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> The reality is that the internet has become decentralized; rather than people staying in one gigantic, unified group with shared trends and moments like they

by ginko 11mo ago

> The reality is that the internet has become decentralized; rather than people staying in one gigantic, unified group with shared trends and moments like they used to, users go their separate ways, with social media algorithms providing hyper-curated content that pushes users toward smaller groups with niche shared interests. Huh, this feels exactly backwards. The web used to be WAY more decentralized.

bluefirebrand 11mo ago
> Huh, this feels exactly backwards. The web used to be WAY more decentralized I think you're referring to something different than the article I agree with you the web used to be more decentralized in terms of unique websites, blogs, communities, etc. It is much more homogenous now, with majority of traffic and community forming on a few social networks instead of across hundreds of sites and forums However, within the social media sites users have become much more siloed than they used to be. Algorithms are trying to isolate us into our own personal echo chambers rather than just giving us the raw feed and letting us navigate it
- SchemaLoad 11mo ago
  To be fair, the raw feed is absolute slop. If you ever look at youtube without an account or cookies, there's almost nothing worth watching. Youtube has become the biggest social media on the planet by showing people stuff they actually like rather than whats hot. Youtube will show me an in depth technical video from 3 years ago over the latest MrBeast slop even if the MrBeast video is getting far better numbers. I do feel like _something_ has been lost by the lack of monoculture though. It's been most evident in music where there almost is no pop music anymore. There is nothing everyone knows and generally likes. DJs either have to play highly targeted events or pop music from 2012.
  - hn_acc1 11mo ago
    Agreed on the last paragraph. When I grew up (long time ago), almost everyone saw the most recent <kids show> because there were only 3 or 4 on after school, and generally only one targeted towards each major peer group. Sure, you can now choose from 27 different shows in each genre (comedy, drama, romance, business, cops, medical dramas, etc), each with many seasons to watch/stream/binge, but odds that your friend saw the same episode last night? Approximately zero. Whereas, "must see tv", as trite as it was, almost always gave you something to talk about the next day.. "No soup for you!" was huge in my circles for quite some time, for example. And the less someone shares with you in terms of background, the easier it is to withdraw into your own bubble, and watch more shows alone, and become more isolated..
    - bas 11mo ago
      Extending on that era’s TV programming (born in the late 70s), even if it wasn’t “your show”, there was only one screen in play. Secondary devices came much later.
SchemaLoad 11mo ago
OP is talking about culture rather than technology. Two people both on youtube see entirely different content. Both people will have their own set of big famous creators in their bubble and have never heard of the other persons famous youtubers.
- thrdbndndn 11mo ago
  I can see that, but to me it's more about the fact that there just didn't used to be that much content.
- zeroonetwothree 11mo ago
  True but that’s how the web always was. I don’t see it as a change. In the 90s if you found some niche community most likely no one else knew about it.
  - SchemaLoad 11mo ago
    Previously there was way more monoculture I feel. Everyone knew the big youtubers, Smosh, Pewdiepie. Everyone was playing the same flash games. I guess there is still a monoculture in online gaming with everyone centralising on a few top games. But youtube is completely individualised now. Two users on TikTok are seeing entirely different trends and creators.
flooq 11mo ago
If you swap decentralized for personalized then the point about hyper-curated media bubbles do make sense. It feels backwards because it’s not how we use decentralized in the industry, it’s probably the same reason you correctly said web instead of internet.
sfRattan 11mo ago
I think "balkanized" is a better way to describe communities and users online. As in sorted and separated into non-overlapping algorithmic cul-de-sacs which mostly do not interact with each other and which are (often) hostile when members of one algorithmically isolated community happen upon members of another.
paxys 11mo ago
Internet services have become centralized. Internet culture has fragmented, or really just disappeared entirely. Being chronically online doesn't make you part of a special group anymore. It's just how everyone lives their lives. There are no inside jokes, no nerd lingo. Even memes are basically dead now.
- dylan604 11mo ago
  If not a nerd lingo, there's absolutely inside jokes and new lingo. Skibidi, 6 7, blah blah. Even people saying things like "bet" are all part of new lingo that kids think is cool because the olds don't know what they are talking about. Only the words/phrases change, but the desire of kids doing something different than olds is never going to change.
  - pessimizer 11mo ago
    > Even people saying things like "bet" are all part of new lingo Maybe I'm just black, but there's absolutely nothing new about "bet." Unless you mean last 50 years new maybe (I can only vouch for 50 years.) Still goes to your point, though. The kids are just imitating black people like their parents, their parents parents, and their parents parents parents, and their parents parents parents parents, and their parents parents parents parents parents. The desire of the kids to repeat things that they heard black people say is at least 150 years old at this point if the cakewalk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk) is a good spot to date it from.
    - egypturnash 11mo ago
      Why are you being downvoted, the black-slang-to-white-suburban-kid-slang pipeline is a very very real thing.
      - matwood 11mo ago
        Maybe people think it’s more urban to suburban instead of black to white? Either way the point stands. Just look at how much US culture is driven by hip hop now.
venturecruelty 11mo ago
What do you mean? We have us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-1, us-west-2... The options are endless!
Ekaros 11mo ago
I think it is probably both. There is separate cultures and groups. And then there is trends. All happening on handful of platforms. Trends can travel between groups when they come big enough. So in that sense it is centralized. On other hand outside trends things can stay inside sub-cultures. So there is larger centralized culture that reacts to trends like Labubus or Dubai Chocolate. And then there are smaller niche communities that don't really go outside their own.

