that we keep calling these "social networks," but that's not really what they're being used for. If you look at an aver
by jawns 3y ago
One of the contributing factors here is that we keep calling these "social networks," but that's not really what they're being used for.
If you look at an average user's feed, it probably breaks down into 30% traditional advertising, 20% nontraditional advertising (via influencers and friends shilling for their employers and promoting their side hustles), 30% content by people they have no social relationship with (celebrities, etc.), 15% low-quality posts from acquaintances, and 5% content from legitimate friends.
That is a whole lot of junk to have to sift through just to get the occasional scrap of legitimate social interaction.
These are advertising networks first, and social networks a distant second, even though they ostensibly involve social graphs.
So I can understand the fatigue people feel about having to scroll and scroll and scroll just to stay in the loop with people they have an existing social relationship with and genuinely want to know what's going on in their lives.
- Wowfunhappy 3y agoDo people really use TikTok to keep up with their friends? I'd think it's mostly for pure entertainment, like Youtube or even MTV (the TV channel).
- intrasight 3y agoExactly. I don't care what my friends do on Netflix or Youtube or TikTok or even Instagram. My life and those of my friends don't much intersect with the digital video entertainment we consume. Facebook and text messages are where I interact with friends. On neither do I see non-friend stuff nor ads (I use FB on desktop with filters)
- 673457e347 3y agoSpeaking as a 33 year old with a freshly 18 year old sibling I'd say TikTok fills a similar niche to YouTube. You aren't really chatting on TikTok even if some people might post. What you're most likely doing is finding videos which you then share via another medium like Discord. Discord+YouTube+TikTok is a huge thing with younger netizens (and of course gamers in the case of Discord). YouTube is still popular but TikTok is less censored (this is probably the wrong word since YouTube has edgy content, but it seems to recommend more sanitized content than TikTok which most heavy users I've known agree has a much better/unrestrained recommendation algorithm). So saying people use TikTok directly to keep up with their friends might not be the full picture. But I'd still say for many people TikTok plays a role in keeping up with your friends in that trading TikTok finds is a popular activity for many friends.
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- bilsbie 3y agoIt is quite bizarre we call them social networks. Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. Maybe you can only have 100 connections and you can’t post links or rants. Just life updates and photos.
- joshspankit 3y agoMakes me think of the shift from reality TV (real people living authentically on TV) to “reality TV” (the genre with it’s specific formulas/tropes/manipulation).
- pbj1968 3y agoYour first one never existed.
- joshspankit 3y agoEarly Big Brother immediately comes to mind
- intrasight 3y agoIf you can make something that is 10x better than group chats, there may be a market. I'm assuming that someone soon will come up with something.
- TuringNYC 3y ago>> It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. They used to be social networks until they got littered with short-term engagement boosting content and ads. Facebook in 2006/2007 was so awesome.
- JackFr 3y agoThe thing is, Facebook was never awesome. Really. Never. It demonstrably reduces happiness and life satisfaction. It’s just bad. And it’s easy to quit. Really.
- Lamad1234 3y ago[dead]
- basedkissinger 3y ago[dead]