Social networks and information delta

Social networks are not social anymore - mostly. What started from a need (or idea about it) of interactions between people in digital form, has drifted away from it, towards more tangible outcome - ads/sales driven revenue.

My personal usage of social networks has evolved over a time, and now I'm settled mostly on one. The one unlikely for many people - X (former Twitter).

Why?

I was always a social media person... even before social media.

That's probably something in my personality, being an introvert, raised behind the iron curtain... but since I got access to the Internet I was kind of "social media" person, even if it didn't existed.

It started with access to Usenet and local chats at the university, going through technical (mostly) forums, playing and managing MUD (on-line, text based RPG worlds), having blog in different incarnations since 1999 and heavy usage of instant messaging.

I haven't analyzed it, but once on-line, I was always drawn towards some kind of the community.

With social media explosion I was "IN". And "IN" big time - I've used Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Google Plus (that one was interesting) and many others (also some local sites from Poland).

That was probably where "social" part of my introversion has kicked in.

It lasted for a while, until you realized that it all started to turn into one, giant use grinding machine, to be packaged and sold for advertisements.

Then I've started the process of cutting it off one by one and changing my social media usage patterns, that evolves to this day.

There's no reason to be on majority of social media sites, unless...

... you are selling something. That's hard truth a lot of people will deny, citing number of reasons. And these reasons will be probably true, but those, that makes sense, are coming down to selling something.

Selling doesn't mean selling a thing. It might be idea, your job profile, your service, network, expertise. You name it. Places like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others changed into one giant marketplaces.

The biggest thing people sell on those marketplace is the idea of their life, self and what they have, that they want others to belief. Or they believe in it by themselves.

Any social element is mostly gone, and it will be gone even faster with AI being used for content creation.

If you are not selling something and you are still using these sites, you are being sold or sold to. Nothing wrong, just be aware of it.

BTW - to be completely frank, I was and sometimes I'm still there to sell something. It isn't that I'm somehow immune from it or higher social media being.

Information delta

So why I'm still there and what I'm looking for. The answer was named, during one of recent coffee meetings with one of friends.

INFORMATION DELTA

What I know about the world and things that interests me is what I can find in my bubble. My bubble, as every bubble, has a limit of what I can find, what I can learn, what people around me can tell me from their expertise.

Breaking out of this bubble is hard.

So besides everything else, what I'm looking for is information delta - what is out there, that might be helpful or interesting, that I'm missing and I will not stumble upon, unless I will somehow "find it."

It might be something as trivial as source of new books or movies, an idea someone will throw around with a link, an article or YT link to an interesting video or... some concepts and research around health or investing ideas and research.

Social network site, can act as a sensing machine, that delivers this "information delta". Why?

It is grouping various individuals, with them acting in their best, self-interest. It might the "selling" mentioned above, but sometimes it is also just sharing what they've found, what they do, what they are interested in.

It has a scale (or at least it has to have a scale to be useful), that exposes you to the variety of these ideas in a quantity.

And it has to have variety of these views, ideas and different angles that you are interested in.

Please note, that I'm not ringing the bell of "freedom of speech" here, that many raises. It is hard problem and nuanced and my co-host on a podcast, Sebastian, did a great job writing about it on his No-Kill Switch blog: Why freedom of speech is a wicked problem.

What I'm not looking for from social networks

I'm searching for information delta, but what I'm not looking for from social networks is their social side.

Yes, I like to interact with people. Yes, I have my "guilty pleasure" in getting sometimes into heated and opinionated discussions under posts or in threads. Guilty as charged, I even sometimes start such threads.

Social aspect is not what I'm looking for. I'm not there to make friends (however it might happen) or to maintain relationship with people or to share "updates on my life".

Even if I still maintain all of above in the digital form, I don't look for social networks for it. I've created over a time my own version of social media and it is where it happens (separate write up about it might come in the future)

X/Twitter... (un)likely winner

Through the evolution of my approach and needs towards the social network, I now settled on one. The one that was doomed to go into extinction, collapse and become irrelevant.

X.

Facebook and Instagram are nothing else than constant stream of ads, content that are selling things or selling people for me. Nothing interesting there. Especially being on Instagram if you are not a content producer or selling there is pointless. You are just a target.

