Whenever we join up at a new platform, we of course think about what we expect to get out of the platform - what do we gain by being involved? This is natural of course, because as an individual, we want to maximize our experience, we want to enjoy ourselves and we want to get more of what we want. And this is what the centralized platforms have been offering over the last two decades - but is the world a better place because of it?
I would say, no.
And I think that it is pretty clear this model doesn't work to improve social wellbeing and why it doesn't, because people don't own their experiences there - they are just users, masses that are conditioned and influenced in order to maximize profits for the platform itself. What an individual user expects to gain from the platform and what they actually get, might be quite different. For instance, the average Twitter user gets close to zero engagement. And while the media mis filled with OnlyFans models earning millions, the average earning for a model is something around 150 dollars a month. That is the average - which means there are many earning less.
You might have noticed over the last few months, there has been an increasing push back against the platforms, especially in terms of children using them. Some of this is political like the impending TikTok ban in the US, and some is social, where studies like the French report on screen time for kids has shown how impactful it can be on development. But ultimately, what it comes down to, is how much control these platforms have over the users.
Users on these platforms don't own their accounts and even when (and perhaps especially when) monetized, they are at the mercy of the platform to get seen by the algorithms, get pushed to other users, and of course, to actually get paid. And as a user, the algorithms that seem driven by usage, are actually tailored in order to maximize advertising revenue for the platform. For example, 98% of Meta's revenue comes from advertising, and this is similar for all of the data-collector platforms. Even for Alphabet (Google) with all of their product range, 77% of their income is from ad revenue.
Data matters.
Who has access to it. Who controls it. Who owns it. Who monetizes it. In the current economy, data and how it is used drives everything from corporate earnings to which government is in power. And because of this, data also impacts on how an individual is going to experience their life, because every aspect of their experience is influenced by the larger meta conditions, the ones where everyone is involved. The mega platforms drive the information meta, and because they are only interested in maximizing shareholder wealth through profits, they don't actually put thought into what they are doing to the wellbeing of their users.
Because the users have no say, because they aren't owners.
Essentially users are always indebted to the platforms they are on, because they don't own any part of what they are using. Every Facebook user is a renter, as is everyone on TikTok, Instagram, X and the rest. The only power a user has on those platforms is whether they use it, or not. But the platforms have compelling arguments to keep using them, with the largest one being that this is where all your audience is.
But it is a tenuous position.
Because the only reason that audience is there, is because they haven't fully comprehended what it means for them to be a user on the platform, having no control over their experience, owning nothing, and being constantly scraped and influenced in order to make profits for the platform itself. And the social costs, the behavioural costs, the impact on personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of the local communities, are not well documented yet, but the evidence is growing.
The problem itself isn't "social media" but rather, the models that the current crop of social media employ to maximize profits at any cost to users or society as a whole. We live in a globalized world where digital technology allows us to interact and be part of communities we would never have had access to earlier, and the current platforms predominantly leverage this to bring out the worst of human behaviour, the worst in individuals and groups, because that is how they can divide, conquer, and maximize profits. It might not be an intentional goal, but it is an outcome nonetheless.
I don't know how long it will take for the social culture to change, but I think that in time, people will increasingly start recognizing that if they want to improve their individual wellbeing, they are going to have to be owners. This is the same for someone who wants to improve their financial wellbeing, isn't it? Owning generative assets is an income, renting is an expense. If we want to improve our lot in life, whether it be financial or social, we have to take the responsibility and own our experiences, including the digital lives that are now part of our physical lives.
Platforms like Hive take this to an even greater level, because not only do people own their experience here, but they also own the currencies used, that in turn provide ownership of the platform, including the development of it. While centralization has always led to inevitable failure, we now have the technological capabilities to apply decentralization at scale in a global sense, at every layer of our social experience, from the currencies used for payments, to the platforms used for social interaction and personal creativity.
The argument to stay on the other platforms because that is where the audience is is valid, but only for as long as those platforms can convince their users that there are no other options. This is not true at all, and once those users use the only power available to them on the platform and stop using them, they will find that there are other alternatives that can do the same, or be developed to do the same, in what would be a decentralized, more robust, more distributive, and far healthier way.
Walk away.
Stop making the centralized platforms your authority for their profit.
Defund them, and fund yourselves.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
