Why you'll leave X (as well as Instagram and all the other private platforms) | Hacker News Reader

Why you'll leave X (as well as Instagram and all the other private platforms)

allr.cat

36 pointselevensup12 comments

I started using online communication platforms around 1985 or so when I got a 300 baud modem and started using computer bulletin boards.

The clear pattern from 1985 to 2005 or so was that every new platform that came along experienced growth for a while and then decline and people involved in such platforms just moved on to whatever new thing replaced the old.

By 2015 Facebook had broken this pattern, and I thought a lot about why, not least was the explanation that Facebook was buying competitors (WhatsApp) and intimidating VCs to discourage competitors (otherwise having to pay $15 billion every few years to buy the next thing would seem like extortion)

Zuckerberg's fanaticism for VR is attributed to the belief that Facebook has a shelf life and they'd better be leading in the next platform.

Now I see it as "normcore people don't want to move away from old platforms and move to the next thing" and that what keeps Facebook alive is that if you want to keep in touch with: (1) your normcore friends and family and (2) community organizations you're stuck with Facebook.

I am an admin of yeo FB groups for that reason. Drawn into helping people who are only on FB.

That said, a lot of them hate FB and are there for just the same reason.

In Catalonia, my little country in the Mediterranean, Facebook’s pretty much a ghost town, especially for millennials and Gen Z. Moving people away from Instagram, though, feels like a much tougher challenge. These platforms have had over a decade to build up so much stuff for users that leaving just seems like too much effort.

I’m not sure what the future holds, but a more fragmented, federated setup feels like a way better option than sticking with the same old stable monopolies.

Was tuenti ever big in Catalonia? Was never a user but visiting family in Madrid circa 2010 it seemed like a big deal. Curious if it’s still used at all.

Not as big as in Madrid, but I remember some friends trying it. Never that kind of moment, though. Facebook had quite a big implementation here... but at some point in 2017 or 2018 everyone started fogetting about it.

It's ironic that Chamath Palihapitiya who was responsible for growth at Facebook previously was the VP/GM for ICQ @AOL.

ICQ was so ubiquitous back in the day, and then lost it all.

Left FB and Twitter. Large amount of whining from friends and family left behind. Had to keep whatsapp for work and rowing club info. Promised by whatsapp could remain distinct and not be on FB and now read they are reconsidering this.

Forced to rejoin FB under an assumed name to help seniors (I volunteer) and to read notices from cov-tenants of my condo.

It's become a necessity not a pleasure.

(Online since early 1980s)

I agree, but there was no mention on how these platforms pay people if they have a lot of engagement. Initially it was more predatory, but now X, FB, YT, they pay those who are generating the content, and it's a viable small business, if I'm not mistaken.

So it has evolved to be both a social media platform and a business platform, which seems more/less balanced. That said, it's the media part of if that is becoming old and boring. Looking at posts, commenting on threads, watching stupid short videos that have no point, etc. (and in this regard I think YouTube is safe and is the most stable). This is why Zuck was betting on VR, but it is definitely premature and badly executed. If VR actually becomes lightweight glasses, then this is definitely the future.

I think there could be a paradigm shift before VR, maybe something powered by AI. I can see social media becoming an AI assistant that you talk to and then use it to connect with others. However I don't see any signs of anyone pushing in this direction. It seems they will run the current status quo into the ground as the article points out.

> (translated from Catalan by Alain Gertrand)

Got curious, since I don't think I've ever seen Catalan before. The original's the previous post:

https://allr.cat/per-que-deixaras-x-i-si-tambe-instagram-i-l...

> Spotify is surrounded by powerful competing proposals that are less exploitative of artists, and who are ready to overtake them.

Can someone enlighten me to what this person is referencing? I'm curious as to these proposals

Weird this came up moments after I archived my Facebook account. I am just shy of 20 years on there but Meta is just too bad. Looking forward to what’s next.

I'm really curious if we'll ever know the extent to which bot, fake and zombie accounts have polarized us...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com