TECH FIX

The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social

Facebook, TikTok and Twitter seem to be increasingly connecting users with brands and influencers. To restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks.

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Derek Abella

Brian X. Chen

By Brian X. Chen

Brian X. Chen is the lead consumer technology writer and author of Tech Fix, a column about the social implications of the tech we use.

April 19, 2023

Nearly two decades ago, Facebook exploded on college campuses as a site for students to stay in touch. Then came Twitter, where people posted about what they had for breakfast, and Instagram, where friends shared photos to keep up with one another.

Today, Instagram and Facebook feeds are full of ads and sponsored posts. TikTok and Snapchat are stuffed with videos from influencers promoting dish soaps and dating apps. And soon, Twitter posts that gain the most visibility will come mostly from subscribers who pay for the exposure and other perks.

Social media is, in many ways, becoming less social. The kinds of posts where people update friends and family about their lives have become harder to see over the years as the biggest sites have become increasingly “corporatized.” Instead of seeing messages and photos from friends and relatives about their holidays or fancy dinners, users of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat now often view professionalized content from brands, influencers and others that pay for placement.

The change has implications for large social networking companies and how people interact with one another digitally. But it also raises questions about a core idea: the online platform. For years, the notion of a platform — an all-in-one, public-facing site where people spent most of their time — reigned supreme. But as big social networks made connecting people with brands a priority over connecting them with other people, some users have started seeking community-oriented sites and apps devoted to specific hobbies and issues.

“Platforms as we knew them are over,” said Zizi Papacharissi, a communications professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, who teaches courses on social media. “They have outlived their utility.”

The shift helps explain why some social networking companies, which continue to have billions of users and pull in billions of dollars in revenue, are now exploring new avenues of business. Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk, has been pushing people and brands to pay $8 to $1,000 a month to become subscribers. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is moving into the immersive online world of the so-called metaverse.

For users, this means that instead of spending all their time on one or a few big social networks, some are gravitating toward smaller, more focused sites. These include Mastodon, which is essentially a Twitter clone sliced into communities; Nextdoor, a social network for neighbors to commiserate about quotidian issues like local potholes; and apps like Truth Social, which was started by former President Donald J. Trump and is viewed as a social network for conservatives.

“It’s not about choosing one network to rule them all — that is crazy Silicon Valley logic,” said Ethan Zuckerman, a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “The future is that you’re a member of dozens of different communities, because as human beings, that’s how we are.”

Twitter, which automatically responds to press inquiries with a poop emoji, did not have a comment about the evolution of social networking. Meta declined to comment, and TikTok did not respond to a request for comment. Snap, the maker of Snapchat, said that although its app had evolved, connecting people with their friends and family remained its primary function.

A shift to smaller, more focused networks was predicted years ago by some of social media’s biggest names, including Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, and Jack Dorsey, a founder of Twitter.

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A split image shows Mark Zuckerberg, wearing a blue suit and tie and sporting a short cropped hairstyle, and Jack Dorsey, wearing a black shirt and gesticulating with his right hand as he holds a microphone in his left hand.

Credit...

Left, Jason Henry for The New York Times; right, Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

In 2019, Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post that private messaging and small groups were the fastest-growing areas of online communication. Mr. Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter’s chief executive in 2021, has pushed for so-called decentralized social networks that give people control over the content they see and the communities they engage with. He has recently been posting on Nostr, a social media site based on this principle.

Over the last year, technologists and academics have also focused on smaller social networks. In a paper published last month and titled “The Three-Legged Stool: A Manifesto for a Smaller, Denser Internet,” Mr. Zuckerman and other academics outlined how future companies could run small networks at low costs.

They also suggested the creation of an app that essentially acts as a Swiss Army knife of social networks by allowing people to switch among the sites they use, including Twitter, Mastodon, Reddit and smaller networks. One such app, called Gobo and developed by MIT Media Lab and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is set for release next month.

The tricky part for users is finding the newer, small networks because they are obscure. But broader social networks, like Mastodon or Reddit, often act as a gateway to smaller communities. When signing up for Mastodon, for example, people can choose a server from an extensive list, including those related to gaming, food and activism.

Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s chief executive, said users were publishing over a billion posts a month across its communities and that there were no algorithms or ads altering people’s feeds.

One major benefit of small networks is that they create forums for specific communities, including people who are marginalized. Ahwaa, which was founded in 2011, is a social network for members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in countries around the Persian Gulf where being gay is deemed illegal. Other small networks, like Letterboxd, an app for film enthusiasts to share their opinions on movies, are focused on special interests.

Smaller communities can also relieve some social pressure of using social media, especially for younger people. Over the last decade, stories have emerged — including in congressional hearings about the dangers of social media — about teenagers developing eating disorders after trying to live up to “Instagram perfect” photos and through watching videos on TikTok.

