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Chris Trottier

Once you go down the "passive consumption" route, social media stops being social.

Instead it becomes television. And television sucks.

It's a one way window where a talking head speaks to you -- but you can't speak back.

Why would anyone want this -- and pretend this is in any way "social"?

"Social" implies a two way conversation. If it's one way, the "social" is a facade.

23 Mar 2023 at 7:30 | Open on mastodon.social
11 comments
System IV, Building K

@atomicpoet “Big Brother Is You, Watching”

23 Mar 2023 at 7:37 | Open on mastodon.social
Olav

@atomicpoet
Anecdotally the majority of people want that TV. Pretty pictures, cat photos, whatever. Rarely if ever interact. I'll reinforce that with big names notice.they get more engagement here where their follow count is far less than elsewhere

But that's okay, if that's what they want out of SM. I mean, you and I don't engage/like everything that hits our feed either.

So the question pivots towards how do we make it easy for that 50%+ to get their daily dose of cat photos

@atomicpoet
Anecdotally the majority of people want that TV. Pretty pictures, cat photos, whatever. Rarely if ever interact. I'll reinforce that with big names notice.they get more engagement here where their follow count is far less than elsewhere

But that's okay, if that's what they want out of SM. I mean, you and I don't engage/like everything that hits our feed either.

23 Mar 2023 at 7:46 | Open on spacey.space
Chris Trottier

@olavf Again, no service has to be all things to all people.

If someone wants to created a federated service for viewing cat photos, just make caturday.social.

Make it gallery-focused.

Obviously, that's not what I want. But that's fine.

23 Mar 2023 at 7:49 | Open on mastodon.social
llewelly

@atomicpoet @olavf
there are at least a few severs in the fediverse dedicated to pet photos. fluffy.family is the only one I can recall off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are others. Personally, I see enough cat photos in my feed that I haven't bothered to look for dedicated severs.

23 Mar 2023 at 14:25 | Open on sauropods.win
INPC

@atomicpoet passive consumption should be saved for things like cheese or heroin.

23 Mar 2023 at 7:58 | Open on mxtthxw.art
Rosanna

@atomicpoet absolutely right!
It was the reason I quit Facebook and I can't stand those "social media", which are also built by haters, or very passive followers saying "yes" to anything.
Horrible spaces.

23 Mar 2023 at 8:08 | Open on mastodon.world
Killick

@atomicpoet ,That's an interesting way to put it. Social media are now like TV. (Think about "doom scrolling.") The fediverse is a social *network.*

23 Mar 2023 at 9:23 | Open on dmv.community
Arp Laszlo • Comics • ADHD

@atomicpoet I posit that ‘passive consumption’ is what turned Social Networking into Social Media.

The intentionality of using Mastodon = Social Networking.

23 Mar 2023 at 13:46 | Open on mythology.social
Dan Wentzel 🏳️‍🌈 (on Mastodon)

@atomicpoet That is the difference between a “social network”
and “social media”. That is what an algorithm does. It channels engagement to the few by taking away from the many. Even before Musk turned the platform over to trolls, bots, and bigots, we can now see it is essentially “trickle down” social media.

23 Mar 2023 at 15:40 | Open on urbanists.social
Brennan Stehling

@atomicpoet Passive can be good. Lots of people put on gamers on Twitch in the background while their doing something else and engage in chat occasionally. Many streamers have fostered a very active and close community. I relax by watching a Dutch gamer called Harstem play Starcraft 2. He’s got a great sense of humor and I learn a lot from him.

Decades ago people would listen to baseball games at work. They would passively listen and discuss what happened around a literal water cooler. A mix of passive and active can be really good.

@atomicpoet Passive can be good. Lots of people put on gamers on Twitch in the background while their doing something else and engage in chat occasionally. Many streamers have fostered a very active and close community. I relax by watching a Dutch gamer called Harstem play Starcraft 2. He’s got a great sense of humor and I learn a lot from him.

24 Mar 2023 at 3:11 | Open on sfba.social
Nautile Bleu

@atomicpoet what if you use it to post content but not read other people’s posts ?

24 Mar 2023 at 9:54 | Open on mamot.fr
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