Is There a Good Social Media Website?

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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by D.o.S. »

Two thoughts.

One: There are good social media websites, but there are few-verging-on-effectively-no good social media algorithms, and if you're not particularly aware of how the algorithms are designed to engage with you they can be very bad for your mental (and physical) health.

They can still be very bad for you if you know how they work, of course, but knowing how to make the machines work for you (in a platform-satisfaction sense) does a lot to mitigate this. E.g: I only use Instagram for a few minutes every day, seldom post, and have notifications permanently silenced, for example. So I log in, see some curated content, receive/send some interesting stuff or excellent memes or whatever, and log off.


Two:
I've also started to think social media websites that completely insulate and isolate people from content they don't like is a bad thing
I'd say this is heavily dependent on a few things - and a lot of the impact is generational. Generally ILF tends to skew older, but there's an entire generation of young adults (and not-so-young-adults) that has effectively learned to socialise online, rather than socialising first and then getting online afterward. This is why the whole genre of 'boomers-online.meme' is a thing and why gen-z treats everything online as deadly serious interactions. Having an entire social media website with content moderation to adjust what you see isn't an implicitly bad thing, it's when you pair that with news and information that is largely untethered to reality that it becomes an issue.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by dubkitty »

i have my own hit on social media which is based on how i use it. i've never seen SM as a way to create genuine relationships with people...it became clear quickly that Twitter and Facebook just aren't made to do anything other that fool you with parasocial relationships. i've made IRL friends from forums, but never a one from socials. i tried Reddit a couple of times, but the Arrogant Spud side of the user groups makes it pretty unbearable. the guitars and effects discussions there are dreadful, and there's a weird kind of friendly alienation vibe that seems to pervade. Redditors don't want to discuss, they want to win, and ain't nobody got time for that. and don't even get me started on the politics in the local (r/charlottesville, etc.) discussions.

i use specific platforms for specific things. Facebook is to follow family and friends, bands/artists i like, and to seek cute critter pictures. Twitter is for cute critters, occasional news updates (not very good for that post-Musk), and music news (tour dates, new releases, etc.). i almost never post original content in either place but react to others instead. lately i've been having to constantly "Not Interested In This Post" as Twitter shovels heaps of whatever its dodgy algo thinks i want to see (which i never do).

forums were the best, but they seem to hardly exist now other than old brand-related ones for iconic makes that are infested with elderly rich guys with big collections and the kind of life views that go along with that life. the Gretsch Pages (RIP), TDPRI, Gretsch Talk, the Guild forum, all stuffed with people who only want to talk about pre 1970 guitars and sneer at newer models. the big ones--Hoffman, Gear Page--are right the fuck out. i've read on them, and there's no way i want to have a conversation with those people.

i have no interest in Instagram or TikTok because i have neither the equipment or the give-a-fuck-i-tude to spend my time making tiny movies to impress other people. i'm not looking for "engagement,' and in fact still haven't posted my new loops on Twitter or FB because i have a sneaking feeling i'll wind up regretting it. showing anything of yourself on social media now is too dangerous. when i used to argue about politics the chuds would always make fun of my appearance. joke's on you, bud...i'm comfortable with who i am.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by TheTransient »

dubkitty wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2024 9:40 am
forums were the best, but they seem to hardly exist now other than old brand-related ones for iconic makes that are infested with elderly rich guys with big collections and the kind of life views that go along with that life. the Gretsch Pages (RIP), TDPRI, Gretsch Talk, the Guild forum, all stuffed with people who only want to talk about pre 1970 guitars and sneer at newer models. the big ones--Hoffman, Gear Page--are right the fuck out. i've read on them, and there's no way i want to have a conversation with those people.
Yeah forums in general have taken a huge hit over the last 5 years or so. Particularly the smaller niche ones as you say. Sad really...

I can't speak for the other pages, but TDPRI isn't so bad. They have a pretty active DIY component there with lots of very smart people who are quite happy to assist with questions. For example, Rob Robinette (https://robrobinette.com/Amp_Stuff.htm) is often floating around on there helping out with amp building related stuff. Also the Squier section of that forum is definitely more active than the vintage section or even the custom shop section.

