busybee fluffy rambles Notes

As I’ve been saying for years, the problem with Twitter isn’t that it’s centralized, but that it’s Twitter.

This post goes into some great details about what that means.

Pretty good overview of the current social media landscape, especially with how it relates to journalism.

The core need being expressed by millions of users isn’t “get me a decentralized protocol that nobody owns where I can have my choice of algorithms and apps”. It’s “get me a platform that works consistently, with less abuse”. Sometimes it’s also appended with, “where I can build a following for me / my brand / my employer and measure my progress.”

[…]

Many of us have been wanting decentralized social networking for a long time — I’ve been a part of these conversations for around twenty years. It’s tempting to feel like people finally get it. But that’s a trap and a mistake. As always, quite rightly, most people want something that works for them.

Reminder that Usenet has been around since the 80s and was a toxic hellhole even then. Decentralization isn’t the answer to social media problems, it’s just an implementation detail.

Or, as I keep on saying: The problem with Twitter isn’t that it’s centralized, but that it’s Twitter.

A conversation of sorts about how modern social media helps to amplify some of the worst aspects of toxic discourse. Possibly educational for straight allies, too.