An era of the internet is ending, and we’re watching it happen practically in real time. Twitter has been on a steep and seemingly inexorable decline for, well, years, but especially since Elon Musk bought the company last fall and made a mess of the place. Reddit has spent the last couple of months self-immolating in similar ways, alienating its developers and users and hoping it can survive by sticking its head in the sand until the battle’s over. (I thought for a while that Reddit would eventually be the last good place left, but… nope.) TikTok remains ascendent — and looks ever more likely to be banned in some meaningful way. Instagram has turned into an entertainment platform; nobody’s on Facebook anymore…
idk maybe it’s just frivolous thinking, but imo since social media is corrupted by corporate profiteering brought about by venture capitalists, a social media platform that can be scaled and run very cheaply and in a decentralised fashion (think JUST text posts, all media has to be somehow hosted externally) could genuinely succeed, and be BOTH a mainstream place, while also being friendly to its users, and creating a friendly and cozy environment 🤷♀️