[RiverCrochet]

It doesn't matter anymore. Regarding "connections with real people" or "connections with real friends" - the actual social part of social media has moved to group texts.

Aside from iMessage and whatever the equivalent is on Android, there is Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal and Facebook Messenger - and those are basically group text apps. And there are many more such apps. The "town square" idea is dead, you can't fit the whole world into a town and it was silly to ever consider that.

As long as the above exists it doesn't matter to what extent the others become engagement cesspools. What is commonly called "social media" now is the new daytime television. Television had its engagement driven algorithms as well - slower due to the tech of the time, but still there. The content was optimized nationally per timeslot rather than individually.

[enricoleon]

yeah, totally agree, but don't you think people still crave something social that is more open than fixed 1-to-n communication on iMessage and co or predefined Discord servers?

Btw, nice national television metaphor

[RiverCrochet]

I see iMessage and Discord as n-to-n communication - anyone can speak to anyone else typically.

I assume by default that people who want large 1-to-n communication are not interested in actual social activity but rather broadcasting, selling, or proselytizing. They want a podium, or a parasocial Twitter feed-like experience where the speaker can have their say, and the people can comment and either get ignored or immediately countered by trolls or acolytes. The television age's version of this in the 90's was called "Jerry Springer." This is not social.