[jasonladuke0311]

> Which is to say, the move from 3 to 4 strikes me as a move toward "real human interaction," owing to the fact that the "content" there is much less prepackaged Kardashianism and much more "real person sharing real thing."

I believe we are well into number 4 and let me tell you, neither the "person" or the "thing" feels "real". Everything is so contrived, scripted, architected, and manufactured that the entirety of social media feels like The Truman Show at this point.

[jrm4]

So, my take is the following: I still believe that it's all getting "more human," and that this isn't necessarily mutually exclusive of "contrived, scripted" etc. The difference is "Kardashianism" is filtered through big media selling ads, vs. e.g. "TikTok" -- at the point of creation -- is filtered through nothing but the sensibilities of the creator and mostly stays what it was at the point of creation. Ergo, much more human.