Which Social Media Platforms Do You Use?

[Bohandas]

I do not consider forums to be social media. It is a different animal than places like X, TikTok, FB, etc.

Social media tends to be focused on potentially narcissistic ‘look at me’ activity rather than actual interaction.

Boards like ENWorld tend to be actual discussion and interaction.

This. Until a couple years ago "social media" always referred specifically to sites like Belen describes here (with the added detail of the abusive algorithms mentioned elsewhere). It's only comparatively recently that I've started to encounter people using it in the very broad and literal sense laid out in this thread

 

[Tonguez]

This. Until a couple years ago "social media" always referred specifically to sites like Belen describes here (with the added detail of the abusive algorithms mentioned elsewhere). It's only comparatively recently that I've started to encounter people using it in the very broad and literal sense laid out in this thread

I suppose if you want to get specific Social Media exist across a broad spectrum of platforms depending on who generates content and degree of free 'social' interaction
Topic-Curation Platforms - Pin interest, Tumblr - Topic focussed, minimal social interaction
Creator-Broadcasts - Youtube, Tiktok, Blogs - Creator & Audience interaction
Network Media - Facebook, LinkedIn - Identity-based group interactions/feedback loops
Community Media - Discussion Forums (Enworld), Reddit(?) - Topic based, community generated
Limited Chat Platforms - Discord, Messenger - small group, real time interaction

 

[GrimCo]

Recently reactivated LinkedIn. And boy, was it bad. Amount of self ego stroking, "motivational" posts, circle jerks and all around cringe is worse than it was couple of years ago (and even then it was pretty bad). Once, long time ago, it was decent place to connect with other professionals from same or adjacent field/industry, build network, share info on projects, companies, interesting articles etc. I'm on the fence either to deactivate it again or remove whole bunch of people, specially those in marketing and sales.

 

[Zardnaar]

I can understand the desire to differentiate places like ENWorld from other social medias.

I think when most people think of "Social Media" they think of the big, algorithm driven platforms like FaceBook, X, Instagram, or similar. Platforms that exist for the sole purpose of harvesting our data, maximizing our usage time, and selling ads.

We kind of compartmentalize the more "wholesome" sites like this one, where it's community forward, and the ads are more tertiary.

At the base level though, all of the above listed sites are platforms that aggregate content for people to create, share, discuss, and consume content with other people.

ENWorld is most definitely social media.

Forums predates social media as casuals would understand it.

Technically correct maybe but I'm not thinking of forums when someone says social media. Ymmv of course.

 

[Belen]

Forums predates social media as casuals would understand it.

Technically correct maybe but I'm not thinking of forums when someone says social media. Ymmv of course.

This.

Social media arose from places like MySpace and were corporate ad vehicles.

Forums are places for conversation and interaction.

Companies started shutting down forums because they did not help sell the product and they were sources for accountability.

Forums also tended to be community-driven spaces rather than individual-driven corporate owned. Corporations then mass the product worse while deploying addictive algorithms.

Forums do predate social media and are much different beasts.

 

[Zardnaar]

This.

Social media arose from places like MySpace and were corporate ad vehicles.

Forums are places for conversation and interaction.

Companies started shutting down forums because they did not help sell the product and they were sources for accountability.

Forums also tended to be community-driven spaces rather than individual-driven corporate owned. Corporations then mass the product worse while deploying addictive algorithms.

Forums do predate social media and are much different beasts.

Well they might technically count.

But yeah theyre different.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Forums do predate social media and are much different beasts.

While different flavors have differences, I think this ignores how much some of them overlap (particularly Discord and Reddit).

 

[trappedslider]

call me simple, but i classify forums as social media because you are being social by discussing things

 

[Scribe]

While different flavors have differences, I think this ignores how much some of them overlap (particularly Discord and Reddit).

Neither Discord nor Reddit function as a forum does.

Discord is just a stream of thought essentially, one big long thread. The other, is actively toxic in how it controls discussion.

They are not forums.

 

[Bohandas]

it's idiomatic!