If we could go back to the days when there was no feed and Facebook was just a way of keeping track of your friends and sending a message, I might use it at all.
The problem is the incentives for any ad-supported profit-driven social network and the incentives on "what makes a social network good for users" are basically a venn diagram that's two circles that touch about 2% in the center.
I don't really believe it isn't possible to make the relatively small amount necessary to have a stable and useful business. The problem is VC forced drive towards enshitification.
Agree mostly. The problem is the trends all seem to favor short-form video and streaming now (I cannot express enough UGH but alas) and video is just the worst in every aspect for web development. Big files, big and fast storage needed, big content management tools, big applications to support it, big fat internet pipes to move it out, and none of that comes cheap. To make a social network that's going to ding the mainstream, you basically need VC money and a shit-ton of it at that.
Personally if I and the rest of people like me could just get a nice Facebook circa 2010 somewhere to chill on while the rest of the internet burns these sites down over and over on the altar of wanting to stream video, that'd be lovely.
Spot on. It’s ironic because a social network that stayed true to users will presumably ultimately crush those that wander off into profit-chasing, as ultimately their currency is user engagement.
But it seems impossible given the incentives you touch on. They can only come up from a startup apparently.