LinkedIn has become a self-reinforcing circle of cringe forms of providing insights and feeding the funnels. It has become more cringe over time but in a wrong way. People trying to fake things, just to provide some insights, that leads to them providing a remedy for it in form of their company, expertise or course.

There are still some single voices there that says something interesting. Otherwise it is a constant stream of predictable "takes" on something that had happened.

And that leaves us with X.

X is providing what I'm looking for. A variety of ideas and voices, in the different forms (short, long, blog posts, articles, takes, videos, spaces), that are exchanging the ideas.

X was doomed by people when Elon took it over, as he has played on his "freedom of speech" card and it went sideways. In the end, Elon (with all my views on his actions) is good thing that had happened to X.

Even when people started to abandon Twitter on masses and flock to different alternatives (I was cheering for BlueSky but in the end I think it had failed), I made a point, that Twitter/X will not fall and will be better over time.

Why?

Bubbles

When people were looking for alternatives they were forming new bubbles. Some people went for the Mastodon, some for BlueSky and other sites.

It wasn't the appeal of these platform that brought them there. It wasn't a vote "for" these platform. It was vote "against" that made them make the switch.

It wasn't even vote against the platform or how it works. It was mostly vote against Elon and his view and/or actions.

That's fine - I'm not huge fan of Elon's myself in his political/activist persona (still you have to give him a credit as a builder). But you know what ... just mute this dude and you will not see him ever again.

New platforms or people moving towards existing platforms, were creating new division lines across views. They were forming bubbles of convictions and ideas.

I wasn't looking for new bubbles to be in or new social circle that will look at X and Elon and bitch about it. I was looking for information delta. So I stick with X.

Side note: I had a lot of hopes for BlueSky, and I still think that technically what it is built upon is a good direction. Yet, after initial try, now I'm seldom there as the bubble it formed was a bit too strong for me :).

X/Twitter can be chaotic, full of erratic people, hard content and opinions on a borders of what is accepted. (BTW - like any of those sites)

Yet, it delivers fast and diverse source of information, whitepapers, news ideas and concepts. If you are staying on other sites, like Facebook or LinkedIn you are reading chewed and spitted version of these same news and ideas, just a week later. Even for a news or what is happening in the world, it can be much faster than other sites, not to mention the traditional media.

How can I stay there and use it? The answer is simple.

Pick your interest, block and mute at will... and then block and mute even more

Block and mute are two best functions of X. I use them all the time and I use it often. I think all the platforms should implement it, in the same way (they won't).

You want to get your information delta on X? Here's a short recipe.

1. Pick who you follow and curate this list. You don't follow friends etc. - you follow complete strangers who says something interesting. If they don't - unfollow them. It isn't personal action in any form.
2. Put people in the lists and use them to read what is interesting for you. I have all kind of lists on X. If I feel like I want to go into specific topic or social circle, I just open one of them. If I just want to kill time, see something completely out of my circles or I'm in the mood for some social brawl - I will just open algorithmic feed".
3. Block and mute all people and topics that are not in your interest. New drama related to some personality... mute the name of this personality and it disappears form your feed. Someone bitching on politics - block the dude. Someone is jerk in the comments without merit - block him. It does wonder to the quality of what you are seeing.

And... that's it. I mean, that's literally it.

It is like reinforced learning - amplify and curate what works for you. Block/mute what is a distraction or noise.

Facebook/Instagram and LinkedIn will not let you, or at least not in that easy way to block or mute with ease. Why? Because it goes against their business model and algorithms.

Imagine that you would block "B2B sales" on LinkedIn and "AI insights from McKinsey report" and think what would left there?

Do you see this empty wall? I can see it clearly.

It is a tool, not a life

Yet, useful as it is, X is a tool. Not perfect, plagued with AI as all other sites and sources.

For now, for me it is best tool to search for "information delta". If I would have to name the second or third tool, it would probably go towards Substack and YouTube.

You should not mistake it with a life. Life is not lived there. It is lived outside of it.

Check-out, touch the grass how they say. If you see that you are getting too emotional about it, you spend too much time there - just drop it.

Uninstall the app, block the site and forget about it.

Now, I go for a run in this gorgeous, fall weather that had happened here, where I've happened to be at the moment.