Social media is on the decline. Instagram is all ads. No one’s posting on BeReal. TikTok is for influencers. The new place for sharing: group chats.
And yet, after joining Lemmy and Mastodon, I post a lot more.
Like for real!! I was a semi-lurker on reddit. Posted a couple times a year.
I just passed 500 posts on Lemmy.
I’ve found lemmy to be alot less hostile, don’t care about downvotes, but attacking people because of opinions doesn’t sound like a fun time to me
The absence of a running karma total is a surprisingly powerful difference. I do still look back at old posts, and it’s nice when there’s votes, but without the little number next to a name or when I mouse-over a profile, there’s no motivation to be the first in a thread to repost a cliche joke or to ragebait for fake internet points.
I think the “not having to be first” is what is so powerful.
I know that if I comment on a post from a few days ago on a populated community, I’ll likely at least get a reply from OP, if not a bunch of other people finding my comment and replying as well.
It’s like Lemmy is the nice, small-town version of Reddit (which is probably more similar to Gary Indiana).
That’s a bit cruel to Gary, Indiana, don’t you think?
McBane thats the joke.gif
I hated most of those cliche jokes. Here I am looking for real conversation only to be met with thousands of not witty low effort jokes.
There are some starting here too, I swear to god if I see one more, “Good bot” reply to a fucking bot account I may stroke out. I don’t know why, but that one really grinds my gears.
I think that on some bots it is meant as feedback on its performance but to have 10 users give the same feedback is kinda annoying. Maybe Lemmy can have a feature were humans can approve/disapprove bot performance that doesn’t involve upvote/downvote. It would only be available to bot accounts in the site’s UI. Could possibly expand it’s functionality to something more useful. Or just use the voting system because it’s already in place.
Lemmy definitely has a more chill, human vibe than I got with Reddit, given how overrun the latter was with vast armies of shills, bots, alt right trolls, etc.
Not that it’s all rainbow-pooping unicorns frolicking through flowery meadows here but at least the dick comments tend to be much rarer and often a one off for the person making them.
Opinions are fine. Being disingenuous/an asshole at the same time as having an opinion definitely provokes smackdowns, even on lemmy.
Huh, when I clicked on your profile it says 0 posts…
for me, I was motivated to make this my first post because I want to help solve the death of content issue we still have. it’s gotten quite a lot of attention. I think that anywhere bigger, anything of relevance would have already been posted by the time I see it
Also, for me, it’s the fact I do not feel my data and privacy are being siphoned, sold, and fingerprinted on this platform. Another factor is that I feel the people and interactions are pure and authentic, rather than astroturfed and ambiguous. That may change as the fedicerse grows, but for now it is bringing me back of the older days of the internet.
For what it’s worth, that was a big reason why I moved as well, everyone here actually cares. ❤️
You bring up one advantage I see from Lemmy. Even though I’ve seen this article posted before (I think by L4Sbot in this technology community), the nature of de-centralized content means that cross-posting onto various servers is actually encouraged to get input from a variety of users from different communities and configs (for example, people who have disabled viewing bot-account posts).
On Reddit, people would be quick to say “boooooo repoooost”, but I’ve not seen that too much of that, just a few complaints of “there’s too much orange guy and muskrat in my feed”.
Same here. For me it’s because it feels smaller more often instead expecting to be buried.
I just want the communities I post in to grow. Just trying to do my part to keep people engaged and encourage others to do the same.
Part of the reason is Lemmy’s default sorting algorithm for comments, “Hot”, addresses reddit’s biggest flaw, which is that earlier comments snowballs with upvotes, so it buries late-comers to conversations, leading to the rat-race of everyone trying to get their funny one-liners in as early as possible for maximum karma (which also isn’t a thing here.)
The “Active” default sort for posts also means that comments are a lot more concentrated to what people are actually talking about and posts tend to be stickier. (also, botting upvote is a lot harder on Lemmy, since it’s easy to bot upvotes, it’s a lot harder to fake real conversations in comments. )
In fact, it is pointless to comment at all past like 4 hours on any post on reddit since it will just sit unread for hours, but here you can comment 1 day after a post and still have people talking to you.
I comment about as much as I did on reddit, but I feel like I see less negative replies. It doesn’t seem to matter what I’d post on there, somebody somewhere would have something shitty to say. It’s not my fault society can’t accept my seal clubbing hobby.
