What social network will be like in 5 years?
Who remembers or used MIRC? i did, i was like 13/14 y/o in 2003 and was a blast. With this ridiculous interface i connect with all this people through channels, should i say was the Old School Discord. But honestly, besides the shit UI was WAY better.
But anyways. My question is, As well the tech is evolving and providing better features, tools and hardware that enables us to connect. Our behavior is changing as well..
So my question is, what is the future? Chats? Video rooms? Mix?
I wonder....
8 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 33.4 ms ] threadSo my vision and passion is on, how can we enable to be our selves? And truly connect with one another. Know those people that we meet and time flies?
That's the kind of connection i'm talking about.
Maybe it is "anti-social media" but YOShInOn increasingly mediates my participating online and the way technology is going when I am gone y'all might not even notice because YOShInOn will contain a damn good statistical model of me, not to mention you (collectively.)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37720804
Ask HN: Is there a way to get back to the web we lost?
What intrigues me is this article: "The synthetic social network is coming"
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/29/23895675/ai-bot-social-ne...
So, in short, what used to be "a network of your friends" became an echo chamber trapping you with highly curated news that agrees with your views, and probably will soon be populated with chatbots. Focused advertising gives way to building AI training databases to sell.
https://tonysull.co/articles/web-3-is-here/
The web is moving from an ad platform to an AI training platform.
Not liking any of these, I rely on two affinity sites, one of which is HN, and the familiar email and messaging to stay in touch with my real networks, as in 150 or less, Dunbar's number.
I hope that more affinity sites pop up, serving the social connection needs of people. That affinity can be just family. The process just needs to be simple, not much more than email and messaging.
As for getting messages out to large numbers of people (say, a scientific discovery or alert), I really do get ALL of that from my two aggregators.
Scientists and government agencies may feel that they lose by abandoning twixter et. al., the hoped-for increase in small networks which aggregate information will make up for this. They're actually not terribly social. But we need both, in some blend.
So let's think about news and social.
Reading PaulHoule's post, a filter per individual, if made real easy to set up and use, might be a great answer. Social networks for real social communication, and news filtering for news. I suspect that the reason for the merger of the two is simply convenience/ease of use, as are many things.
A lot of technology would serve people better if it weren't so complicated. That's a choice that technologists make.
People use crappy services because they are simple. Why not GOOD THINGS that are simple?
Will people here build something better?
Great news — social media is falling apart
The future of social media is looking more like a network of platforms that offer people a customized experience.
https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-splintering-new...
short:
For more than a decade, social media has brought people together on a handful of platforms, most notably Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But in an effort to feed the rapacious desire for growth, these platforms have transformed from places for people to connect to entertainment channels. As the big players have deteriorated into a chaotic mash of shouting and sponsored content, alienated users are decamping for a hodgepodge of platforms.
Like many young people, I've taken refuge in close-knit private circles such as group chats. In these smaller spaces, populated with friends and family, I don't feel the crippling pressure to overshare and harvest my every thought for possible work opportunities. These havens are free from the round-the-clock avalanche of meticulously curated content, ads, and brand campaigns. Instead of the stilted experience of hanging out in a shopping mall, group chats feel more like an intimate dinner at a friend's house.
People are also turning toward a new crop of social-media platforms that have emerged in the past few years to capitalize on the void left by the deterioration of large platforms. Some of the new entrants are trying to recreate the original, clutter-free social experiences big platforms used to offer, while others are experimenting with radical ideas to reboot the concept from scratch.
So far, none of the new sites can compete with the sheer size of the old, centralized networks, but they do offer some hope. As people grow tired of toxic and addictive platforms that undermine real social connection, this new wave of social-focused upstarts could end up producing a healthier online environment.