The idea that a new social media site might come along to be the one app for everyone appears unrealistic, experts say. When young people are done experimenting with a new network — such as BeReal, the photo-sharing app that was popular among teenagers last year but is now hemorrhaging millions of active users — they move on to the next one.

“They’re not going to be swayed by the first shiny platform that comes along,” Ms. Papacharissi said.

People’s online identities will become increasingly fragmented among multiple sites, she added. For talking about professional accomplishments, there’s LinkedIn. For playing video games with fellow gamers, there’s Discord. For discussing news stories, there’s Artifact.

“What we’re interested in is smaller groups of people who are communicating with each other about specific things,” Ms. Papacharissi said.

More small networks are likely on the horizon. Last year, Harvard University, where Mr. Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004 as a student, began a research program devoted to rebooting social media. The program helps students and others create and experiment with new networks together.

One app that emerged from the program, Minus, lets users publish only 100 posts on their timeline for life. The idea is to make people feel connected in an environment where their time together is treated as a precious and finite resource, unlike traditional social networks such as Facebook and Twitter that use infinite scrolling interfaces to keep users engaged for as long as possible.

“It’s a performance art experiment,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard who started the research initiative. “It’s the kind of thing that as soon as you see it, it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Social Media 2.0

A Social Media Status Update

Oct. 26, 2022

What Is Mastodon and Why Are People Leaving Twitter for It?

Nov. 7, 2022

Truth Social Review: Trump’s Uncensored Social App Is Incomplete

April 27, 2022

Brian X. Chen is the lead consumer technology writer for The Times. He reviews products and writes Tech Fix, a column about the social implications of the tech we use. Before joining The Times in 2011, he reported on Apple and the wireless industry for Wired. More about Brian X. Chen

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Castanet commented April 20, 2023

Castanet

Castanet

MD-DC-VAApril 20, 2023

Social media is becoming a place where hate goes to thrive, to take a similar phrase reported from afar, in Florida. Social media is the bane of a healthy mind, and to remain a healthy mind ... getting the heck out of social media is a healthy response.

87 Recommend

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Reginald V. Wedge commented April 20, 2023

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Reginald V. Wedge

WAApril 20, 2023

The sooner we get rid of ALL Social Media the better.

59 Recommend

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Bill commented April 20, 2023

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Bill

from HonorApril 20, 2023

Social Media should be labeled Anti-social Media for it's negative effects on society.

48 Recommend

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b fagan commented April 20, 2023

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b fagan

chicagoApril 20, 2023

"Social media" that users do not pay for is an advertising platform that offers up the users as product to the advertisers. Period. The features that users engage with that they find useful socially are simply a way to attract more product for the service provider to sell.

48 Recommend

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Mel commented April 20, 2023

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Mel

AppalachiaApril 20, 2023

I don't use social media so phrases like the following are hard for me to understand... 'Smaller communities can also relieve some social pressure of using social media, especially for younger people. Over the last decade, stories have emerged — including in congressional hearings about the dangers of social media — about teenagers developing eating disorders after trying to live up to “Instagram perfect” photos and through watching videos on TikTok.' The 'relieve some social pressure' comment is interesting. How freeing it is to have been young once and never cared about social pressures! I learned very young that nothing that other people thought about me or what the latest trend was or the societal norms at the time actually were nothing. Seriously, nothing. Did I get struck by lightening when I decided I would not give in to other's desires? Did I get a terrible disease when I refused to go to prom? No. I was perfectly OK and probably a lot better off than most of my neurotic, teenaged peers. Had social media been around when I was young I would have eschewed it then too. Who needs anything where YOU are the product? SMDH... people are really crazy to participate in this nonsense.

18 Recommend

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jackie commented April 20, 2023

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jackie

Canton, NYApril 20, 2023

TikTok is evil. I don't understand why anybody would want to give China access to their life.

14 Recommend

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2 REPLIES

Castanet commented April 20, 2023

Castanet

Castanet

MD-DC-VAApril 20, 2023

@jackie -- Greetings! -- I recently learned just how many small businesses rely on TikTok. I don't use social media, so this is second-hand information.

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Mel commented April 20, 2023

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Mel

AppalachiaApril 20, 2023

@jackie And yet is it OK to give up all privacy to Facebook or Twitter or Instagram? All the same. China is no more or less evil than the USA.

32 Recommend

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JeffP commented April 20, 2023

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JeffP

CanadaApril 20, 2023

Google and other search engines used to be pretty good at finding actually useful information. Now it’s way down the list, if it’s there at all, buried by ads. Maybe they’ll come out with a pay-for version that works, having created the mess in the first place.

