10 ms·

A definition of “social media” that includes HN has been stretched to the point of uselessness. We would have to invent a new term to refer to the things we act

A definition of “social media” that includes HN has been stretched to the point of uselessness. We would have to invent a new term to refer to the things we actually mean by “social media”. Better to just not do that so we can keep having a useful term.

yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
Alright, let's use an actual definition: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_media https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_media says, > (uncountable) Applications or websites allowing users to share content and communicate with one another via the Internet. and HN: [x] is a website [x] allowing users to share content [x] allowing users communicate [x] via the internet Perhaps you should invent a new term for whatever you're talking about? Depending on what you want, I might suggest "algorithmic feeds" (actually that appears to be an extant term, but it might be what you want), or "multimedia social media" (to exclude pure-text sites like this).
- asdf000333 2y ago
  The Wikipedia definition isn't complete, otherwise Wikipedia itself is social media too. Basically nobody outside of HN would consider HN social media if they saw it.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
    > The Wikipedia definition isn't complete, otherwise Wikipedia itself is social media too. Actually, that's a decent point; it should probably add something about being primarily focused on the user interactions. That is, Wikipedia isn't social media, but I'd hesitate to say that the talk pages aren't. > Basically nobody outside of HN would consider HN social media if they saw it. And on that point we definitely disagree, though I suppose I could ask around. What do you think makes it not?
    - asdf000333 2y ago
      Social media was originally all about connecting with people you know in real life. Nowadays some of them are about followers you don't always know, but one way or another you're repeatedly interacting with a select pool of people based on who they are. Forums have been around longer than the WWW and are more about interacting with topics than with particular members. Some let you follow or PM someone, but that's not the primary function, and HN doesn't even have that. Some social sites have expanded to cover forum-like roles too, like Facebook (Pages). But most people won't think that far. They'll see HN and say nah, this isn't social media.
    - Wowfunhappy 2y ago
      Anecdata, but I have heard people in my life refer to Hacker News as "social media", which is why I brought this up in the first place.
    - vundercind 2y ago
      No “social graph” whatsoever. Instantly disqualifying. News-aggregator-with-comments isn’t social media.
      - asdf000333 2y ago
        Yeah this is a good succinct way to put it.

yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago

Alright, let's use an actual definition: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_media https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/social_media says, > (uncountable) Applications or websites allowing users to share content and communicate with one another via the Internet. and HN: [x] is a website [x] allowing users to share content [x] allowing users communicate [x] via the internet Perhaps you should invent a new term for whatever you're talking about? Depending on what you want, I might suggest "algorithmic feeds" (actually that appears to be an extant term, but it might be what you want), or "multimedia social media" (to exclude pure-text sites like this).

asdf000333 2y ago
The Wikipedia definition isn't complete, otherwise Wikipedia itself is social media too. Basically nobody outside of HN would consider HN social media if they saw it.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  > The Wikipedia definition isn't complete, otherwise Wikipedia itself is social media too. Actually, that's a decent point; it should probably add something about being primarily focused on the user interactions. That is, Wikipedia isn't social media, but I'd hesitate to say that the talk pages aren't. > Basically nobody outside of HN would consider HN social media if they saw it. And on that point we definitely disagree, though I suppose I could ask around. What do you think makes it not?
  - asdf000333 2y ago
    Social media was originally all about connecting with people you know in real life. Nowadays some of them are about followers you don't always know, but one way or another you're repeatedly interacting with a select pool of people based on who they are. Forums have been around longer than the WWW and are more about interacting with topics than with particular members. Some let you follow or PM someone, but that's not the primary function, and HN doesn't even have that. Some social sites have expanded to cover forum-like roles too, like Facebook (Pages). But most people won't think that far. They'll see HN and say nah, this isn't social media.
  - Wowfunhappy 2y ago
    Anecdata, but I have heard people in my life refer to Hacker News as "social media", which is why I brought this up in the first place.
  - vundercind 2y ago
    No “social graph” whatsoever. Instantly disqualifying. News-aggregator-with-comments isn’t social media.
    - asdf000333 2y ago
      Yeah this is a good succinct way to put it.