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I heard that some social media platforms like Instagram and Tiktok are considering a paid ad-free subscription. I saw a bunch of comments saying they'd just delete social media at that point if the ads are bad enough to justify a subscription and that made me wonder if we're maybe (Finally) seeing the end of a societal dependency on social networking. Honestly, it sounds so relieving to finally not have to worry about checking Instagram messages or feeling like I "have" to post my boyfriend because of a suddenly important "holiday." What do you guys think? Is social media a forever thing or do you think we'll see a return to more blog and personal website based things like Spacehey?
Is social media dying?
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KoSbeku
sorry for the massive wall of text, i tried shortening it but i tend to be more formal when responding to people on the internet
kind of tldr
It's hard to say if it would be a forever thing. I just think whats happening now isn't really the end of it? I think a lot of things (like spacehey!) actually work better if there's less people on it. but it doesnt provide the same thing as bigger social medias do because of that. i dont think many people are willing to change even if it gets pretty bad.
the rest is kind of nonsense lol sorry
The adopted format for pretty much every social media now is continuous scrolling and it really isnt entirely for convenience. All of the ads are included in the same format as the normal feed so it doesn't seem as much in the way as it is just not content you might be interested in, to which i feel like most people have grown accustomed. There's much less of a defined place to stop.
A lot of people use adblocks as well. I think the pursuit of the payed subscription option is to recover that portion of that revenue. (I don't personally think that is something they are entitled to. I'm just assuming that's what it is)
I think that making a switch wouldnt be easy. as bad as many platforms have gotten, i dont think anyone will leave. I think thats mostly just because not those places are where everyone already is. I think it would take a tremendous amount of money put into marketing to even get everyone on even a similar app to what we already have. (like the things with twitter and the 600 alternatives that sprung up recently /hyp)
It's a sad reality. Big tech can do the worse and most scummy things and most people will forget about it weeks later, still using the site.
Reddit is a good example of this. In the early 2020s people were pointing out censorship bias it had, yet only a few people left for the alternative sites people were making as a reaction to it. Most people didn't want to do more than keep complaining on the very website they were angry at.
Then more recently API changes. This seemed to upset more people than the censorship so what did people do this time? Not log in for two days. As if that's going to do anything to a website worth millions with a huge userbase. Oh but they have a better idea this time, let's close our subreddits!Well Reddit mods and admins threaten them to open the subreddits back up or get replaced. Some people got replaced while others caved in.
People will do literally anything but leave a site for an alternative. Maybe they're so used to big tech they require the endless content? All the bells and whistles big tech sites have? One reason a lot of alternatives fail is because people join, get bored, and go back to the site they ranted about leaving. No one seems to want to put in the effort of making content either, which the majority of internet users are lurkers. It's only a problem when people complain about no content, but seemingly care more about having content to look at than to leave something problematic. So instead of wanting to see the site grow they leave.
by Gray
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I think you're totally right that sites like this work really great with a small community. I don't know how much I'd love if something like Spacehey or (Spacehey itself!) gained mainstream popularity and I also think you're right that people are too deep into that feedback loop that it's nearly impossible to break it. While I'm not sure it'll ever happen, I like to hope, at least for the wellbeing of the people in the world, that there's a larger push to drop social media.
by Lupy; ; Report
I think you're totally right that sites like this work really great with a small community. I don't know how much I'd love if something like Spacehey or (Spacehey itself!) gained mainstream popularity and I also think you're right that people are too deep into that feedback loop that it's nearly impossible to break it. While I'm not sure it'll ever happen, I like to hope, at least for the wellbeing of the people in the world, that there's a larger push to drop social media.
by Lupy; ; Report
I dont really think social media itself is bad. I think its a really cool thing to be able to have for a lot of people. like its hard to say a lot of things that have adverse effects are particularly a problem themselves. Usually i just think blaming capitalism is easier lol
by KoSbeku; ; Report