The Reality Of Social Media And SpaceHey�s Place In It

  I’ve been reading different news articles about SpaceHey and it’s nostalgic magic and how people are loving the retro vibes of the olden days. (They really make it sound super archaic, don’t they?) Though I’ve been experiencing major feels being here I worry that with this type of approach we’re doomed to experience SpaceHeys fall much like MySpace. Without support and backing for the Modern age, we may get a couple of good years and then end up like the unfortunate Mypace93ers. Shut down.


  One of MySpaces issues was being unable to keep up with Facebook and other growing social media sites. In their attempt to keep up (much too late) they revamped it to something unrecognizable while simultaneously deleting remnants of what made it beautiful.

 I would like to see SpaceHey grow, but with that comes certain truths we must face and hopefully being aware of them we can support An and his vision while preventing any undue surprises.

  • The bigger a site gets the more space and speed and  is needed, which means needing more money
  So are we going keep buying stickers? Or are we going to have accept ads, which means catering to large corporations to be here? 

  • Social Media is monetizing everywhere
  Sites like Fanbase, Clubhouse, Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Facebook and more are allowing content creators to earn revenue for their part in contributing to these platforms. In order to compete, SpaceHey will eventually have to offer the same…also this a better (or additional)alternative to ads as SpaceHey can gain a percentage from shops and subscriptions. 

  • Social Media Censorship Is Crushing Voices, even those that should be heard 
  The problem with censorship is it works both ways in society. 7 billion people on Earth with 7 billion ideas. In an idealistic, dreamy, Utopia- hate doesn’t exist, but in reality everyone hates something. If you give a business or platform permission to crush what you hate, you inadvertently give permission for others that hate you back to be crush you as well. (Show me in the History of the world where this doesn’t exist and I may consider changing my mind). The Garden of Eden only exist in fairy tales. 

 So what happens when reality of society reaches our doorstep here? Social media sites have taken a blanket approach to hate online and the reason is more logical than you think… 

  Take a daycare of a hundred and fifty-six 4 year old complaining incessantly over what movie to watch- each one hates what the other one wants to watch…tell me what you think the results will be and what you would do?

  • Keeping Up with trends and features we love 
  Many of us have grown to love certain features present on other platforms: Live-streaming, Short TikTok/Reels videos, Audio streaming, Photo/Video Editing, Merchandise Shops and more. How will these things that are necessary to be a competing social media be implemented here without losing the Spacehey feel? Can this be a Modern “oldie”?

  • Things are going to change
  The more viral the platform becomes, the more requests start pouring in, the more people An will have employ to handle it all. Just like everyone has their gripes, everyone has their likes too and catering to hundreds of thousands of people is no easy feat…and it COSTS MONEY. Are you mentally and emotionally prepared for changes to take place here? 

I’m curious about your thoughts, how we can help this place grow into something wonderful and STABLE for many years to come!





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EngiQu33ring

EngiQu33ring's profile picture

You do make some good points about the concerns about SpaceHey's long-term financial stability, however I would like to address a few points you made:



Social Media is monetizing everywhere (...) In order to compete, SpaceHey will eventually have to offer the same



Keeping Up with trends and features we love (...) how will these things that are necessary to be a competing social media be implemented here without losing the Spacehey feel? Can this be a Modern “oldie”?



This seems to be following the assumption that SpaceHey needs to try to compete with other social media sites, but this isn't true. We can exist just fine without being "viral." For example, asdfforums has existed uninterrupted and relatively unchanged since pre-2010 with only a handful of regular members. Another good example is Tumblr, which has remained relatively the same for years and actively refused to jump on the feature-of-the-month bandwagon with the other major platforms and, aside from the massive drop after they banned NSFW content, has seen steady growth and remains financially solvent.



SpaceHey is like this intentionally. We aren't competing with major social media platforms and we don't need to. MySpace failed because they kept trying to compete with Facebook rather than be their own site with their own features.



That said, it would be nice if we could apply our own stylesheets across the forums, blogs, and bulletins. I like the nostalgic feel, but nostalgia can only carry you so far.


