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I definitely agree with your admirable goal for social media. The main downside is that social media generally makes that harder than it should be. Finding the signal within the noise can be hard.

I've made some genuine friendships online that I have maintained for 20+ years

I joined Twitter in 2009. By the time I stopped posting there in about 2017, I had a lot of followers. Old Twitter was super good, but I was hooked on having a pretty big account. I have been here for more than a year now and just don’t care about follower counts anymore. The fun is the social part.

Getting 'internet famous' sounds like a terrible thing, in all honesty.

Agree, when I first got online, it was like “wow, nerds are everywhere”..find the weird brand-building followership monetizing thing to be really corrosive.

For connecting with people and having fun! Also its a good way to show my work 💪🏾

All of my favorite people live on my phone or my computer. They have experienced my two exhusbands, two childbirths, and several career paths. We relate better than most people I actually interact with in person and I have no shame about that 🥰

I was hospice for my older sis in 2000. I had the overnight shift and found forums and message boards. Been talking to people around the world ever since. I work for the evil tech empire and have been watching this unfold for 28 years. Stay connected with real people folx. That’s the real juice.

Before social media, we had little gems called “homepages,” giving the world the 1999 internet sensation, Mahir “I kiss you.” If he seems like a bad Borat rip-off, that’s because it’s the other way around. He wasn’t trying to monetize the Internet for anything other sex. donkeyontheedge.com/mahir/

So many of my best relationships started online

Speaks to how alienated people have become from that "Social" in social media. It's literally meant to be a tool to communicate with friends across distances, but in a capitalist society few things are more abhorrent than existing for the simple pleasure of it without any expectation to turn profit

Yeah, and it was kind of depressing how quickly it got to clout building to make money on Threads. Btw, I have had more interesting conversations and interactions in less than a week here than I have had over more than a year on Threads

Haha isn’t that funny that some of my best friends are people I met on social media gee what are the odds

I’m with you. It’s a joy to see different perspectives and learn from people all over!

I agree with you... I've gained quite a bit of friends from all over America, few from other Countries. But we've gotten to know each other to a point where it's comfortable.

I've made SO many friends online! Just within the past month, I was able to meet 4 of them for the very first time in person while traveling (and one other online friend who I've met a few times in person before), but I've counted them as good friends for *years* prior.

Late 90s is where it really kicked off. Up to that point it was the wildlands. All text, no graphics. ASCII art reigned. Everything existed in Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black. Dialup was your only choice. It was insane.

I'm pretty close to 40 years with one online friend. I lost touch with my high school classmates immediately after graduation, but the online friends from that same era are still around.

Right like some of us are just here to yap 🤭

Great news ticker.

Aww, same. Some of my dearest and oldest friends are folks I met on newsgroups ::waves at alt.gothic friends::

I was 22 for "have you heard about THE INTERNET?" from the college kids whose coffee I was serving, 25 before I actually connected, and my goodness finally I could find more than three or four people I could enjoy a conversation with.

Mine too! I grew up on military bases, I enjoy a wide variety of humanage.

I've never cared how many followers I have, on any platform, and I'm frankly delighted that my professional writing is almost invariably published on platforms that don't allow comments, so I have no idea who reads it. (I assume the repeat commissions suggest that my editors are happy enough.)

Same motivation here. I have diverse interests, and treat scrolling through BlueSky like wandering around a large, varied social gathering, eavesdropping on interesting conversations, maybe contributing a little. I don't care about follower numbers, and feel no obligation to talk/listen to assholes.

Same. Although I didn’t grow up online. It’s a window into so many different people, places, and things.

I met my goddamn life partner on a bulletin board.

I do both. Some of my best friends I met/got to know through Twitter, but I’m also trying to make a living selling art, and social media is the only way to do that effectively online. So, I’m always trying to ride the line between self-promo and being a weird little social media friend.

On the more insidious things I’ve seen in my lifetime is the pressure to view every pleasurable activity as a potential side-hustle. I understand it because a lot of folks are scraping to get by. But a lot is lost when people can’t just have hobbies.

I mean for me it always hearkens back to being the weird awkward kid at a small high school where I felt like I had to hide my nerdy interests to be accepted, but on the magical world of the Internet there were people who actually liked the same shit as me and it was a miracle

I went viral on the other place over medieval hygiene of all things. The way I fangirled when Dr Eleanor Janega came into my replies…

Lots of uses for social media

Exactly. Thanks for saying this.