There are certainly a fair share of elderly rich guys with big collections however, cant argue with that :lol:
And let's not pretend ILF didnt have Uncle Grandfather for a while!
dubkitty wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2024 9:40 am i have no interest in Instagram or TikTok because i have neither the equipment or the give-a-fuck-i-tude to spend my time making tiny movies to impress other people.
Instagram can just be images if you want, but yeah, the platform is gearing itself towards the tiktok/shorts/stories video format as thats no doubt what keeps the most eyes on the screen for the longest amount of time, which equals more ad revenue for Meta.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by fcknoise »

Short answer: no

Longer answer:
It is almost better to ask: can there be a good social media website? No internet place has ever been as good to my life as ILF, in terms of knowledge, fun, and lasting friendships. For a short period (back when I was in high school) Twitter sort of worked like that. But social media, as opposed to forums, are massive tech companies that only have 2 resources: people and peoples data. Neither of those resources are conducive to creating a good experience, as people are only money makers if they look at/click on ads, and "peoples data" is one of the most inflated resources ever. Oh you've stalked my conversations on six platforms and found out I want to buy a fridge? I already wanted to buy a fridge, as mine is. broken, so no sale has been done, and I will buy the fridge like how I buy anything, i.e., compare prices and read some reviews. No money has been made.

Cory Doctorow has written about "enshittification" of online platforms, which is looking at social media and other sites from a critical perspective, and I think it makes a lot of sense.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by coupleonapkins »

J. Mascis is on Strava, so I think we all know the answer now :trippy:
fcknoise wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2024 6:23 am "enshittification"
This is eggactkly why I post garbage 40 character reviews on letterboxd, which incidentally was how I was keeping track of watching movies on livejournal in high school, so I guess I always knew that I loved posting garbage 25/17 (infinity symbol).

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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by Ghost Hip »

I saw Meta' email about updated terms... just read up on a summary... sheesh time to think about social media use again. I've been on bluesky for awhile so I'll share my thoughts below. Idk if I can say its good, but its refreshing to return to more personal sharing vs seeing a big or small brand shoving their product/service in my face every four posts.

For me, Bluesky leans way more towards Tumblr in vibe than Twitter in my experience the past year. My feed is almost all gamers sharing the thing they love mixed with illustrators and music. Still working out how I want to use it but for now its a great ad free environment where I can share on social media like the old days. But yeah very nerdy... not sure how it will fare for everyone but as someone who doesn't stay up to date on games on my own, its nice to see nerds talk about and recommend stuff to play and see cool art. Would be nice to see some more edge on their though. a a little too much "positive vibes" in reaction to the whole twitter thing...

On that note, It's not as obnoxious as Threads was when it started, but there is an us vs. Elon Musk vibe that pops up here and there when the news cycle is hot that makes me cringe on a Paulo Freire level. Yeah Elon/twitter blows... but at some point when you play into the "other" role in relation to the "problematic" figureheads I believe it just turns you into as annoying of a group as the one you are rallying against. It's not lifting anyone up.

That's my biggest gripe with all social media though... seeing suburban Americans playing into and maintaining the division designed by US politics/media and dress up their vitriol filled memes as being progressive or virtuous. Convenience culture infects everything, yada yada. I'm no saint myself so I'll keep my complaint tidy. :lol:

but yeah "good" social media? I think we're still too far down the well to know what that looks like yet beyond practicing putting space between indulging in social media. There's still a loneliness epidemic and some folks are on these apps 24/7 filling it up with external projections and insecurities without sitting with a feeling for ten seconds. If our material conditions don't change I don't think social media will either.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by Ghost Hip »

D.o.S. wrote: Wed Nov 27, 2024 6:29 am Two thoughts.

One: There are good social media websites, but there are few-verging-on-effectively-no good social media algorithms, and if you're not particularly aware of how the algorithms are designed to engage with you they can be very bad for your mental (and physical) health.

They can still be very bad for you if you know how they work, of course, but knowing how to make the machines work for you (in a platform-satisfaction sense) does a lot to mitigate this. E.g: I only use Instagram for a few minutes every day, seldom post, and have notifications permanently silenced, for example. So I log in, see some curated content, receive/send some interesting stuff or excellent memes or whatever, and log off.
This rings true for me too. I try to like stuff I want to keep seeing, hide stuff I don't. I personally hated being bombarded with ADHD/Neurodivergent content when I was exploring that a year or so ago. Hearing how other people struggle with being neurodivergent doesn't really help me, it usually just pushes me into externalizing judgements and internally think something is wrong with me... no matter how well or poorly the content creator put it together. Also what is worse for ADHD than clicking on an instagram reel? :lol: click hide content a few times and boom off to other hopefully pleasant digital experiences.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by 01010111 »

It seems like "good" social media is really defined by how you personally interact with it. That is, if you have time and energy then you are able to tailor your experience (sometimes), or, you can choose to not interact in the platform.