If you want to go clubbing with 90s phenom and signer of the hit song “Kiss from a Rose”, then you go for it! You are accepted here ❤️
See? This is what people in reddit can’t seem to understand. I say, “I want to go the Arctic and club the shit out some Seal,” and they immediately assume the worst. Just because I like dancing the night away in cold, barren wastelands doesn’t make me a monster.
Absolutely, I post much more here because I know actual people will actually read it and may actually respond like they would to an actual human. It’s like the old days of the internet.
Because people here are nice
Hey me too! Just the Lemmy side (was never into twitters whole thing) but I actually post stuff here, even if it’s just cross posting.
I always used an alt to post on Reddit and did so very infrequently. I think I posted maybe 3 things on the 4 years on Reddit?
I comment a lot more, and have posted a ton more (even without removing the posts! And yea, 5 is a ton more since it’s in the last 2 months rather than 4years!)
I don’t even clear my comment history as a compulsive thing (I changed me behavior somewhat, to allow for this) because I don’t want to remove activity from the platform. I know it needs me to contribute so I do!
I do, too, but it’s out of duty and I’ll stop when other people pick up the slack.
Found the bot /s
Talking to real friends more interesting than arguing with strangers? Shareholders flummoxed! News at 11.
Hey, I take offense to that! I’m going to write a vitriolic response to your seemingly-normal-but-different-viewpoint-than-mine opinion where I’ll use non-applicable slurs and misinformation and then call you dumb if you post a sensible reply!
tfw you just stand on the sides and then meme on what’s happening with a lame joke instead of contributing your two cents on the socioeconomic practices that are happening in the US that are currently choking its working class to death
lmaooooooo gottem
Hey, I take offence to your office! I’m going to write a nonsensical response that parallels your comment where I’ll use no sources and not really make any point whatsoever!
… real friends …
I don’t understand.
Like text but with noises and fleshy.
Edit: sometimes they congratulate you on the anniversary of exiting your mother’s birth canal.
Gross. And Gross.
Flummoxed is such a choice word
The concept of “influencer” as a career needs to die a quick death.
it’s fancy speak for “salesman”
Ooo it’s the equivalent of “side hustle” just being a 2nd job.
Fancy speak for “cheap salesman who has a large network” /0.5s
Wha…What?! So you’re saying I’m not a BOSS BABE?!
I’m glad I don’t really get these references. Tells me I’ve avoiding some of the right bullshit.
You were never either one of those
I call them peddlers
You don’t like the Z-list celebrities?
I mean I think it’s a fine career, it’s the name that’s dumb.
For the most part they’re just entertainers. The “influencer” name suggests way more than should be.
Entertainers are supposed to be entertaining though.
These people have all the “entertainment” value of a late-night infomercial at best. “Oooh, watch me get excited about unboxing this item. Whatever could have Disney sent me this week?”
The worst problem is that these influencers do gain huge amounts of followers, but rarely fact-check or do hard sciences needed to ya know, give information to viewers? See Linus Tech Tips and the whole crap they’re into right now.
You are watching the wrong persons on youtube.
Aaaand: The thing you think is unfunny might be the funbiest thing since forver for another.Exactly. And the fact that people have large amounts of followers mean that plenty of people find them entertaining.
I mean, they’re mostly indie and could probably easily be compared to stand-up comedians.
Which if we look at it’s history is a very crash-and-burn career itself. I think a lot of them are entertaining. But it’s certainly a saturated market where it can feel like a needle in a haystack at times.
And really, the issue with LTT, is an issue. But keep in mind on the internet we largely mock news sites in general for being uninformative and many being glorified blogs. It’s not as uncommon as we unfortunately may think.
But basically a lot of what is souring you on influencers, either has already happened in other careers or is currently happening to others as well, just we don’t think about it as much.
Like they could be a video journalist or a nature photographer or a lifestyle model. All those would be more descriptive than just influencer.
I prefer "content creators. " Sametimes they can be very educational or entertaining. (I watch a lot of comedy, travel, and home workout content.)
Why though? You don’t have to be their customer. But clearly lot of people are.
I’ve seen the birth of it in my lifetime, I’ll see the death of it in my lifetime. Way to go, evolution!
It had the potential to be good. But as with everything, once capitalisms tendrils flowed through it the benefit to anyone except those wishing to reap a profit is gone. I’m hoping the fediverse gets the support it needs because infrastructure is expensive and we have something good here
There used to be a time when corporations were taxed so hard they did everything they could to reinvest their money into the company/employees/communities just to avoid it going to taxes. Unfettered capitalism destroys the humanity in everything it touches.
