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Ask HN: What are the problems with social networks today?

7 points by Treelight ↗ HN

13 comments

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lovefeature
1.Your customers must register to view your homepage. 2.Can't add your other social links on your homepage. so,i made a new social media named AloveZ,this is my homepage(@bing): https://www.alovez.com/bing
ggm
They're routinely gamed for political or financial advantage, including by state actors.
crate_barre
It’s warping people’s nature towards the vain and superficial side.
smt88
Interacting with strangers.

Facebook was amazing until it forced you to see news and strangers' comments on that news.

Social media is best when it replicates real life (I only see people I have whitelisted).

Utkarsh_Mood
interested to hear your thoughts on social networks designed connect with strangers? Eg Polywork and Linkedin. Do you think theres a reason for people to use those compared to Instagram and probably Snap?
smt88
I don't know what Polywork is, but LinkedIn was a resume hosting service with social discovery for a long time.

To the extent that it has added features to actual socialize with people, it is awful. It has all the same problems as Facebook.

whycombinatore
Your second paragraph is spot on. When ever I login I see random sheet contents and equally sheet comments. Give me a resume hosting + job post/search site any day.
mikewarot
The biggest problem is that the voting systems are one dimensional. Something could be any combination of things in multiple dimensions, but they all limit things to one dimension... up or down... which is nuts.

You should be able to tag a post in multiple dimensions... i.e. Humor, Validity/Truth, Politicialness, Interestingness, AdultsOnly, etc.

muzani
That sounds too complex. I think what's evolved is that different sites have the voting systems mean different things.
mikewarot
Reality is complex, and a simple up/down voting system doesn't ever capture it even reasonably well.
muzani
What do you propose? A multiple point rating system? That's also what some sites try to capture with emojis.
mikewarot
A system where anyone can make a new flag, which is a new dimension of voting, at least initially.... then a user could weight the flags for their which of their roles they're acting out at the moment

For me, recreational reading would add more weight to funny, offbeat, etc.

If I was at work, more weight to Free Pascal, Security, Networking, Security Disclosures, and negative weight to politics

beardyw
To me, the biggest problem is that people can gain financially from posting content and the returns are measured by how much it is shared.

Not offering a solution.