I posted a comment on LinkedIn as well. I’m a BlueSky user but for any of these platforms to take off, it’s going to take a significant capital investment that, well, is concentrated by the Zucks of the world. From a game theory perspective, there’s just not a lot of benefit for existing players that have financed the rise of Meta et all to do anything differently. And the network effect keeps people on. You really need a social movement more than a technology that’s so dramatic, it overtakes the technology.
If I may add - Meta records our every interaction with its platforms, our connections, our phone's address book, whom we interact with via their platforms; to extract and strengthen the social graph and make ad targeting more accurate & therefore valuable. We're actively improving their cash cow, which is the ability to predict and influence our behaviour.
It's a freeing sensation to get rid of all Meta platforms and realise that a non-Meta existence is very much possible.
My personal bugbear is WhatsApp, which has a perfectly fine, and 100% privacy preserving alternative: Signal. It feels wonderful to not have every interaction with my loved ones farmed for profit.
Kelly I am so grateful for your work. You a credible source and strong voice which helps me have confidence in my own choices. I also want to grow here (imperfect as it is). And I want to connect with others - but not at the cost Meta demands. I'm also concerned about the impact of short form reels on our thinking and dopamine systems.
I'm glad you mentioned group chats - I think this is where it's at from a tech perspective. What our feeds used to be.
Thanks again for putting words to this so clearly.
One of my friends now sends daily photos of her cat through a text chat so we can all get our dopamine and pay our respects to cat 🥹 detoxing is hard cause there’s literally no good replacement but we do what we can! Just a tiny form of protest
Brilliantly evil. They really created the perfect monopoly.
I still believe that connecting humans around the world is a beautiful thing, we just need to build spaces that are safer for our younger community members and that don’t exploit the very people they claim to serve.
Built in Canada 🇨🇦 (like, actually built here), Gander is a new kind of social space: ethical, safe, secure, and not creepy.
No tracking across the web. No surveillance. No selling your data. That's it—that's the privacy policy.
We believe social media can be better. Less rage machine, more community bulletin board. A place where people can be themselves, share ideas, and stay connected—without needing to give up their sanity or their privacy.
I posted a comment on LinkedIn as well. I’m a BlueSky user but for any of these platforms to take off, it’s going to take a significant capital investment that, well, is concentrated by the Zucks of the world. From a game theory perspective, there’s just not a lot of benefit for existing players that have financed the rise of Meta et all to do anything differently. And the network effect keeps people on. You really need a social movement more than a technology that’s so dramatic, it overtakes the technology.
Thank you for this.
If I may add - Meta records our every interaction with its platforms, our connections, our phone's address book, whom we interact with via their platforms; to extract and strengthen the social graph and make ad targeting more accurate & therefore valuable. We're actively improving their cash cow, which is the ability to predict and influence our behaviour.
It's a freeing sensation to get rid of all Meta platforms and realise that a non-Meta existence is very much possible.
My personal bugbear is WhatsApp, which has a perfectly fine, and 100% privacy preserving alternative: Signal. It feels wonderful to not have every interaction with my loved ones farmed for profit.
Kelly I am so grateful for your work. You a credible source and strong voice which helps me have confidence in my own choices. I also want to grow here (imperfect as it is). And I want to connect with others - but not at the cost Meta demands. I'm also concerned about the impact of short form reels on our thinking and dopamine systems.
I'm glad you mentioned group chats - I think this is where it's at from a tech perspective. What our feeds used to be.
Thanks again for putting words to this so clearly.
One of my friends now sends daily photos of her cat through a text chat so we can all get our dopamine and pay our respects to cat 🥹 detoxing is hard cause there’s literally no good replacement but we do what we can! Just a tiny form of protest
Oh I love this. I end up posting cat pics to cat fan subreddits 😂 but maybe I need a group thread!!
Beautifully said!!
Brilliantly evil. They really created the perfect monopoly.
I still believe that connecting humans around the world is a beautiful thing, we just need to build spaces that are safer for our younger community members and that don’t exploit the very people they claim to serve.
That’s my mission, one baby step at a time.
Meanwhile.in Canada...
Built in Canada 🇨🇦 (like, actually built here), Gander is a new kind of social space: ethical, safe, secure, and not creepy.
No tracking across the web. No surveillance. No selling your data. That's it—that's the privacy policy.
We believe social media can be better. Less rage machine, more community bulletin board. A place where people can be themselves, share ideas, and stay connected—without needing to give up their sanity or their privacy.