19 Recommend

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Richard Reisman commented April 20, 2023

Richard Reisman

Richard Reisman

NYCApril 20, 2023

Buried lede! Big and less social now, small and more social re-emerging, but hybrid soon! Zuckerman’s Manifesto and Gobo project point to aggregated access to both large and small social media services. People are participants in many communities, as the article suggests. Our online social networks will be increasingly intertwingled, just as our real-life communities and institutions are. These intertwingled communities will not be free-standing platforms, but will ride on top of interconnecting networks with richly distributed infrastructures of connectivity and support services (much like web sites do). I summarize Zuckerman’s Manifesto and explore how it might be extended in that way at https://ucm.teleshuttle.com/2023/04/context-lost-context-regained-comments.html. A deeper exploration of where our media will go and why is in a series in Tech Policy Press: https://techpolicy.press/delegation-or-the-twenty-nine-words-that-the-internet-forgot/.

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Chevy commented April 20, 2023

Chevy

Chevy

South Hadley, MAApril 20, 2023

I don't use any so-called "social media" - they're positively antisocial. I am happy - and free!

30 Recommend

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thelma lubkin commented April 20, 2023

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thelma lubkin

shorewood wisconsinApril 20, 2023

I continue to use FaceBook, GMail, GoogleSearch and a few news sites with essentially no advertising visible. I use two (free version, although I do sporadically contribute) ad blockers and Social Fixer on FaceBook. My crostics site prompts me to register for ad free access, but my access is already blissfully ad free. I don't understand why this option isn't talked about more in articles of this nature.

5 Recommend

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Misty Trisfal commented April 20, 2023

M

Misty Trisfal

OregonApril 20, 2023

If there were as many ads on network television programs would have five minutes of content..

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Mark commented April 20, 2023

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Mark

OC CAApril 20, 2023

Social media has never been social. It's a "Hey! Look at ME" thing since day one. Why anyone does it is beyond me. But whatever. If you partake, don't whine about controls. YOU have the ultimate control - you can decline to particpate. If you don't take that option, I'm not interested in your whiny complaints.

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Anon. commented April 20, 2023

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Anon.

AmsterdamApril 20, 2023

Paying attention to these 'social media' is an utter waste of time. Critical review of content would probably prevent the public airing of much nonsense.

5 Recommend

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John commented April 20, 2023

John

John

NYCApril 20, 2023

I have only so much time in my day, in my life, and as such I find all social media to be an irrelevancy. I won't be critical of the way others choose to spend theirs but I'd rather spend the time in the real. Hands down it beats anything the virtual can provide, though I do like to leave comments on sites like the NYTimes, so I'm not a complete Luddite about it. Heh! John~

5 Recommend

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Lucille Hollander commented April 20, 2023

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Lucille Hollander

TexasApril 20, 2023

Here's a wild idea: Get to know and socialize with friends and neighbors in person. Put lawn chairs out and talk with local people while watching the kids play outdoors.

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Dan commented April 20, 2023

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Dan

MinneapolisApril 20, 2023

The only app I want to be social on comes before a salad and the main course.

7 Recommend

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Elizabeth Minchilli commented April 20, 2023

Elizabeth Minchilli

Elizabeth Minchilli

RomeApril 20, 2023

Interesting that this article completely ignored Substack, which is successful precisely because it creates am extremely focussed personal community.

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Dan commented April 20, 2023

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Dan

CaliforniaApril 20, 2023

I'm surprised the author didn't mention Metafilter. It's been around a long time and has very high-quality content that appeals to brainy people. Some of the secrets to its quality control are a small one-time entrance fee, a time delay for a first posting, and a limit on how many postings users can make. It also has very cleary defined community standards and strict moderation to make sure people are adhering to those standards. That formula seems to work well for quality control. Personally my favorite part of Metafilter is AskMetafilter, but it has other sections as well.

5 Recommend

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John commented April 20, 2023

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John

Upstate NYApril 20, 2023

"The kinds of posts where people update friends and family about their lives." Guess what? That perfectly describes old-school email, where I send messages directly to people of my choice when I feel like saying something, and I get messages from them in return. This all worked perfectly well, long before "social media." It even worked when messages were sent by longhand letters. When I want strangers to see what I'm thinking, I post comments to articles on the NY Times.

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Patricia Caiozzo commented April 20, 2023

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Patricia Caiozzo

Port WashingtonApril 20, 2023

Every Monday, I meet six other women to practice Tai Chi, led by one of the women. After the Tai Chi session, we sit and talk and laugh for at least an hour. We share, commiserate, and give each other emotional support. Maybe because we are in our 70s, this kind of interaction comes naturally to us. There is absolutely no substitute for actual human interaction. Staring at a screen and clicking away is a solitary activity. When we are together, there are no influencers, advertisements, likes, dislikes. Just genuine human interaction. In this age of tech, I hope that doesn’t become a relic of the past.