I did not grow up online, but discovered it in my teens initially through the squelching of 300baud modems to connect to BBS, to Usenet, to Internet forums about travel. And agree with you completely. I just want to chat about stuff I am interested in.

I just like glibbing with weirdos and nerds in the same interests as me, and learning new ones.

It's a fascinating thing to realize that a lot of people alive today don't remember a time where it was possible not to have anyone to talk to immediately.

If jobs paid more and sucked less, maybe people would see social media differently

Those of old enough to remember the thrill of Web 1.0 (chatting randomly to someone across the planet - gathering on a Forum with a bunch of fellow nerds in some niche topic - exploring random websites on esoteric topics) - are digital dinosaurs. A lot has been lost in the commodified big tech era.

That's all it was about, really. In the '80s. LOL

hard agree! (followed)

I agree 110%. I love chatting with people, learning new things, engaging with different communities. being on here has made me more interactive with the things I see & I love chatting with people!!

And I love you too, dude. Thank fuck for social media, even if it has its drawbacks.

It also depresses and baffles me that the entire point for social (as in communicative) media has been boiled down into some meaningless way to squeeze out money. Where did we go wrong?

I have friends far younger than I who insist that humans weren't meant to be in contact with so many other viewpoints and that they're healthier off social media, and I can't relate...maybe I follow different types of people or maybe my brain's just warped

Social media to me is a resource to learn. I've followed people I never would have heard of whose expertise has helped me to understand something I didn't realise I needed to know...until I read it. Also, some of you are bloody funny; weird; mad; delightful and bonkers. That works for me

I remember back in the summer of 2001, I finally got a computer with AOL access, and it was so wild to me that I could talk and engage with people that lived hundreds of miles from me. I made friends that I still have as friends today. It was such a great feeling.

This is a result of the monetization of human interactions online. Opinion leaders and pop culture idols have been part of human society from before the internet, but the quick monetization of that through the “influencer” really ruined why people do that.

Social media has been a literal life saver to members of marginalized groups in small towns who have to reach out to build community.

I have to say. We had amazing conversations online in the 90’s and early 2000’s. But we did not have “influencers” or social media where the number of friends you have existed.

I grew up offline and the only people in your circle back then were the ones within biking distance. If you had a friend “overseas” it was a pen pal that you wrote once every few months. It was very vanilla. Fine but vanilla Now I have friends on 4 continents and I game with people from 6 I love it

For some people using social media seems to be purely a job and its obvious to tell who they are.

I guess I'm partially here to promote my writing but I can't remember the last time I actually did that because it's so nice to talk to people or admire their creations or just trade silly little jokes. I think I'd still be on here talking nonsense even if I had like two followers. 🤭

I’m always bummed that when I engage in conversations ppl automatically assume it’s to sell and not purely to interact. Our social structure is so weird, it’s no wonder ppl suck socializing as a whole. The “what can you do for me” mentality, is a virus.

It’s my reason too, the world is too small to ignore the bits you don’t walk past every day. Or to try to turn everyone else into parts of your side hustle.

Me too. In the early days of Twitter, I was having actual convos with authors and artists and even MPs. It was light and interesting.

That was the spirit when all of this started back in 2006. I don’t intend to be nostalgic but we have to find new ways to bring selfless humanity in the mix

Since the pandemic, social media is basically my entire social life. I don’t go out of the house anymore, people cannot be trusted.

Amen.

Fair. I live in Spain, and my love of eating, drinking, and bullshitting about food has me feeling pretty at home.

The biggest failure of the Internet is that it became a place for businesses and not just for individuals and educational institutions. The Internet of 1991 was far from perfect, but it feels like a utopia in my memory.

My main enjoyment on social media is when I post my semi-annual banger dad joke and three people are like “heh, good one”

Like im just genuinely here to have a good time 😭

I came for the cats; I stayed for the owls.

I never had clout (whatever that really is) and don’t want it. But I love learning from the cool people here

I agree. Besides, I can't place a monetary value in the picture you posted of Alf's hog.

Absolutely. It's good for our souls. 🫶✌️

WHATS IN THE BUCKET?!

Plus Internet fame seems like a shameful curse. Can't you just get famous a more respectable way, like serial killer or political sex scandal?

I was never a numbers person. Quality before quantity has always been my motto. I'm 81 and it works if we work it.

I ran a dial up BBS in the 80s. I went through the same explanation when I asked my parents to put in a 2nd phone line that I paid for.

Clout is just Fake Internet Points.

Same!

