What I’d like in social media

[cjsmith]

I’m realizing this morning that social media isn’t social. It’s news, or at least the best most of us get for news. (And a poor and unreputable aggregator it is, but that’s another topic.)

What I miss most about social media of days gone by is social contact. There aren’t places like that now. Does anyone even have time for that?

Comments

[nosrednayduj]

I sometimes tweet my personal status, and I use DW exclusively for personal stuff.

So, I guess, yeah, I miss it too, since DW is insufficiently populated.

[wcg]

I worry about people who use FB (or whatever) for news, because it's a terrible way to get news. I still use feedly to aggregate actual news articles, and I sometimes repost an article I get from there to FB in the hope of giving it wider circulation. But I sincerely hope the people who follow me on FB are also getting news from other non-FB sources.

As for social contact, this is about all that's left. Well, this and LJ, but the two are largely mirrors of each other for me. Fortunately I have dances several nights a week to get non-digital social contact.

[lcohen]

i feel like i do get social contact from FB but my flist is very carefully cultivated to be people i actually know in person and i unfollow whenever it seems called for. the problem with FB is that it isn't necessarily a good way to have a conversation with anyone but the original poster--you're never sure who's seen what, when.

i have some social contact here and on LJ (the same stuff from me, but some people never moved over from there) but i can't say that i'm using it the way i used to where i engaged in more conversations with people i didn't know. it really is a journal for me--a good way to keep track of things i do so i can remember when x thing happened. the social contact is welcome but at this point i'd keep doing this even if no one ever commented.

[amaebi]

Could you say what social media you have in mind, as social spaces?

I miss the irc of the old days. But-- to my mind-- it was becoming a place where people periodically and disjointedly ejaculated tech recitations more than a conversation space, and the few times I've popped in during the past decade or so, nearly entirely so, though my sample size is too small.

I do see people having social space/time for themselves on their fb and DW, but it seems to be based on them being considered worthwhile people who matter and are cared about in ways I and many others don't seem to be. And I see people having social space/time on Twitter, based on much the same status or on previous relationships from online or non-online worlds.

[tryslora]

I guess that depends on what you mean by social contact?

The two primary places I live lately are on Pillowfort and Discord.

On Pillowfort, I get the post/discuss of a place like here, along with the reblogs/signal boosts of Tumblr, and I really enjoy the combination. I can choose to consume and interact, and get some lovely conversations going.

On Discord, it's chat based around specific topics (sort of). I belong to a few writing communities there, and they are very very social (one server has sprung up a bunch of off-topic channels because we kept taking over the general channel with so many side topics). But it's there that I can just hang out with friends, whine and kvetch as needed, but also chatter and talk and bond. It's pretty much my rock. On the other hand, it totally depends on people being around and what servers you're on for the drama levels, and I tend to work around fandom and writing servers myself.

[zahraa]

I try to avoid reading the people who mostly post news in favor of those who mostly post personal stuff (which means I miss a lot of M's stuff).