by ginko 11mo ago

bluefirebrand 11mo ago

> Huh, this feels exactly backwards. The web used to be WAY more decentralized I think you're referring to something different than the article I agree with you the web used to be more decentralized in terms of unique websites, blogs, communities, etc. It is much more homogenous now, with majority of traffic and community forming on a few social networks instead of across hundreds of sites and forums However, within the social media sites users have become much more siloed than they used to be. Algorithms are trying to isolate us into our own personal echo chambers rather than just giving us the raw feed and letting us navigate it

SchemaLoad 11mo ago
To be fair, the raw feed is absolute slop. If you ever look at youtube without an account or cookies, there's almost nothing worth watching. Youtube has become the biggest social media on the planet by showing people stuff they actually like rather than whats hot. Youtube will show me an in depth technical video from 3 years ago over the latest MrBeast slop even if the MrBeast video is getting far better numbers. I do feel like _something_ has been lost by the lack of monoculture though. It's been most evident in music where there almost is no pop music anymore. There is nothing everyone knows and generally likes. DJs either have to play highly targeted events or pop music from 2012.
- hn_acc1 11mo ago
  Agreed on the last paragraph. When I grew up (long time ago), almost everyone saw the most recent <kids show> because there were only 3 or 4 on after school, and generally only one targeted towards each major peer group. Sure, you can now choose from 27 different shows in each genre (comedy, drama, romance, business, cops, medical dramas, etc), each with many seasons to watch/stream/binge, but odds that your friend saw the same episode last night? Approximately zero. Whereas, "must see tv", as trite as it was, almost always gave you something to talk about the next day.. "No soup for you!" was huge in my circles for quite some time, for example. And the less someone shares with you in terms of background, the easier it is to withdraw into your own bubble, and watch more shows alone, and become more isolated..
  - bas 11mo ago
    Extending on that era’s TV programming (born in the late 70s), even if it wasn’t “your show”, there was only one screen in play. Secondary devices came much later.

SchemaLoad 11mo ago

OP is talking about culture rather than technology. Two people both on youtube see entirely different content. Both people will have their own set of big famous creators in their bubble and have never heard of the other persons famous youtubers.

thrdbndndn 11mo ago
I can see that, but to me it's more about the fact that there just didn't used to be that much content.
zeroonetwothree 11mo ago
True but that’s how the web always was. I don’t see it as a change. In the 90s if you found some niche community most likely no one else knew about it.
- SchemaLoad 11mo ago
  Previously there was way more monoculture I feel. Everyone knew the big youtubers, Smosh, Pewdiepie. Everyone was playing the same flash games. I guess there is still a monoculture in online gaming with everyone centralising on a few top games. But youtube is completely individualised now. Two users on TikTok are seeing entirely different trends and creators.

flooq 11mo ago

If you swap decentralized for personalized then the point about hyper-curated media bubbles do make sense. It feels backwards because it’s not how we use decentralized in the industry, it’s probably the same reason you correctly said web instead of internet.

sfRattan 11mo ago

I think "balkanized" is a better way to describe communities and users online. As in sorted and separated into non-overlapping algorithmic cul-de-sacs which mostly do not interact with each other and which are (often) hostile when members of one algorithmically isolated community happen upon members of another.

paxys 11mo ago

Internet services have become centralized. Internet culture has fragmented, or really just disappeared entirely. Being chronically online doesn't make you part of a special group anymore. It's just how everyone lives their lives. There are no inside jokes, no nerd lingo. Even memes are basically dead now.

dylan604 11mo ago
If not a nerd lingo, there's absolutely inside jokes and new lingo. Skibidi, 6 7, blah blah. Even people saying things like "bet" are all part of new lingo that kids think is cool because the olds don't know what they are talking about. Only the words/phrases change, but the desire of kids doing something different than olds is never going to change.
- pessimizer 11mo ago
  > Even people saying things like "bet" are all part of new lingo Maybe I'm just black, but there's absolutely nothing new about "bet." Unless you mean last 50 years new maybe (I can only vouch for 50 years.) Still goes to your point, though. The kids are just imitating black people like their parents, their parents parents, and their parents parents parents, and their parents parents parents parents, and their parents parents parents parents parents. The desire of the kids to repeat things that they heard black people say is at least 150 years old at this point if the cakewalk (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cakewalk) is a good spot to date it from.
  - egypturnash 11mo ago
    Why are you being downvoted, the black-slang-to-white-suburban-kid-slang pipeline is a very very real thing.
    - matwood 11mo ago
      Maybe people think it’s more urban to suburban instead of black to white? Either way the point stands. Just look at how much US culture is driven by hip hop now.

venturecruelty 11mo ago

What do you mean? We have us-east-1, us-east-2, us-west-1, us-west-2... The options are endless!

Ekaros 11mo ago

I think it is probably both. There is separate cultures and groups. And then there is trends. All happening on handful of platforms. Trends can travel between groups when they come big enough. So in that sense it is centralized. On other hand outside trends things can stay inside sub-cultures. So there is larger centralized culture that reacts to trends like Labubus or Dubai Chocolate. And then there are smaller niche communities that don't really go outside their own.