The walls are closing insteemCreated with Sketch.

in socialmedia •  6 years ago  (edited)
We might not be quite there, it might not be the time for the migration so to speak to happen, but one can't deny the signs are there, and the trajectory has already been predetermined. This is to say that no matter how we slice it, social media as it stands today won't last that much longer.



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Oh, but the tech!


There are plenty people who complain that dapps built on blockchains are nothing more than poorly made clones. For the most part, I do understand where they are coming from. This is to say that in the world of blockchains we are still quite far away from having platforms that are as friendly to all users as the mainstream counterparts. But, we can't fail to see things within their time frame, and also remembering the early days of social media, would give us the needed perspective.

Let's not forget that there was a time when a 5 minute video took hours to download, and let's also not forget than when youtube first started, you could not even pick what video you wanted to see, it would actually pick for you. Of course most of us have forgotten this, and see the tech today, more than a decade later, when it's been polished and re-imagined more times than we can count.

The point being that to anyone who practices honesty it should be easy to see that it's only a matter of time. I full speculate that within just a few years, blockchain technologies would have not only caught up, but surpassed their mainstream counterparts and not only specifically on the social media solutions.

If there was a way for one of us to experience youtube for example, when it was still in its infancy, with less than two years of development (dtube is very young), you would find yourself wondering how such a defective product was ever used, but then again, you judge standing in your knowledge of the now, knowing the technical possibilities of today.

Then, they peaked


All social media apps went to the moon so to speak. Within their niches, within the personalities they were design to cater to, each of today's giants perfected it's webbing. Like many others, I'm old enough to remember the early days of facebook too, twitter, and how everyone was welcomed to their respective virtual homes.

If you follow stocks, not that you should, you would also be aware of their financial peaks. When facebook went from being a great idea to the financial behemoth that absorbed or swallowed to be more accurate, the competition along the way.

Widely revered as one of the most powerful people in the world, Zuckerberg became not just a meme for corporate greed, but someone who's actions and inactions affect humanity as a whole almost, and I wish that was hyperbole. Of course the lawsuits have occurred, of course we are now supposed to know better, but the gavel has not been slammed yet, not quite, however we are not that far.

On their way to extinction


The once green foliage that made the social media ecosystem so vibrant, is beginning to wither and this is very apparent to anyone who wants to see. Rounds and rounds of censorship, or "cleaning" as they would call it, have left at this point, hundreds of people without a voice.

It seems to me that almost weekly someone is getting deplatformed. Whether it's an Alex Jones, or a Sargon of Akkad, any voice who is not clean enough for the "health" of their ecosystem is being literally kicked out, and effectively silenced.

You might be aware that Tumblr has made some headlines recently because of this very issue, and plenty of people are literally being told to go elsewhere. Now, depending on where you stand this is either a tragic time, or good news, and I stand with the latter of course.

What Censorship?


Imagine the possibilities my friends, it's not hard to do, not even a little bit. I can clearly see the process in my mind as if I was witnessing it this very second. A content creator feeling down, feeling kicked in the gut by "the powerful", finally taking a peek into this whole blockchain thing that people keep on talking about.

From there, from that forced discovery, they would be able to see once and for all what true freedom looks like, what decentralization can offer. Immutable transactions? Immutable....

Once that idea sets in, once they understand what it means to not have to worry about not being mainstream enough, clean enough, etc, then my friends, there will be no going back.

If you are still skeptic, I don't blame you, but before you go I'll let you in on a little secret: Youtube's newest chess move is to not pay it's content creators with ads anymore, but force them to do streaming and super chat payments. Then, as if that is not ugly enough, they take a 30% cut off the top.

Now tell me, and be honest with me... Are the walls not closing in?

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Nah, they have huge advantages and are also humongous in user acquisition in development nations (with growing middle classes).

Free Facebook deals with mobile telcos. Free YouTube bandwidth on capped dataplans plans and mobile databases. Those are things all happening right now. Happening because those platforms have the war chests, reputation, and scope on fiduciary duties which makes fighting abusive behavior a focus to comply with what their advertisers want to pay for.

And, if you generate sufficient display, they take even less than 30%.

But those are evolutions after more than a decade. We’re still in the dotcom stage, where we are fighting for the awareness and potential to be acknowledged by mainstream. While they’re fighting for addiction based buy-in by being the cheapest platforms people adopt. They’re playing net neutrality in a different way in new markets, in a way which gains them a massive new userbase.

We want the next 10 million, they want the next billion users and are also finding ways to extend the usual average user lifespan.

They fight on a total different level and a totally different war. We fight for adoption, they work for continued monopoly. All assets we use... not even a blip on their radar. Contrarily, by complying with the wishes of their customers they expand their reach but silencing the hostile opinions.

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Many are also finally realizing that we have become their product for our data and privacy. This has become more prominent as they continue to tailor our experiences to optimize their profits not our needs. A shifts is occurring and I just hope we can take advantage of the opportunity in front of us!

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Very nice piece! The end is a natural outcome..

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Upvoted and resteemed. This was very insightful. Thanks for posting. :)

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Interestingly a friend told me that just today a friend of hers had her Pinterest account closed for pinning things on vaccine damage and natural medicines.

Will these things fail? Not necessarily. The people they're "cleaning" could be classed as extremists or kooks and there aren't that many of them comparatively. Even if YouTube make it hard for 90% of people to be able to earn on there, people still want to watch entertaining videos of cats on roombas and the like. Anything informative might go by the wayside though as it's entails more work and there's little point if its not an earner.

If they crack down quickly enough and stamp out undesirables, they might yet get people back under control. It will be interesting to see how things play out. I know which way I hope they'll play out...

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Como dice el dicho; "No todo lo que brilla es oro".

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We should start targeting all these outcasts with an ad campaign.

"Steemit... We welcome all undesirables, extremists, kooks and the unclean"