35 Recommend

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BAM commented April 20, 2023

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BAM

NYCApril 20, 2023

Example 10,000,000 - Money ruins everything. These are corporations, not clubhouses. They will never lean towards preserving an ethos over maximizing profits. I think people have been duped into taking on a new seduction, especially the youth.

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DejaVu commented April 20, 2023

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DejaVu

Boynton Beach, FloridaApril 20, 2023

I have NEVER gone on Facebook or any other social platform and believe that these platforms are now becoming what was inevitable: a sewer of “free” (not really) advertising by everyone and anyone, and privacy invasions. I pay a price: sometimes missing pictures of my grandchildren on instagram which I depend on my wife to show me as the rest of my family posts far too often, excluding me in most cases for my insistence on never joining up to view them.

11 Recommend

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Zinkler commented April 20, 2023

Z

Zinkler

Chapel Hill NCApril 20, 2023

We are just facing the end of the free-for-all that the open access the virtual world demands in exchange for participation. We all know now, that when the app is free, we are the product. The lack of real community visited upon us by our industrial economic system that views us as interchangeable parts and only values us by our consumption of information in order to push more on us has exhausted many of us. Some people will continue to participate, others will try and separate as much as possible from the din of virtual nonesense, as they seek community in less imaginary ways. People are social animals and the connections we get from social media are not a good substitute for real life interactions.

15 Recommend

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dbemont commented April 20, 2023

D

dbemont

Albion, NYApril 20, 2023

Well, we will see. For all the people posting that they have outgrown the likes of Facebook, there is always a steady supply of people coming up with the same human drives that lead us into trouble. And new technologies and business twists to cash in on those drives. Meanwhile, our system continues to squish large segments of our population, such that any public dialogue is going to be bristling with rage and resentment, despite the fact that most of us discount half of it by categorizing the rage as left wing and right wing, and telling ourselves that only our preferred half is legitimate. So let's say that social media really does fragment. I struggle to see how this will solve any of our main dilemmas, other than perhaps the undue control enjoyed by a handful of CEOs. And as to that... If new small enterprises are not snapped up by a handful of mega-corporations within a few years, it will be an ahistorical shocker.

5 Recommend

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Anne-Marie Hislop commented April 20, 2023

Anne-Marie Hislop

Anne-Marie Hislop

ChicagoApril 20, 2023

None of it provides what I find on facebook, i.e., a touch stone with people from my life (high school classmates, former colleagues, cousins and others) with whom I'd have no contact without that interface. With some, I just learn of their current events, joys and concerns. With others I discuss current events or issues. I do find community there and have long had the ability to simply scroll past ads or other detritus without even really seeing it. Yet, my contacts are not a closely held group which would migrate to another site as a unit. Likely in such a shift I'd simply loose contact with many of them...

7 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Steve commented April 20, 2023

S

Steve

western MassApril 20, 2023

@Anne-Marie Hislop I agree. I'm distrustful of FaceBook but use it for the exact same reason. I've never used Twitter, signed up for Instagram but haven't used it in a couple of years, and am only vaguely aware of TikTok and SnapChat by name only. Having one app to let me stay connected with friends, colleagues, and family across the distributed network of the Real World is enough of a benefit that I am willing to scroll past all the ads. Everything else is just background noise to be ignored.

5 Recommend

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Sparrow Roberts commented April 19, 2023

S

Sparrow Roberts

Salvador, Bahia, BrazilApril 19, 2023

I ran a record shop in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, devoted to Brazilian music. I created an online network, an extension of my site explaining this marvelous culture to the uninitiated. In the network, Bahian musicians would recommend other Bahian musicians. Then it expanded to Rio, and all Brazil. One Bahian wanted to recommend musicians in New Orleans, and I have a great writer friend there, so the network expanded. This meant that, eventually, people from around the world could recommend the Brazilians, opening up the world to them in a way which wasn't possible before. A grapevine telegraph: matrixonline.net. "Matrix" here is used in its original sense of "source".

3 Recommend

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Jonathan commented April 19, 2023

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Jonathan

ConnecticutApril 19, 2023

Reddit groups are still pretty people-oriented, and there are thousands of them. There are also many private groups on the internet which the public cannot access. I am a member of Phonogram and the Connecticut Audio Society board. The web site I run is super-specialized, but it is open to all. If you do the Times of London cryptic crossword puzzles, you're welcome to hang out on timesforthetimes.co.uk - we have nearly 1000 active users.

