[thepuppet33r]

Hacker News (as much as I would like for it to be) is not and likely will never be the mainstream.

Even posting a link has friction, compared to the "share now" or retweet options.

I love the format and Hacker News in general, but you're kidding yourself if you think most people will pivot from X to HN and that it is a viable alternative for them.

[xtiansimon]

?? I believe you're reacting to my reference of HN as the specific, and not example of what I'm referring to as the best use of social media--all social media.

> "Even posting a link has friction, compared to the 'share now'...".

Sheesh. I can only imagine what is your interest in personal expression--seems diabolical.

[thepuppet33r]

> Sheesh. I can only imagine what is your interest in personal expression--seems diabolical.

Think about the older people or not tech-heavy people in your life and try to imagine them building their own website from scratch or using a hosting platform, marketing it on various socials, doing what you're recommending. It's not impossible, but people go with the lowest friction option.

I personally go through times where I try to be active online, engage with people, and share my life experiences and knowledge, both on my website and on my few social accounts. I do this largely to build my personal "brand" so that when I move jobs, I can point to my website and all that it aggregates as a supplement to my resume.

However, I usually hit a point where I realize that most anonymous online communication ends up facilitating name calling and other negative behaviors, and I get tired of people accusing me and others of things, and then I drop off the Internet for a while.

I don't know what I stated about how the non-techy people in my life think ("share now" being easier than posting a link on HN) is diabolical.

Your recommendation of using social media as just a boost/plug for your website is great if the person has the wherewithal and interest to create a site in the first place. That's not how the non-techy and older people in my life think, and not how they ever will think without some substantial incentive and training.

[xtiansimon]

> "...both on my website and on my few social accounts. I do this largely to build my personal "brand" so that when I move jobs, I can point to my website and all that it aggregates as a supplement to my resume."

Ok. I mistook your criticism as a strong belief about how people should/will/must use the internet in the future.

OP is describing the history of the internet before social networks. They focus on the people who were online, who made simple websites using HTML, and the sites are still visible today. You suggest "older people or not tech-heavy people" would not do this. I think the OP would disagree or simply say those who want to be on the web can do it, It's relatively easy, your ambitions can be simple and that simplicity is more authentic than just sharing links from your profile on a Social Network.

I wanted to add it's not an either/or proposition. Social Networks, pointed to your personal work, are very powerful way to be on the internet--and HN is an example of this.

[BehindBlueEyes]

It can become an either / or proposition with age.

At 80+, with 1-2h left to use outside self care, chores and naps independently, you go where you get social connections (if you can even sit in front of a computer without experiencing pain). Facebook lets you reconnect with extended relatives, friends from old blogging/web rings that shut down, kids and grand kids are on there... You can post a couple stories and/or share some photos in those 2 available hours, see comments on previous ones and see what happens in other people's lives, comment on their posts...

Compare that to hand coding (proudly still using front page), fixing inevitable bugs, figuring out over and over again how to use FileZilla and connect to your servers and publish the update ... Those 2h likely won't be enough to publish a single page, and you won't interact with anyone during that time. There's no time (nor interest) to learn a whole new system either that would make this easier in the long run, and why would you when there is an easier to use alternative that fulfills the need anyway?

And this is using examples from people i know that have an interest and some basic skills in web programming and overall comfortable with computers, which isn't that common i assume.

[thepuppet33r]

> I think the OP would disagree or simply say those who want to be on the web can do it, It's relatively easy, your ambitions can be simple and that simplicity is more authentic than just sharing links from your profile on a Social Network.

I think this may be the pivotal point here: Social media drove everyone online, even without those interests and that sense of authenticity. I kept getting hung up on the idea that those people who are there only because of the simplicity and ease of use would never pivot to the effort of making their own websites. But I see your point now.

It'll be interesting to see how the new wave of social media (Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky) fares over the next few years.