Unfetteredcapitalism destroys the humanity in everything it touches.Ftfy
Yes, the name itself gives it away that the only thing to be considered, real or not, is to be the capital and the extraction of value over everything under the sun…
Yeah it truly is a bummer. The early days of myspace and Facebook were great
The worst part is the Cambridge Analitica kinda shit that they figured out eventually, the orange cunt, brexit and other modern calamities were fueled by the social networks reach into private activities or otherwise. It sucks cause it exposes how easy normal people will go down the rabbit hole.
I was in high school when facebook went live, just out of curiosity how old were you?
Removed by mod
Usenet and freenet haven’t changed at all. /List to list servers. Scroll until u find what u want Cake
Usenet has changed a little. Everyone ignores the first rule of Usenet now. Granted it was getting to be a rundown joke, but anyone will talk about Usenet. Secondly, the backbones have been pruned back quite a bit. Another thing about that is which backbone you use matters more as DCMA takedowns happen differently depending on not only the company, but country too. Differences in laws obviously, and the manner in which they are handled directly impacts your file (or logs). A NA backbone server might have automated takedown requests, whilst a Euro server may require the request in writing. Having accounts in more than one backbone is quite beneficial. Block account for fill or whatever.
With regards to companies, some US companies have been buying European ones which potentially makes using that backbone/server more tenuous. I don’t think I’ve experienced any issues from that, but it might be impossible for me to know. Unless I get…dundundunnn…The Letter.
I would think dalnet is still up. Those fuckers are like cockroaches. Only a nuke will take them out.
Anyone know if bitnet is still going?
Yep I’d be surprised if not
I still visit Reddit but I no longer engage in any way, other than reading comments. No up/down voting, not commenting, no reporting spam. Nothing but reading with multiple layers of ad-blocking.
PS: the overall quality/value has dropped precipitously
I deleted all 6 of my accounts. I can’t upvote or comment and I like it that way. Reddit no longer values me as a content producer by eliminating my fav apps, so I no longer value Reddit.
I have used it just a handful of times where adding “Reddit” to the end of a search would get me what I was looking for - usually “peer reviewed” options on some topic.
1 time I went for commentary on a niche reality tv show to feel validated in my hate for the designated villain.
I am not logged in and don’t interact any further
I deleted my main Reddit account but still find myself going back there occasionally for specific topics. For example, I haven’t found a good place on Lemmy to ask travel questions.
place on Lemmy to ask travel questions.
Good luck. One poster would ask if you like sex and travel, then tell you to “Go and get fucked.”
Another would accuse you of being a bourgeois lib who is killing the planet with your capitalist excesses.
Another would go on a rant about privilege and how your very ability to ask such questions in a public space speaks to your total lack class consciousness and your ignorance of “The Movement” or something like it.
In short, check out Vang Vieng in Laos and have a great time.
People like this infuriate me. They don’t clue in that travel decreases the fear and antipathy toward other cultures.
Where the fuck are y’all hanging out?? All I see are memes and Star Trek…
oddly specific, but go on…
I read AITA on Lemmy via a bot, that is the last vestige of Reddit I haven’t dropped.
No app better defines the changing nature of social media than Instagram. The app started as a digital scrapbook — a place to keep up with real-world connections, close friends, and family. While other networks had more users (Facebook) or generated more news (Twitter), Instagram seemed to define the ideal form of this era of social media. Instagram became a verb, an aesthetic, and a generational signifier.
huUURP! BLAAaahhriifgghhh. . .
Garbage marketing platform dies horribly. Thousands of clueless “journalists” bereft.
Insta-gram
I thought it originated as a marketplace for single servings of drugs.
I thought it was putting grandma on speed dial
if someone posts on social media and nobody reads it … does the poster even exist?
I too enjoy yelling into the void. Sometimes it yells back 💪😎💪
Trees in forests breathe quantum sighs of relief
…or do they?
It’s the sound of one hand clapping
Big shock considering everything we post online is being weaponized in various ways.
I know this conversation is had nearly daily here, but by fuck am I glad that the fediverse is so much less astroturfed than every other social media site.
we need to work on keeping it that way. we have the advantage with no corporations to silently manipulate us and we own the infrastructure, but we still gotta root out bot accounts and malicious instances
no corporations to silently manipulate us
…yet!