5 Recommend

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Greta Lynn commented April 19, 2023

G

Greta Lynn

USAApril 19, 2023

I joined a discord server with other collectors who collect cute things/blind boxes. We trade through the mail and send cute notes and stationary. I joined other smaller socials too that cater to my special interests. It's been so nice to scale down my social media, no more Zuc or Elon. I still keep up with friends via what's left of instagram/group messages/real life but many are starting to get out of touch and left behind on sites like FB. I just wish we were all online in one place again with no targeted ads or paywalls.

2 Recommend

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my2sons commented April 19, 2023

M

my2sons

COLUMBIAApril 19, 2023

Facebook is world-wide. The "little" that hits it negatively in the U.S. will do little to Facebook overall.

2 Recommend

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Lily commented April 19, 2023

L

Lily

NYApril 19, 2023

I feel like I have lived through an era. When I was in college and decided to join TheFacebook, as it was called in its earliest years, there were fewer than 10,000 users. I became a devoted and frequent poster, relating the banal (and sometimes even more private and embarrassing) details of life for all to see. As Facebook evolved into a platform of picture-and-video-sharing, I spent hours a day online. I felt awful about myself, sincerely believing that others led perfect lives. Fast forward to October of this year, I had both a nervous breakdown and an epiphany, and stopped using Facebook (and all social media) cold turkey. Social media is a very dangerous - and real - addiction, and we, as a society, have placed more value in artificial ‘likes’ than actually loving and living life.

32 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Denny commented April 20, 2023

D

Denny

New JerseyApril 20, 2023

@Lily I couldn't agree with you more! And in fact, Facebook doesn't allow one to leave the past behind, where it belongs.

8 Recommend

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Bruce commented April 19, 2023

B

Bruce

Fresno CaliforniaApril 19, 2023

Facebook can still be used as a tool to keep in touch with friends and family if you learn to resist the temptation to click on the cool flashy stuff and scroll past the ads and memes. Kinda like how we learned to scroll through commercials on TV not too long ago.

15 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Chris commented April 20, 2023

C

Chris

MarylandApril 20, 2023

Would be willing to pay for commercial free. At this point there are so many ads and influencers, it increasingly becoming not with it and thinking of leaving altogether. ￼

3 Recommend

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The Poet McTeagle commented April 19, 2023

The Poet McTeagle

The Poet McTeagle

CaliforniaApril 19, 2023

I've formed a network of sorts via one of the quiet backwaters of the internet--blogs. We've formed a loose association of people with an interest in xeric plants and we meet via zoom and in person at plant conventions, botanical tours, botanic gardens all over the US, and the like. A nice-sized group of people with a strong shared interest without ads or toxicity.

6 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Ellen Musk commented April 19, 2023

E

Ellen Musk

LombardoApril 19, 2023

@The Poet McTeagle I have definitely found forums for most of my niche interests. Haven't been on social media in any serious way for a long time

3 Recommend

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liprof commented April 19, 2023

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liprof

NYApril 19, 2023

There are a few downsides of moving from a large general purpose social network such as Twitter to a more specialized one that is built on Mastodon. First, there is less scope for discovery. You are much more likely to end up in an echo chamber. Truth Social is an example of this. But I'm sure there are others on the opposite side of the political spectrum as well. Second, the odds of "taking down" a well-known personality is lower in small networks. For example, if J.K. Rowling was a user merely on a small network, fewer would have the opportunity to call her a TERF and make names for themselves. Third, the proliferation of small networks would mean that newspapers would have a tough time keeping track of the happenings on all of them. So, if a voice cried out for help on a relatively-unknown network, the probability of it being amplified by a major news organization would be small. My choice: Avoid all social networks like the plague.

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1 REPLY

Ellen Musk commented April 20, 2023

E

Ellen Musk

LombardoApril 20, 2023

@liprof sure, but social media has a lifecycle like everything else and we are probably at the end

3 Recommend

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Hexagon commented April 19, 2023

H

Hexagon

NYApril 19, 2023

Facebook is out of control with ads and influencers. I can't even see any of my friends' posts anymore. And they don't see the very few I make. Thus, I have stopped even looking. It has become dull and annoying. The same goes for Instagram. I hate it. As this trend continues, Facebook et al will lose more and more users and influence themselves right into MySpace style purgatory.

55 Recommend

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Andy commented April 19, 2023

A

Andy

VaApril 19, 2023

I have long referred to these apps as "anti-social media"

8 Recommend

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Hoping For Sanity commented April 19, 2023

H

Hoping For Sanity

In An Overpopulated WorldApril 19, 2023

I’m glad the article mentions FB as the seed of un-social media. Zuckerberg essentially stole the FB programming from the Winklevoss twins and created a campus social media group for college men to rate the attractiveness of college women. THAT is the seed planted and mindspring of Zuckerberg. And that is the model that the industry has followed — to mine data from private lives, manipulate and control end users, and monetize those data for personal profit. The FB programming could be been used to create positive communities. Instead it was used to prey upon and demean women — and in its current form it pushes authoritarian, misogynistic propaganda, preys upon its users, steals people’s private information, and manipulates their political and social views to n the most insidious and evil ways. Please permanently delete your FB, IG, Twitter, TikTok accounts. You don’t need them and you won’t miss them.