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by Marie Rousseau ; ; Report

???? columbladee ???.?�

???? columbladee ???.?�'s profile picture

I suppose An could add a section up top for "News Feed." But instead of the endless scrolling like with modern social media platforms, he can make it like, 30 posts per page so that you have to click the next page to keep scrolling on.


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I just mean that, by having to click for the next page, it keeps the nostalgic feel on the site.

by ???? columbladee ???.?�; ; Report

SpaceBassist

SpaceBassist's profile picture

It, (like me) probably won’t exist for long. Eventually it will go the way of MySpace and Myyearbook. I signed up for the nostalgia kick and realized that I’m really not that social of a person anyways. Anything that is good on the Internet goes to hell once it becomes monetized. Once the AI takes over and starts pushing an agenda and/or politics then I’m out. I already quit Instagram, Facebook and YouTube over that years ago. However it will be nice to enjoy it while it lasts in a pure unadulterated form! It’s a nice distraction to have in this simulated reality we call life!


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I believe educating oneself in this new realm will go a long way. It’s like horse riders losing to cars. Eventually they had to learn to drive or get left off the highway.

by Marie Rousseau ; ; Report

Telo

Telo's profile picture

My main fear going forward is the dumbing-down of spacehey. Monetization is inevitable because this stuff isn't free, so long as it's not cancerous I wouldn't mind having ads.


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If they allow some sort of of control options, I wouldn’t be adverse to it either. I actually enjoy seeing ads of my interests because I like to shop.?

by Marie Rousseau ; ; Report

SafeInSanity

SafeInSanity's profile picture

I think it's pretty cool the way it is but I would like to for them to allow us to embed photos, videos, and music players in to Blog comments, Forum replies, Bulletin comments, and profile comments. ?


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Yes I think there will eventually be a way to keep the format and include features to make it a fully customizable page. A one stop, creative shop!

by Marie Rousseau ; ; Report

SoulKingBrook

SoulKingBrook's profile picture

The bigger a site gets the more space and speed and  is needed, which means needing more money
I would prefer ads over a subscription based model to be honest. I'm used to seeing ads plastered on websites, so I can cope. For those who can't, adblockers are a thing.

Social Media is monetizing everywhere
So long as the basics are free, they can charge whatever they like. If it seems useful or interesting, I'll buy it. Given that a lot of users seem to be minors (from what I've seen), I wonder if that will impact the revenue stream.

Social Media Censorship Is Crushing Voices, even those that should be heard
I am a firm believer in the fact that there are certain voices that should never be heard. Racism. Sexism. Homophobia etc. If voices like that start getting more numerous on here under the guise of freedom of speech, or expanding the user base, I'm out. Likewise, if the owners start to go power crazy and remove things that don't conform to their view, I'm out.

Keeping Up with trends and features we love
I have most of the stuff I need outside of social Media, so I don't mind if things like that get added.

Things are going to change
To be expected. Hopefully the changes are beneficial


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Thanks for responding! As far as the subscriptions go, I was referring to Patreon,/Fanbase models where users can create a subscription plan for their exclusive content, otherwise the monetary support comes from sharing ad revenue (YouTube/Display models), gift giving (Clubhouse/TikTok models) or donations.

I agree that wholly detrimental speech should be monitored, those that entice violence, but I will say there is a fine line as many people confuse a dislike for something as prejudice. If anything the art of tactfulness is almost lost as everyone has their prejudices no matter who they are or what they believe, but it doesn’t mean it needs to be spoken aloud.

by Marie Rousseau ; ; Report

It is interesting to be able to become a member of an "oldie" social media platform. Coming from someone who was a musician on the original MySpace platform all one could hope for with expected evolution of this site, is to be able to retain access to whatever they put into it regardless of what may or may not change. For example old myspace users lost access to their blogs, diaries,uploaded original songs which seemed to be indefinitely deleted, the remnants being songs that would no longer play, and sections of the pages that no longer existed. Pictures that show up as empty squares and the fact that most of the musicians originally on the site abandoned usage during the new myspace's
I think the death of myspace's original layout along with the changing of ownership has ruined myspace. I do not believe it is the advent of ads but the removal of users data rendering it no longer accessible made more users migrate from myspace.

by KidAcid; ; Report