They are relentless! They will get here when it becomes meaningful enough. So yes I echo your sentiments that we need to do all we can to prepare for that day to defend this space.
feds, bots and shills
I almost never use Facebook anymore because whenever I’m on it, all I see are posts from groups I’m not even in, ads, videos, and interspersed in all that algorithmically chosen content, the occasional post from people I actually follow and know. Social media isn’t social any more.
Even fricking tumblr now has videos on it, and you can only shut “tumblr live” off for a week at most before they come back.
I didn’t think anyone used Tumblr any more since they got rid of porn.
There was a bizarre transition to “other page” content on Facebook. It realised nobody posts there anymore, and tried to transition to a quasi Reddit. But the content it displays is pure garbage.
Facebook now fills half my page with the worst boomer memes. Then something updated and it scrolls the page right while I’m reading something. I don’t know why I even bother anymore.
Yea. My whole Facebook feed is full of ads and posts from people I don’t even have on my friend list. I got fed up and barely go on there anymore.
The fuck even is BeReal? LOL
It’s kinda niche, but it’s where you and your friends can only post once a day at a random time. But it’s all at the same time, so you kinda get a slice of life of what everyone is doing. I like it, it’s much worse for influencer type stuff, so everyone I know just uses it with their friends which is nice. It starts conversations that might not happen otherwise.
My students will jump up in class when they get the notification. My only rule is that I get to be in it.
You’re a good teacher, working around the things they find important in their lives. Thank you
I’m not sure I understand the concept. So the app chooses a random time of day to send an alert, at which point everyone in a group gets to post whatever they want? When the window ends then there are no more posts until the next day? Are you in the groups with the kids?
You’re allowed to post later, though this will be visible with your post. Tbh I like it until now. It’s a good way to engage with my friends now that I only see them a few times a month. The friends I have on BeReal are generally respecting the rule that you either post at the moment BeReal asks you to or at the nearest moment where it’s okay to so. I won’t post at work, at the toilet, or in the shower or something. But I will do so after those moments of I’m doing something mundane like washing the dishes or cycling home. You’ll generally just get a sense of what your friends’ life’s like like normally, as well as the fun things they do like traveling or visiting some event.
Not at the toilet???
Bro, do you even social media?
Totally kidding, but I hate having to use that slash ess.
That actually sounds kind of cool and unique.
That’s what I thought when I tried it last fall but it turns out that 99% of people live very boring lives or put very little effort into these no notice pictures. Browsing my feed was so dull, I lost interest quickly.
Holy crap that sounds godawful. Do what you’re doing and dance on command when the randomly timed notification comes in? Sounds fun to do on a lark when you open the app because you’re having a boring day or something, but as a daily thing?
My guess is they misspelled BeeReel, the social media for apiary and native plant enthusiasts.
I would watch the shit out of a bunch of bee videos. I love bees and butterflies.
Wtf is bereal
My thoughts exactly… This might be why nobody is posting there
Bereal is great, you get a notification and take a picture, front and rear camera, that’s all you get for the day, then you can see what your friends are up to.
By far my favorite social media.
The three things cited in the post summary? Never been on them. I never ever heard of one of them. It seems to me that it’s more that these few platforms are struggling, and other (twitter/x, reddit, facebook, and other) just keep sailing smoothly.
Wait, you’ve really never even heard of Instagram or Tiktok? Like, I get not using them, but not hearing of them is pretty nuts in this day an age when they’re pretty much everywhere.
They are probably talking about “BeReal”. I’ve never heard of that either…
BeReal was a neat idea, you’d get a random notification with a short timer asking to show both cameras. It was meant to cut down on manufactured posting - the random notification to try catch you in more boring times, and the short timer to stop you prettying yourself up.
I guess it was trying to be a more authentic social media, but maybe that doesn’t appeal to the Instagram generation.
I’ve never been on tiktok and instagram. I never heard of BeReal. I said I never heard of one of them; although my grammar is probably bad now that I read that again.
I presumed they were joking. I am unsure about the slash ess rule anymore, but I think folks are spotty about its useage here. Sorta hafta take a comment with a grain of salt.
deleted by creator
Your grammar is fine, they just read it too fast and missed it. Your sentence isn’t incorrect, it’s just not the most direct way of getting your point across
Indian aunties were on the group chat trend before it was cool.
I have Instagram installed but frozen with “Ice Box” android app.
I open once per day or 2 days to catch up with some friends status. But I don’t see those neverending reels anymore.
