Social media is important.
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
When I try to engage people on this topic a huge obstacle is the trivialization of the role of social media in most people’s minds.
Consider how there was (and for some there still is) a debate about if a President should tweet at all. Social media is seen as an arena for vain, unserious, narcissistic people. People describe spending time on it like it is a vice: they talk about cutting back.
To say making good social media is important makes no sense through this lens.
But it’s The Media!
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
I call it #DemocracyOfReach.
imo "social networking" is more about private groups, friends and family ala FB.
but decentralized "social media" promises the public that we can regain control over our collective attention. that via boosts, we can decide together what info, ideas and art goes viral. not corporate media, big tech or advertisers (including politicians spending donor cash). it's revolutionary.
it's not microblogging but our social news feed. build AP into everything.
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
I've always found it weird how people want it both ways: it's important enough to engage with for hours every day, but not important enough to try to use responsibly.
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
@futurebird If I do not feel well, or do feel bored, or feel exhausted - I go to my mastodon instance, read through the posts, and _most_ of the time I feel better, feel entertained, feel refreshed...
There is so much positive input from the fediverse. And you alway know there is a (kind) real person behind each post. Bots? Well, if they need to be... I dunno. Greetings!
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Social media is important. It’s not pointless gossip or just a waste of time. It’s the news and information distribution system of our world.
We can build things like the wikipedia, like the fedi OR we can keep pretending it’s all just a side game, unserious and not worth the effort of making it good. We can say “it’s just how I relax” as these powerful people plan out our reeducation to better serve the consolidation and concentration of their power.
Am I an alarmist? I am alarmed.
Social networks, the communities, are important. They turned to social media because the companies building SNS realized that by becoming media instead of networks they can tap into advertising revenue streams. We'd be better off if social media died and social networks returned.
@futurebird -
Social networks, the communities, are important. They turned to social media because the companies building SNS realized that by becoming media instead of networks they can tap into advertising revenue streams. We'd be better off if social media died and social networks returned.
@futurebirdI think another factor is the massive loss of central control real networks can represent.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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I think another factor is the massive loss of central control real networks can represent.
Not sure I follow your meaning there..
@futurebird -
Not sure I follow your meaning there..
@futurebirdIf you run a TV station you can control what people watch. YouTube less so but they have been trying to “fix” this for decades.
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I've always found it weird how people want it both ways: it's important enough to engage with for hours every day, but not important enough to try to use responsibly.
I agree. I see a lot of people who approach this as consumers/tourists, the use in 'use responsibly' denotes a purpose.
In online communities I see people who are looking for the 'perfect' platform to do the thing they want, without realizing most of these platforms can be used for those things.
A public place can never happen in a centrally controlled platform in the same way an ecosystem cannot have exploitative boundary tolls without creating fragility.
