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The unfortunate part is that each individual who attempts to leave is fighting the Network Effect[0]. It's fighting against the human organism's basic social na
by usernomdeguerre 19d ago
The unfortunate part is that each individual who attempts to leave is fighting the Network Effect[0]. It's fighting against the human organism's basic social nature.
If every person wants to leave the platform but X person stays because Y person is there, and Y person stays because Z person is there, and Z person stays because X person is there then it's a feedback loop. Each person wants a better solution or platform, but none end up leaving because of the network effect.
Breaking that dependency involves the individual user but can't be overcome by the individual alone. Over time, the network re-asserts itself and monopolizes the connections.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
- mrtesthah 19d agoIf there were an API or reliable way to delete accounts programmatically, you could create a reverse-kickstarter-like site in which you pledged automatic future deletion of your account once a critical percentage of the people you followed (or who followed you) did the same. Action would be suspended for all participants until that critical threshold was reached.
- cjkaminski 19d agoUnfortunate, yes. Futile? No. Remember that AT&T once had a firm grip over human communication. That didn't last. Remember that AOL once had a firm grip over how a massive percentage of the population accessed the internet. That didn't last. Elon Musk currently has a firm grip on social media (via X) and internet access (via Starlink). This too will not last.
- nradov 19d agoX and Starlink don't even remotely have a "firm grip" over the social media or Internet access markets. They have many active competitors.
- cjkaminski 19d agoOk. Show your work. Which social network has larger reach than X? Which social network has stronger influence on humans who make policy decisions than X? Which internet provider can deliver reliable access to remote regions than Starlink? Which internet provider has manipulated access in contested regions than Starlink? Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. I don't know. What I do know is that your baseless assertions are meaningless to me. Show the facts and figures that support your claims. That's the only way to avoid being a garden-variety internet troll.
- ahtihn 19d ago> Which internet provider can deliver reliable access to remote regions than Starlink? Why do remote regions matter? No one relevant lives there.
- cjkaminski 19d agolololol. Obviously you don't know any Ukranians.
- tredre3 19d ago> lololol. Obviously you don't know any Ukranians. Please take a step back and remember that your original claim was "a massive percentage of the population accessed the internet (via starlink)" That's demonstrably false. It's a small percentage. Even in Ukraine. You're now moving the goalposts.
- cjkaminski 19d agoNo, I did not claim "a massive percentage of the population accessed the internet (via starlink)". Try again. I said that people in REMOTE regions, by which I mean those who are underserved by traditional internet access such as fiber or coax or twisted-pair, are served by Starlink in significant numbers. Please give demonstrable facts that dispute this claim if you disagree.
- akagusu 19d agoElon Musk learned from the other two and many others. Unfortunately, Silicon Valey techno-feudalism is built to last.
- cjkaminski 19d agoI agree that SV's regressive culture is a problem. I've seen it up close. I don't have a solution, but I am concerned about where this trend might lead us.
- mitxela 19d agoRemember AT&T only lost its monopoly because the government forced it to.
- cjkaminski 19d agoYes, yes! I might be old enough to remember when that happened.
- ctkhn 19d agoNot really relevant for public service announcements like gp is talking about. I just want a live feed of my local services updates. I get weather alerts from my city and county over text (contracted by the government through a third party platform), I would take them as a dedicated app or rss feed or anything. I'm not connecting to my friends or family through a weather alert or train delay notice
- AlexandrB 19d agoRSS was so good for this. No wonder Google had to kill it.
- saghm 19d agoRSS still exists though? Do you mean Google Reader?
- gralab 19d agoBy killing Google Reader they essentially killed RSS. Yes, I know there are other clients some of us still use, but Google's was the biggest and most popular.
- saghm 18d agoI don't think I agree with this characterization. If you consider the open standard to be indistinguishable from the proprietary client, I'd argue it was already dead before the client got killed off.
- cjkaminski 19d agoYes, yes, and yes. Let's revive RSS. It's still good, even if it's been on the floor beyond the "five second rule".
- spicybright 19d agoI find texting pretty decent but not ideal. Most alert systems offer it already, you know it's going to be a short message, and you'll be informed quickly of things instead of having to reach out somewhere. Maybe there should be a texting app where you can make pages of contacts to swipe between, and you can customize notifications. If you want to get fancy, maybe local AI to determine if something looks important or not? They'll always have ALERT or something in the message.
- alightsoul 19d agoMy solution to this is creating bots that repost content on sites like bluesky. The network effect can be overcome because people use a site for the content it has and not necessarily to interact with others Of course I only do it with accounts that are very obviously intended to be public like news and government accounts otherwise x and meta can argue you were violating user privacy or some shit like that
- spicybright 19d agoIs there any service that exists to do this for people? Like say you want your Twitter forwarded to your Facebook page and email list, you just punch in the logins and it does the rest? Ideally it would fill in the details like formatting the images/video correctly
- mitxela 19d agoIf This Then That?
- acomjean 19d agoI used to cross post any Instagram photos to twitter with if this then that. But the platforms have made it harder. I thought hubspot does that but looking at their website I have no idea what they do..
- rightnutwingjob 19d agoMany. Search for social media management tools.
- Nemo_bis 19d agoThere are some examples at https://fedi.tips/crossposting-between-mastodon-and-other-social-networks/ https://fedi.tips/crossposting-between-mastodon-and-other-so... The key point is that you must not post in XTwitter first, but you have to use the crossposter's client as source. Pulling content out of XTwitter, even your own, is onerous.
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- 1shooner 19d agoI think Twitter is the best counterargument to this defeatism. I don't personally know anyone that uses the platform any more, and I don't recall needing it for anything for years. From that remove, it's now just the platform for lazy politicians, lazy journalists, and scammers of one form or another. If there's more exclusive information there I'm not aware of, I really don't need it.
- Slow_Hand 19d agoYes. And if something truly important should occur on the platform then it will be reported elsewhere. What do we really think we're missing out on by not using X?
- myko 19d agomy understanding is twitter is primarily bots at this point i'm surprised any human is still there
- redeeman 19d agothen your understanding seems to be quite limited :)
- Plont 19d agowhat even was the point of typing that? it just reads as kindergarten bully on an ipad.
- redeeman 19d agodont see how its bullying? someone is demonstrating a very childish point of view , almost to the point of preaching. which I would say a little bit of critical thinking says is otherwise. why else would so many want xcancel in the first place?
- myko 17d agonot really, no
- jrflowers 19d agoI like this reasoning. Network effect means if a website gets very big it will be very big forever. This is why I get my news from the o rly owl on the world’s most popular website, the OffTopic Forums
- donio 19d agoI have a solution for this problem: just delete the fucking account anyway.
- seki285 19d agoproblem solved
- aczerepinski 19d agoI deactivated my account when Musk took over, and am not aware of anything I’ve missed since then. Is there anything big that I missed?
- simonsarris 19d agoI think you're playing dumb on purpose here but in general yes, you are missing out on all the friends and connections and interesting conversations you have not made. I don't know what those are for you, but they're transparently obvious for me in the counterfactual, and a lot of people on the site.
- Morromist 19d agoTwitter is far from special. So I guess you're missing out on all the friends and connections and interesting conversations you have not made on Threads, Facebook, Linkedin, instagram, tiktok, reddit, bluesky, mastodon, discord & tumblr. Also twitter is the worst of all the things I've listed.