Social Networking Enters the Age of Angst

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in internet on (#3JY)
story imageThis 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.]

Re: Maybe this says more about journalists? (Score: 2, Insightful)

by reziac@pipedot.org on 2014-05-06 03:15 (#1DT)

Good points. I also like Slashdot, Pipedot, SoylentNews for making it *painless* to talk to interesting strangers over the internet. It's not *work*. Facebook is such a pain to parse, such a poor work-to-gain ratio, that it's not worth the bother (I've regretfully abandoned a group that's fairly important to me because the group owner migrated us to Facebook, and I can't stand slogging through that mess every day). And I could deal with a little monetization if it didn't negatively impact me as a user, but this "like" everything in sight has diluted the concept to "barely noticed in passing".

Oh yeah... Howdy, stranger!
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