23 Recommend

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B Church commented April 19, 2023

B

B Church

NYCApril 19, 2023

I'd just as soon love to see the incoming generations realize that none of their online life is real. You can't eat karma, retweets, or shares. It's just vapor. Maybe, once upon a time in the days of AOL, CompuServe, Friendster, and MySpace the idea of "a Global Village" was a positive thing. The idea now that you can put a supercomputer the size of a chocolate bar in your pocket that connects you to virtually all of humankind's knowledge, art, philosophy, history, etc would be great except that our kids are swag-obsessed, drool-scrolling automatons. They're literally falling down stairs and walking into doors because they can't put the thing down for long enough to examine the world beyond the 1' radius around them. It's not "life". And every last little corner is being monetized - we're not really even sharing information anymore. It's artifice. It's sad. We've gone too far down the rabbit hole.

42 Recommend

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JLW commented April 19, 2023

J

JLW

CAApril 19, 2023

Seems like this is evolving like streaming has. First there was one big site (which was an alternative to cable with its hundreds of channels of which you only watched a few) and everyone subscribed to it. Now there are many specialized streamers. Maybe people will keep a big general social media site around but mainly hangout at smaller sites that are more particular to their interests and that, hopefully, aren't all about brands and selling you stuff. I never knew why someone would want to friend their oatmeal, anyway.

2 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Ellen Musk commented April 20, 2023

E

Ellen Musk

LombardoApril 20, 2023

@JLW and with that more money to spend and now people realizing they can do without it

Recommend

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Cate M commented April 19, 2023

C

Cate M

MidwestApril 19, 2023

What is often overlooked in using or talking about Apps and Social Media is the basic human need to be surprised. Mystery. Chance. Awe. Finding the unexpected. Smiling at a stranger, just because. Poetry. Synchronicity. Life. Too much artificial is soul killing and I think on a deep level, people understand this.

7 Recommend

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Le Michel commented April 19, 2023

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Le Michel

QuébecApril 19, 2023

Just call it what it is: anti-social networks.

17 Recommend

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Vin commented April 19, 2023

V

Vin

NYCApril 19, 2023

Why not just email the ones you love?

11 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Bob commented April 19, 2023

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Bob

MassachusettsApril 19, 2023

@Vin That's what I always tell people too. Email, private message, phone, start your own blog, have a comments section, write a letter, see people in person. But if they did any of that OTHER people wouldn't see their interactions, and that's what people love. The dopamine hit of a lot of people seeing their interactions, their replies, getting those Likes and retweets. A lot of it is a performance. People always say that if they weren't on social media they wouldn't have gotten back in touch with their old friend or their second cousin. Well, maybe there was a reason you hadn't been in contact with them for 20 years?

37 Recommend

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akamai commented April 19, 2023

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akamai

New YorkApril 19, 2023

First, big networks were going to unite us; now they divide us. The tech "geniuses" have an answer for everything.

7 Recommend

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A commented April 19, 2023

A

A

NApril 19, 2023

Or how about just living the actual, real social world? What a concept.

11 Recommend

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Matt J commented April 19, 2023

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Matt J

NYApril 19, 2023

I’m happy to have a social network consisting mostly of my wife and my dog. Not impressed by online braggers, and no need for all the drama.

76 Recommend

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Kimarley commented April 19, 2023

K

Kimarley

New York CityApril 19, 2023

Social Media use to be private and catered to your (SELECTED) interests. Now they all force feed you content and people you have no interest to see or read. It's invasive and calculated for manipulation and distractions.

30 Recommend

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Ezra commented April 19, 2023

E

Ezra

Austin, TxApril 19, 2023

I used to enjoy Facebook. Now I would be perfectly happy if it all burned down. We need to outlaw online advertising to those who do not consent to said advertising.

28 Recommend

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Me commented April 19, 2023

M

Me

HereApril 19, 2023

Sense of community? What a joke. How about sense of toxicity and lack of respect for anyone who doesn’t share someone’s narrow views.

61 Recommend

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J commented April 19, 2023

J

J

USAApril 19, 2023

I walked away from the electronic social networks over the past few years and am making the effort to spend a lot more time on actual community, family, and friend activities. On any one of these electronic networks you are the product being offered up for sale. I'm tired of that.