Wild to think that some people use social media *to socialize* isn’t it

It's like those who want to be famous for ... being famous. But please help me out here, "growing up online"? I don't understand, and especially the growing up part 😊

To me, the Internet (which I am older than) has always been "the Void that Sometimes Shouts Back"

I mourn everyday what the Web used to be. Sure there were many downsides back then, but it was so beautiful to find your own little community and just share your interests with other people. Nobody wanted to sell you anything.

Being online saved my life on multiple occasions. It helped me build communities, find my voice, build a new career, and find my best friends. I love finding people who match my weird, and I will always advocate for the people who need to be amplified to be heard and seen online.

Clout sounds like a disease. I like seeing cool photos and drawings and reading random information about ancient empires or drinking studies(whatever that is). For now, this is a nice place for that. Don’t want disease

yes

I have never once cared about my follower count, and I plan to live that way for a long time (I still get good nerd cred in job interviews from my Slashdot UID being literally “5”, and I’ll take that)

There is nothing inherently wrong or detrimental with using social media in general. Just like any communication tool it can be used for good or bad. But there is nothing better than being face to face in a conversation, period. It just doesn’t get better than that.

Bluesky is what HAM radio was to my father's generation. Except, y'know, it's not in morse code, and you can post pictures and swear and you don't need a license to access it.

A friend of mine doesn’t want to put up any YouTube videos unless he thinks they can be monetized. Like dude just share fun stuff

I literally have no idea how many followers I have. I don’t bother to look, I don’t care. Are there cool things in my timeline? Yay! Am I getting notices that people are following me? Well, it’s their funeral. 😅

I remember being a kid and getting a tutorial from a library worker on how to use the internet. I wanted to look up fish pictures and fish facts. I’m still here for the fish content.

I still get geeked out remembering how unbelievably fascinating it was to talk to my sister seven states away (gasp!) via ICQ, and later, AOL. Wish we could Hot Tub Time Machine our way back and do a few things differently.

Online was huge when I was stuck in a podunk town in the late 90s. And allows me to actually have fun interacting with other people where in real life I have huge anxiety and panic issues

Yes! I remember in ‘94 playing MUD as a 15yo kid from Estonia and chatting to a young teacher in New Jersey. Just blew my mind that a) we could casually do this, b) how her and everyone else there were super chill and helpful. Set the tone for the next two decades for me.

Why wouldn't you want to be on social media, where you can get publicly ostracized to the detriment of your offline life for mildly disagreeing with someone who has said clout?

I’m always confused by the ‘how to expand your brand/ increase your income🤩’ adverts… should I be getting money? What brand? Am I doing life wrong?… I’m on SM to learn from the bigger picture, and to enjoy the intellectual sharing of ideas and moral support. I just want the world to be better 🙏🥰

There's a reason why furries flock to telegram, as like their main form of communication with eachother, I just think apps like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook encourage getting likes where apps like telegram (forums) don't have anything gameifying the process it's just directly talking to someone

Same. I literally wrote a book on this. Some people have legit reasons. But I still think it's worth it. Like most things, you get out of it what you put in.

100%! I started with AOL chatrooms decades ago. Maybe that "ruined" my approach, but using social media to build my podcast audience proved an abject failure immediately. I let people know what's going on, but mostly I'm just here to find out cool stuff from interesting folks and see beautiful pix.

I didn't grow up online (ancient person alert). But I have viewed it similarly because I think of it as a bit like interconnected penpals.

John Perry Barlow, but just for Makin' Friends On Da Web.

I used to love MySpace and Google+ just because I could talk to people from around the world and have good conversations. In my opinion, if you care about clout, you live a sad life.

That's my core reason but now I see a reason to get a little feisty as my country descends. Not on my watch.

The tail wags the dog. Employers, publishers, speakers bureaus, etc, all look at those numbers. They don't get paid for their ideas; they get paid for their reach.

That’s always been my reason too. Keep up with family and friends, meet and talk to interesting people, and get publicly excited about nature and science!

I just wanna talk to my friends who live in my phone man

Definitely in agreement with this. Some of my best friends I met due to online networking.

And there's no annoying random spawn spot or misused OOC channel for it. (Or at least more control over it so you don't hear all the micro transactions going on.)

Semi-related, but that's what depresses me about the spread of Tiktok Speak, too.

It's the best fun!

I remember in middle school I met a British kid on a forum and we emailed each other for a while just to talk about the various rules of baseball and how they compared to cricket. It was just enjoyable to blow someone’s mind with the infield fly rule