Facebook used to have people vote on new features. But to have time and energy, you most likely need to have better material conditions. So, in a way unless people's conditions improve, we're likely to see social media degrade even more.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

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It seems like "good" social media is really defined by how you personally interact with it. That is, if you have time and energy then you are able to tailor your experience (sometimes), or, you can choose to not interact in the platform.

Facebook used to have people vote on new features. But to have time and energy, you most likely need to have better material conditions. So, in a way unless people's conditions improve, we're likely to see social media degrade even more.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by Seance »

The best site is IRL where you walk into a social setting where music is being played and humans are gathered to listen and react to the music.

Forums like this allow a person to get out a whole sentence (or several paragraphs) without bombarding eyeballs and earholes with ads and flashing 'likes' and thumbs-up alerts that trigger the dopamine flush.

Searching for a good social media website is like owning a soda-stream. Maybe it's possible to not buy the corn-syrup monstrosities churned out by the few megalithic soda monopolies, but you're tastebuds are still in a state of being habituated to sugary syrup and carbonation. Once you cut that out of your diet completely, you realize how grossly OTT it is and how nauseatingly over-sweet it is.

What happened to the commons? It was enclosed... in the Middle Ages.

After the bubonic plague killed 1/3 of the population in Europe from 1346 to 1353, the real wage of workers skyrocketed. Workers could demand higher wages or refuse to do work. Silvia Federici writes about this in Caliban and the Witch and cites the many books about the topic. The next time there was a population decrease, there was no increase in the real wages of workers because money had abstracted the "contract" by which people had no recourse to subsistence and only to a wage that was outside of their control and as a result many starved to death while grain was being exported for "markets." This explains how the economic scare of the Pandemic (the momentary blip where people realized that they couldn't live unless somebody else grew their food and transported that food and healthcare workers and people who worked at grocery stores were momentarily "heroes" was quickly followed up by a mysterious and crippling "inflation" whereby any increase in the wages of any worker have now been swallowed back up by the arbitrary raising of prices).

Once money abstracts labor then humans lose sight of how much of their labor is being taken to "pay down the debt" that they "owe" because the system only works for corporations and their overlords by raising stock prices instead of being available to provide for their own sustenance (food/shelter/etc.). Social media embodies a new version of this form of "money-abstraction" whereby the "user" feels like they are being "entertained for free" when in fact they are giving away their labor for free and in doing so are training their AI replacements and simultaneously enriching the SM corporations that sell the data of "users" so that the "money abstraction" magic trick can continue to be brutally effective and efficient in draining all wealth from any of the remaining preexisting communal systems (the wealth or resources of foreign nations, public libraries, public utilities and power grids, government protection of the public interest, the upholding of the international rule of law, etc.).

Anachronistically we are told that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. But in the modern world our digital "fiddling" is fanning the flames of the conflagration with each character "stroke" we chop on the strings.

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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by MSUsousaphone »

It'll be interesting to see how the main guys (Facebook, Instagram, etc) change now that the FBI will lose their influence over things. Will we continue to segregate into echo chambers or can we somehow get back into the jumbled up, many voices and ideologies goodness of MySpace and early FB/IG? They're still mostly owned by Vanguard....so....maybe we'll still segregate.

I never could get into Twitter. Felt too corporate. I like it when it's just my homies on my timeline.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by dubkitty »

now that the FBI will lose their influence over things.
yeah, because the incoming administration won't try to use the Fibbies as a political weapon.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by Gone Fission »

Current FBI director is a Trump appointee, too. The problem with Wray seems to be thinking the mission is to enforce laws neutrally. So how the replacement cultist nominee is supposed to depoliticize the FBI needs more explanation.
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Re: Is There a Good Social Media Website?

Post by dubkitty »

i'm old enough to remember the Bureau under J. Edgar Hoover, so i've never trusted the guys who killed Fred Hampton and tried to deport John Lennon as far as i could throw them with two broken arms.
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