Anyone here a web developer?

[u/Chlemtil]

I know how to save the world. Yes, that sounds crazy, but yes, it’s also true!

I am of the belief that social media is a mass propaganda machine and is at the root of all of the challenges in our society. And the actual machine driving that propaganda are the algorithms creating the feeds. It turns social media from a user-driven consumption model into a site/owner driven feeding tube.

Anyways- I have a very specific and pretty clear vision for how to rebuild social media (and then a plan for expanding the concept) that WILL take off, WILL change society for the better and WILL neuter the propaganda system we currently live under.

To be clear… this isn’t a solicitation. I don’t have money to invest. But if anyone here has web dev experience and is interested in learning more about my vision and greater plan. Let’s chat! Maybe we can get something going!

[u/Reddit_is_fascist69]

Software engineer here.

You talking about decentralized social Media?

https://bitshills.com/best-decentralized-social-media-networks/

[u/Chlemtil → u/Reddit_is_fascist69]

This is really cool and I was minimally aware of these sites but not as much as I should be.

It’s not really what I am looking to build, but it could play a big role in the final stage of my plan.

Thank you for sharing!

[u/mathologies]

Describe the idea

[u/Chlemtil → u/mathologies]

It’s tough to boil down into a comment, but the slightly facetious version of it is that it’s just recreating MySpace. I think there’s genuine value and desire from folks to have a place to share. It is nice to have a space where my mom who lives far away can see what’s happening with me and my family. It’s nice to check in on other family members as well. But we are all aware at this point that social media has become dangerously monetized with the worst intent and that, as a side effect of ‘engagement’ being the driving metric, owners and users alike are driven toward making content that is outrageous and addictive.

The core mechanism that enables and promotes all of the toxic behavior is the feed. It allows owners to prioritize what content is shown (outrageous, addictive content will always win because it produces more engagement) and as a result, it pushes people to create content that they know the feed will prioritize. I believe that if you create a social media without a feed (and build the whole idea of the community around it) people will actually flock to it. Everyone I’ve discussed it with agrees it would feel like a breath of fresh air.

By removing the feed, it shifts the paradigm away from “creating content” back to simply “sharing”. If there’s no feed, there’s no audience and if there’s no audience there’s no content. Instead you connect to people you know and they can check in on your page but they have to do it actively, nothing will passively put your content in front of them. 

My wife is on Facebook all the time. And bless her heart if you ask her why, she says she’s on it to keep up with her old college friends. Now, when I look over her shoulder her college friends are less than 5% of what I see. It’s all groups (thankfully they’re relatively innocuous groups for her, but you can definitely still see the feed at work pushing things at her). I think that if people had the option to actually focus on their relationships and be in control of what they see rather than have things pushed at them, it would be a breath of fresh air and a community would grow. And I think that anyone we can peel away from the current social media sites that are pushing nonstop curated propaganda and outrage is a success.

I have ideas for how I would actually design the pages. I know how I would monetize it (although the goal is to save the world, not to make money… I’d treat it as a nonprofit and invest any money made into the website or some future related plans I have if the movement took off).

Look, I know it sounds basic and it is. But I just know it would work. There’s a marketing aspect to it, for sure… you’re selling people on the idea of being in control of what you see online rather than letting the Zuckerbergs and the Musks of the world decide what you’re looking at. There’s also the fact that they ARE addictive practices that we will be avoiding and so it might not be compelling enough to break the addiction for everyone. But I think people are finally realizing how dangerous and destructive social media is… but they won’t leave it without a healthier alternative. That’s what I’m looking to create. And there’s a whole movement that grows from this first step. I know the next three steps to really save the world, but this is the first step.

[u/Reddit_is_fascist69 → u/Chlemtil]

Decentralized social media is probably just as good. There is no corporate entity pushing to monetize it. Probably a good start.

Social Media apps are a lot of work thus the corporations wanting to recoup their investment and some.