Social Networking Enters the Age of Angst
This is either the age of social networking, or it's not. It's either the future, or it's already a has-been. What the heck is going on?Forbes has printed a thoughtful article on why Google Plus has failed to thrive . The Atlantic has written a piece suggesting Twitter is on the decline . Facebook's interest among teens seems to be slowing, while their "page reach" is down by 50% .
So, what's going on? Is it because, post- Snowden , everyone is tired of being spied on? Has everyone moved on to cooler platforms? Has everyone ditched social networking and gone back to Usenet ? Is it possible, as one author suggests, that privacy is now overtaking sharing on the 'Net? Or has everyone just found something more productive to do, like work in the garden?
[Note: this article has been cross-posted nowhere else. :) Want to comment? Here's the place.]
I think you're right. These 'social networking' sites are just hangouts like any other, subject to fads and people outgrowing 'em. The Hotwheels and Beanie Babies of the internet. Before Facebook and Twitter it was MySpace and before that AOL and Prodigy, and before that it was BBSs, and before that it was snailmail clubs and round-robins. No doubt cavemen had their own hangouts, equally ephemeral.
Which radio stations? I *like* industrial sequenced synth shit. :D