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Comment by foindf | Hacker News Reader

I hope this ridiculous debacle helps to show all the Twitter addicts that they don't really need that website in their lives.

Has social media been a benefit for humanity? I think most of us were happier before being drawn into these advertisement honeytraps of outrage.

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> Has social media been a benefit for humanity?

I think there's countless people that didn't come from big cities or tech circles that managed to make friends across the world and get better paying jobs and move out from their home country thanks to social media. I even have friends that started businesses together after meeting on social media

So yes it's been a benefit for humanity!

I’d suggest that certain persons have benefited for sure but that doesn’t make the case that Twitter et al have been a net positive for humanity.

My personal view is that they have not been a net positive for humanity and have created a generation of young people with more mental health issues and less attention span amongst other issues.

It's difficult to measure whether something is a net benefit for humanity, and even if it were possible, that shouldn't be a factor in deciding whether or not it should exist. For example, if candy is potentially net negative to society as a whole but brings joy to an individual, should that person be denied the opportunity to make the choice for themselves and enjoy it? I believe that people should be allowed to make their own mistakes and learn from them. A world in which we prevent people from making their own decisions and only allow them to choose from net positive options is immensely bleak.

There’s a lot of people who use Twitter as their primary resource for marketing.

It’s especially useful for furry artists, to use an example I’m familiar with. Dedicated sites exist, but only hardcore furries go to them. Twitter is large enough that they can reach dabbling furries (or people who don’t realize they’re into furry stuff but The Algorithm has deduced this from their habits) in addition to their core audience.

The only other website that suits this audience right now is Tumblr, which seems to slowly be reanimating.

FA still, despite everything, manages to remain a dominant channel for furry marketing. Mastodon has a bunch of furry instances and many more furry-adjacent. One cat runs two! (pawb.fun and furry.engineer) #FursuitFriday was buzzing last Friday, and the MFF tag was as busy as I've ever seen it on Twitter.

Also useful: https://furryfediverse.org/

I can't tell if this is satire or genuine

I met my wife on Instagram, and most of our early interactions were through Twitter.

I can't say whether it's been a net benefit for humanity, but at least speaking personally I'm glad it existed.

> Has social media been a benefit for humanity?

Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything. But at a later stage it was ruined by engagement and ads and recommended content and crippled ux. I’ve not used any social network for years because I just couldn’t force myself to get through the piles of crap just to connect with my friends and contacts. I’ve been using other methods since then.

Unfortunately, capitalism tends to destroy attempts at being social. This is evident when social media starts amplifying posts to get more 'engagement' with the intent to sell more advertising whereas a more social version would be to amplify posts that are interesting or resonate with a lot of people. Hacker News is an example of social media that attempts to not fall into that monetising trap.

The biggest problem that I see with social media is when it teams up with political influence and then we end up with problems such as Cambridge Analytica and democracy gets damaged.

>> Definitely yes. It was a miracle when in started, it changed everything.

Just because it “changed everything” doesn’t mean it was a benefit to humanity. In what ways would you say it has been beneficial for humanity? We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends.

I can’t think of any tools that allowed building a social graph. It was a novelty back in 00 and it was nice to have your close circle be easily discoverable and reachable. In a sense of discoverability social media was a benefit to many, many people. Before that it was ICQ/other ims and email only. And before that I had to write down the contact details; I remember having physical notebooks with addresses and phone numbers of people, back in early 90s. Don’t you think it was a nice thing to finally be able to easily connect with people?

It’s nice. It’s useful. I totally agree. But “Benefit for humanity” sounds much more grandiose and undeservingly so in my opinion.

Maybe. I rather opposed it to a harm to humanity. I’m not ready to discuss the absolute values. Let’s say I see the Internet as an absolute benefit to humanity and the social networks are (were) a useful part of it.

It doesn't have to be. You recycling your pop can is a benefit for society.

> We already have plenty of communication tools for keeping in touch with friends.

Nothing that covers the same gamut of easy to use, easy to find people, etc.

What about those of us who have found work via Twitter?

> advertisement honeytraps of outrage

You are describing an experience that is utterly unfamiliar to me.

I've noticed that people here on HN and Reddit talk bad about Social Media in general, but also forget that there's literally millions if not billions of people who have no idea who Elon Musk or Mark Z. are, but still use these social media platforms.

If I talk to my mom and asks her about Facebook; She loves it because she can message other family members with photos and stuff.

So to answer your question with my opinion, yes, social media has connected us globally and locally, even with all the issues that you and I are aware of, but most people aren't.

If I talk to my mom and asks her about Facebook; She loves it because she can message other family members with photos and stuff.

Yup. Most people are not technically inclined, and just use a computer, and platform, as tools.

They don't care who owns twitter, or is someone was banned from it, unless it was someone they follow. Even then 'meh'.

Even facebook/meta? Most people have no idea about the Cambridge Analytics scandle, and don't even see the issue if explained.

This whole post is a bubble. No one cares.

I agree.

Which is also why Mastadon will never grow outside said bubble. It's unfortunate but it's also waaaaay too technical. The general population will always stick to centralized platforms out of accessibility and usability.

I hope this ridiculous debacle helps to show all the Twitter addicts that they don't really need that website in their lives.

Depends on who you include in "twitter addicts". I'd bet most Twitter users have barely even noticed. The interesting thing is that the group who care the most and are the most angry about it, who I will refer to as the "league of blue checkmarks", are also the group who most derive their own personal power and influence from Twitter, discouraging them from leaving.

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