this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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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.

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[–] Jackthelad@lemmy.world 218 points 1 year ago (16 children)

And yet, after joining Lemmy and Mastodon, I post a lot more.

[–] MentalEdge@ani.social 84 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Like for real!! I was a semi-lurker on reddit. Posted a couple times a year.

I just passed 500 posts on Lemmy.

[–] Weslee@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (7 children)

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.

[–] RagnarokOnline@reddthat.com 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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).

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[–] MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

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[–] MoreThanCorrect@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same here. For me it's because it feels smaller more often instead expecting to be buried.

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[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 212 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The concept of "influencer" as a career needs to die a quick death.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 87 points 1 year ago (5 children)

it's fancy speak for "salesman"

[–] Yoryo@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago

Ooo it's the equivalent of "side hustle" just being a 2nd job.

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[–] AnonTwo@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] dragontamer@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

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.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 177 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Talking to real friends more interesting than arguing with strangers? Shareholders flummoxed! News at 11.

[–] Klystron@sh.itjust.works 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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!

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[–] sagrotan@lemmy.world 72 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I've seen the birth of it in my lifetime, I'll see the death of it in my lifetime. Way to go, evolution!

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 64 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Social media in general is in the following stage of Enshitification:

  • Launch
  • Growth at all costs, user focus
  • Use size to bring advertisers
  • Gradually shift focus to advertisers and money bringers
  • Ensure users are way too invested to quit
  • >> Sell out <<

It's no surprise that people only end up seeing "carefully curated" content, it's what "sells", or rather, ensures people stay in the stupid app. From TFA: "While sharing has tailed off, consuming content hasn't slowed"

I have an Insta account for some of the part time 3D printing I do, but since I'm not a "content creator", my stuff has almost zero reach. Whenever I open the app, it's roughly 1:1:1 posts of "recommended", someone I actually follow, advert. 2/3 of everything shown to me is stuff I didn't ask for, not to mention when the advertises are actual scams or fucking pyramids

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[–] shino@lemmy.shinomoroll.net 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those platforms are business media now, not social media anymore.

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[–] zxo@sopuli.xyz 58 points 1 year ago (12 children)

The fediverse, while still social media, has a level of authenticity unrivaled by most major social medias in my opinion. Hopefully it stays that way!

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[–] Resol@lemmy.world 57 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I also noticed how my social media usage (even on Lemmy and Mastodon) is consistently declining, I haven't opened the clients I use for either platform in days (or possibly more than a week). It's bad because I was pretty invested in the fediverse, but it's good because now I can actually do something productive, or even go outside.

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[–] teft@startrek.website 51 points 1 year ago (6 children)
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[–] candle_lighter@lemmy.ml 50 points 1 year ago (7 children)

No one's posting on BeReal

Nobody has heard of BeReal

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[–] brothershamus@kbin.social 49 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] sndmn@lemmy.ca 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

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

[–] Tygr@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 44 points 1 year ago (28 children)

Also, if no one is posting on social media, then what the hell are we all doing right now then?

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[–] igorlogius@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

if someone posts on social media and nobody reads it ... does the poster even exist?

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[–] Mighty@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (5 children)

it's interesting how many comments show that people like to read the headline and are content with that to form an opinion. literally the first paragraph says that it's not "THERE ARE NO POSTS" but it says that the "feed is swamped by a combination of perfectly curated photos and professionally created content." - the problem is that the paid content creators have become GOOD. so many of them really look like they are just opinions and casual mentions of movies/clothes/...things. viral marketing is really at a point where so many fronts that have been established have been broken down in the guise of "irony" or "sarcasm". "I'm only buying the Barbie merch ironically" etc.

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[–] ShooBoo@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I dont even want to talk to half the people I know anymore lol. I stopped using FB but keep it running because there are many years of pics and what not for family. And when I bring it down people freak out and think something is wrong with me. Other than that, it has been stripped of any identifying information, only has people I know and I never use it anymore. That was the only real 'personal' place I had on the internet. Everything else is fake names and whatnot, always has been.

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[–] decadentrebel@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Does Lemmy count as social media?? lol

[–] DarkWasp@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Yes but I’d classify it as a different category more akin to old school forums. It’s less a place to post photos of yourself and more one to discuss and read about stuff you enjoy (or memes). I just want a place personally to discuss movies, video games, technology etc

[–] Zeron@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In broad strokes, yeah. I'd even consider older, more traditional forms like forums and IRC/BBS to be proto forms of social media. As long as the internet exists there will be social media, what form it takes is malleable depending on the desires of the userbase at hand.

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[–] djsaskdja@reddthat.com 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Big shock considering everything we post online is being weaponized in various ways.

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[–] sheogorath@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My following on insta is dominated by meme pages, influencers, and that one person in your social group who practically shares their life on social media.

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[–] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

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.

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[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (16 children)
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[–] Boi@reddthat.com 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been trying to cut down social media use ever since 2020. I don't blame people for not posting most social media platforms are either boring or a toxic shit holes.

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[–] allocsb@discuss.tchncs.de 30 points 1 year ago (5 children)

If a company ever puts ads in my group chats I will jump in a volcano

[–] MedicatedMaybe@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

No no no... We need to throw the CEO's in the volcano. We don't need CEO's but I'm sure someone needs you.

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[–] WheeGeetheCat@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 year ago

Don't mourn social media. It was always too easily astro-turfed.

[–] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Group chats were for sharing before social media. It just out lasted them.

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[–] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The fuck even is BeReal? LOL

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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.

[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (7 children)

My students will jump up in class when they get the notification. My only rule is that I get to be in it.

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[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I've been enjoying using Signal for "social media". I can share things with my friends without being subjected to ads or having my data mined.

There's also a promising Alpha app called Circles from Futo that uses Matrix to do something similar.

Every popular social media wants to maintain complete control and just shove content down your throat, rather than allow you to curate your feed at all. Even subscription-based ones like Strava give you absolutely no control over what's in your feed.

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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Indian aunties were on the group chat trend before it was cool.

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

I would argue that the quality of content is in decline more than numerical users. Also, the quantity of ads are much much higher, which hides what little good content there is.

Mix that in with political splits in social media sites (from left leaning Lemmy to the Facebook right), and you generally find yourself in an echo chamber with little to surprise you, and a lot of things confirming what you already know.

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