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soundofwonderFirst off, apologies for any weird phrasing, I read chinese the entire day today and now my english is kaput. Might edit later. When will my brain work better
I think we are beginning to see a small shift to how SNS are handled - people are getting fed up with having no control over their info, and are searching/creating new kinds of SNS. The major two developments I see are decentralized networks (mastodon etc.) and websites that are user-funded instead of raising VC and other means (dreamwidth is one of the early ones). It's going to be interesting to see what platforms appeals more to people, I think.
I do think decentralized networks will probably come out ahead since they usually have familiar interfaces and it's (generally) free due to sponsors. However the concept can be a bit much for someone who only knows of centralized networks (a federation of websites? and you can follow someone who's not in your instance?? what's an instance anyway??) Moreover the audience of say, mastodon instances, is very tech focused currently which can alienate casual 'non-tech' people.
These networks sometimes fall into the user funded category too - mastodon.art begun restricting signups to people who support them financially, for example. Which is reasonable considering that independent instances, the server costs are usually borne by the admin themselves. Also interestingly, the Japanese are the largest adopters of this platform.
(There's an english article which examines this, but I'm not linking to it because it basically goes in a roundabout way to say it's because people found a place to upload loli/shota art, which I don't think is true. I mean, pixiv still exists, and anecdotally I have not seen any "12 year old girl who's actually a 200 year old vampire" art in the instances I frequent, one of which happens to be the only anime-esque instance. )
Personally I prefer user-funded websites more, since for federated networks the admin is ultimately the one in charge, and rules may change on a dime, or the instance goes down because the admin didn't pay server fees lol. User-funded websites have more long term goals in mind to remain sustainable, and the most important part is that the users are the stakeholders themselves. But with how the general populace are used to "free" SNS I think there will be a greater resistance to people going for user funded websites? People are simply not used to paying for online stuff nowadays. But a SNS platform has to have a viable number of people too, so pure pay-to-use SNS wouldn't work - freenium will probably be the optimal solution.
Anyway, I'm anticipating how future SNS, and online services in general may develop as people start to take back control.
On to links:
Everybody is whaling on tumblr and no-one on the real villain in this battle for free expression bytype_wild - about the shifts in how people use the web, and this also made me realize the parallels between what the western world is experiencing now and China's extremely app-focused ecosystem. (This is probably not a good sign, isn't it)
How To Make Discussion Happen On DW bymelannen
Dreamwidth Tips and Tricks! bysylvaine
so, about Tumblr and remember when linkspams were a thing? bysnickfic - links to useful stuff/ fandoms
I think we are beginning to see a small shift to how SNS are handled - people are getting fed up with having no control over their info, and are searching/creating new kinds of SNS. The major two developments I see are decentralized networks (mastodon etc.) and websites that are user-funded instead of raising VC and other means (dreamwidth is one of the early ones). It's going to be interesting to see what platforms appeals more to people, I think.
I do think decentralized networks will probably come out ahead since they usually have familiar interfaces and it's (generally) free due to sponsors. However the concept can be a bit much for someone who only knows of centralized networks (a federation of websites? and you can follow someone who's not in your instance?? what's an instance anyway??) Moreover the audience of say, mastodon instances, is very tech focused currently which can alienate casual 'non-tech' people.
These networks sometimes fall into the user funded category too - mastodon.art begun restricting signups to people who support them financially, for example. Which is reasonable considering that independent instances, the server costs are usually borne by the admin themselves. Also interestingly, the Japanese are the largest adopters of this platform.
(There's an english article which examines this, but I'm not linking to it because it basically goes in a roundabout way to say it's because people found a place to upload loli/shota art, which I don't think is true. I mean, pixiv still exists, and anecdotally I have not seen any "12 year old girl who's actually a 200 year old vampire" art in the instances I frequent, one of which happens to be the only anime-esque instance. )
Personally I prefer user-funded websites more, since for federated networks the admin is ultimately the one in charge, and rules may change on a dime, or the instance goes down because the admin didn't pay server fees lol. User-funded websites have more long term goals in mind to remain sustainable, and the most important part is that the users are the stakeholders themselves. But with how the general populace are used to "free" SNS I think there will be a greater resistance to people going for user funded websites? People are simply not used to paying for online stuff nowadays. But a SNS platform has to have a viable number of people too, so pure pay-to-use SNS wouldn't work - freenium will probably be the optimal solution.
Anyway, I'm anticipating how future SNS, and online services in general may develop as people start to take back control.
On to links:
Everybody is whaling on tumblr and no-one on the real villain in this battle for free expression by
type_wild - about the shifts in how people use the web, and this also made me realize the parallels between what the western world is experiencing now and China's extremely app-focused ecosystem. (This is probably not a good sign, isn't it)How To Make Discussion Happen On DW by
melannen Dreamwidth Tips and Tricks! by
sylvaine so, about Tumblr and remember when linkspams were a thing? by
snickfic - links to useful stuff/ fandoms
no subject
Date: 2018-12-08 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-08 12:15 pm (UTC)Yeah there was more variety on the internet in the past. Nowadays it really seems like everyone is on the same four websites run by companies which just seem so antithetical what WWW is supposed to be.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-08 05:57 pm (UTC)I bet there's probably a YA dystopia about this, lol.