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I think there are giant weak spots in the product offerings of social media companies that provides opportunities for regional alternatives to win. For example,

by tmpz22 2y ago

I think there are giant weak spots in the product offerings of social media companies that provides opportunities for regional alternatives to win. For example, imagine an utterly transparent social media website with low operating costs that could offer services to a region at minimal or subsidized cost. I don't think social media requires or should be world-scale. I think its hubris to think Facebook etc are meaningfully connecting us to individuals around the world when our social graphs our overwhelmingly local and sequestered. Finally, because nobody ever asks this question before they build it, there is a potential for regional networks to be more harmful - for example in a region with active genocide you could see regional networks aggravate that harm more then the US tech companies do. It's a tough nut to crack but I don't think it compares to the hardest challenges humanity has already conquered.

unclebucknasty 2y ago
>I think there are giant weak spots in the product offerings of social media companies Agreed. I'm not sure that the fix is necessarily to regionalize though. I think rather that the weakness is in the format, mechanics, algorithms, etc. We need to re-imagine social media in general (yes, I know this might sound hand-wavy). The true fix might be so different that we don't even call it social media, and... >there is a potential for regional networks to be more harmful Exactly. That's why I believe we need a more fundamental change. All of the current formats have the capacity to wreak havoc, whether globally or locally. >I think its hubris to think Facebook etc are meaningfully connecting us to individuals around the world Yeah, I don't know that Facebook was ever meaningfully trying in this regard, except to promote some tag line, "something-something connecting the world" to make it seem they were on some noble quest. All they really wanted was eyeballs, and judging from the sheer stream of garbage that is today's FB feed, they're not even pretending anymore.

by tmpz22 2y ago

unclebucknasty 2y ago

>I think there are giant weak spots in the product offerings of social media companies Agreed. I'm not sure that the fix is necessarily to regionalize though. I think rather that the weakness is in the format, mechanics, algorithms, etc. We need to re-imagine social media in general (yes, I know this might sound hand-wavy). The true fix might be so different that we don't even call it social media, and... >there is a potential for regional networks to be more harmful Exactly. That's why I believe we need a more fundamental change. All of the current formats have the capacity to wreak havoc, whether globally or locally. >I think its hubris to think Facebook etc are meaningfully connecting us to individuals around the world Yeah, I don't know that Facebook was ever meaningfully trying in this regard, except to promote some tag line, "something-something connecting the world" to make it seem they were on some noble quest. All they really wanted was eyeballs, and judging from the sheer stream of garbage that is today's FB feed, they're not even pretending anymore.