43 Recommend

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wlieu commented April 19, 2023

W

wlieu

dallasApril 19, 2023

"Mr. Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post that private messaging and small groups were the fastest-growing areas of online communication" It's call...email.

13 Recommend

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intellectual capital commented April 19, 2023

I

intellectual capital

del mar, caApril 19, 2023

Why no mention of Substack, I wonder? Substack is the preferred platform (outlet?) for writers, partly because it monitizes their writing and at the top makes them richer than they could ever be working for a newspaper or publishing most books. And they can say what they want in an unedited style, as in the old newspapers where writers had personality.

1 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Bob commented April 19, 2023

B

Bob

MassachusettsApril 19, 2023

@intellectual capital Only some of the writers are getting "rich" on Substack (and there are plenty of places to have your own newsletter/site/blog and make money online and there have been for two decades, long before Substack).

3 Recommend

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MScott commented April 19, 2023

M

MScott

MAApril 19, 2023

I know there have been many groups and organizations that make good use of social media within their communities. But how much did the social media platforms in and of themselves build communities? I think the answer would be “less than we’re encouraged to think”. Facebook, in particular, always seemed ersatz; from the beginning, it was about using an illusion of community in order to gain and monetize data.

1 Recommend

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Wilson commented April 19, 2023

W

Wilson

NYCApril 19, 2023

This is interesting and why I mostly just use Reddit. I don’t follow people, I get involved in communities that center around specific topics

18 Recommend

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William Harris commented April 19, 2023

W

William Harris

West CoastApril 19, 2023

i never thought it was social to begin with.

2 Recommend

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Anonymous commented April 19, 2023

A

Anonymous

New JerseyApril 19, 2023

Oh, wow, no kidding? Did anyone think Facebook and other large platforms were the online equivalent of the mom-and-pop corner candy store? These behemoths always wanted your data and your attention so you could buy, buy, buy—enriching them in the process.

6 Recommend

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Barbara VBH commented April 19, 2023

B

Barbara VBH

Los AngelesApril 19, 2023

Reddit's "subreddits" are wonderful. If you can't find a community that resonates with you, you can start one. My morning chuckle comes from the "Stupid Dove Nests" sub.

9 Recommend

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PF commented April 19, 2023

P

PF

Northern CaliforniaApril 19, 2023

"Mr. Zuckerman and other academics outlined how future companies could run small networks at low costs." Zuckerman is an academic??

24 Recommend

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2 REPLIES

Dan commented April 20, 2023

D

Dan

CaliforniaApril 20, 2023

@PF The author is referring to the Professor Zuckerman mentioned in the article. You are conflating that person with Mark Zuckerberg.

2 Recommend

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Preson commented April 20, 2023

P

Preson

BrooklynApril 20, 2023

Drop-out, from what I've heard.

Recommend

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Bob commented April 19, 2023

B

Bob

MassachusettsApril 19, 2023

All social media is bad, even "good" social media. People don't just "visit" social media, they LIVE there, and I think it distorts everything. And it's distracting, irritating, and exhausting. Don't we look at our screens enough already as it is? I quit almost 10 years ago and never looked back. There are plenty of ways to be social online without actually joining social media. And there's even ways to (gasp!) be social in real life! We did it every single day until, oh, around the mid-2000s or so?

43 Recommend

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4 REPLIES

John Brown commented April 19, 2023

J

John Brown

Washington D.C.April 19, 2023

@Bob Whether you like it or not, our lives are moving online for good. Face to face communication is gone. That shift accelerated thanks to COVID but the train has absolutely left the station. Now you can be analog and unique if you'd like but dont expect society to follow suit.

2 Recommend

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Bob commented April 19, 2023

B

Bob

MassachusettsApril 19, 2023

@John Brown It's not that I'm completely analog – though I still wear a watch, use a landline phone, and don't post pictures of what I had for lunch). I've been working online 10 hours a day, every day, since 1996, for several publications and tech sites. My problem is that things have shifted to online first, in person second, as the default mode.

15 Recommend

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Cate M commented April 19, 2023

C

Cate M

MidwestApril 19, 2023

@John Brown Their loss.

3 Recommend

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Bill commented April 20, 2023

B

Bill

from HonorApril 20, 2023

@John Brown No, the only people you will communicate with are the rare few that still have common sense.

Recommend

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hen3ry commented April 19, 2023

H

hen3ry

Westchester, NYApril 19, 2023

Most social media is geared towards an audience. You post something. Someone likes it, hates it, whatever. I wouldn't count the people on sites I frequent on Facebook as my best friends. Distant acquaintances yes. I am amused by Facebook's suggestions for my friends, groups, whatever. Something must be wrong with their algorithms since they don't induce me to join new groups, make new friends, or buy anything. As for LinkedIn, it's an overhyped locker room where the only people who say anything are the same ones who say things on the job: the top. The rest of us wouldn't dare to be honest about our employers. But it is fun watching management pat itself on the back knowing full well that if we were to talk to their subordinates the story would be quite different. If I believed half of what I got on Facebook or the suggestions I get from LinkedIn, I'd be really depressed. They are nothing more than vehicles for advertisers.

9 Recommend

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MizRock commented April 19, 2023

M

MizRock

COApril 19, 2023

Killed my Facebook over a year ago. Have been using MeWe for the last several years. Love it. No ads, no trackers. Total control over my content/data.

3 Recommend

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Moe commented April 19, 2023

M

Moe

BCApril 19, 2023

A timely read. My Facebook account is polluted with "Suggestions" of pages to follow. There can be up to a dozen "Suggestions" and ads between posts from Friends and Pages I chose to follow. And there doesn't appear to be a way to reduce the frequency of these intrusions. Time to move on.

59 Recommend

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Philip Melanchthon commented April 19, 2023

P

Philip Melanchthon

WittenbergApril 19, 2023

I only glance at my Facebook/Instagram feed any more because it's so polluted with advertisements and suggestions of people and groups I "might want to follow." No thanks! If I feel the need to buy something, I'll go looking for suppliers. If I want to see posts from someone, I'll seek them out. As it is, there's so much algorithm-supplied stuff that I can't find posts from family and friends, people whom I actually know. And Twitter? No thanks; I've graduated to Mastodon.

81 Recommend

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2 REPLIES

Sergio commented April 19, 2023

S

Sergio

SomewhereApril 19, 2023

This; 100 percent this. What’s with the “people you may want to add” too? If I wanted to add someone who I knew they would already be!

5 Recommend

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John Brown commented April 19, 2023

J

John Brown

Washington D.C.April 19, 2023

@Philip Melanchthon Mastadon is empty. Closed my account the same day I opened and they won't stop sending emails asking me to come back.

2 Recommend

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mbl14 commented April 19, 2023

M

mbl14

NJApril 19, 2023

It's an easy fix Facebook and IG don't want to go back to, because it ruins their business model: make all posts appear in the order they were posted. I used to see both of those sites that way, but of course the feature is long gone. Facebook is especially bad, I often miss the posts of friends in favor of groups I'm in. 75% of my feed is group posts now, very annoying.

97 Recommend

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2 REPLIES

CV Danes commented April 19, 2023

CV Danes

CV Danes

Upstate NYApril 19, 2023

@mbl14: If you want to fix Facebook, put strict limits on the personal information it can collect, package, and sell.

1 Recommend

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Preson commented April 20, 2023

P

Preson

BrooklynApril 20, 2023

Sure that would work, but I don't want to pay for it. We have a hard enough time inspecting physical buildings for safety and people run around crying for bans and restrictions on every which thing with no thought for the real monetary costs or the opportunity costs on investing public attention on the problems we cause ourselves online. If we lack self-awareness and self-control. If we allow ourselves to be scammed, provoked, and insulted online, the best public investment I can think of is media-literacy education. We can use the lessons there to protect ourselves from scam artists IRL too.

3 Recommend

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Allan S commented April 19, 2023

A

Allan S

NYCApril 19, 2023

I experienced a version of the smaller network effect mentioned in this article when, mid-pandemic, I began heavily limiting my normal social media use (Instagram and Twitter, mostly), but continued using Strava, an app for runners and other athletes which tracks workouts by gps. Because I have very few friends on Strava, I could not fall into a deadening "infinite scroll" habit while using the app, and there was still a genuine social connection, even if it was pretty focused on running. It was refreshing to scale down, and opt out of the never-ending corporate content and viral content of the bigger social media apps, while still remaining connected.

10 Recommend

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1 REPLY

Jay commented April 19, 2023

J

Jay

NHApril 19, 2023

@Allan S I've made the same transition. I hardly ever post on the other larger social media sites, but my Strava feed is full of activities and family photos from those activities shared with a small group.

4 Recommend

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CV Danes commented April 19, 2023

CV Danes

CV Danes

Upstate NYApril 19, 2023

Counterpoint: How about trying none at all? Go outside and talk to real people, like your neighbors. Pick up the phone and actually call your friends/kids/parents. Invest in some real social networking.

213 Recommend

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1 REPLY

John Brown commented April 20, 2023

J

John Brown

Washington D.C.April 20, 2023

@CV Danes You can't put technology back in the Pandora's box. We aren't going back to rotary phones and face to face contact. The kids aren't going to stop posting solo dances to tiktok for clout and reúne having sleepovers. Time marches on no matter how hard you rebel by subversively reverting to the old ways.

7 Recommend