We're witnessing the end of social media. It’s over. Facebook is in decline, Twitter in chaos. Mark Zuckerberg’s empire has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value and laid off 11,000 people, with its ad business in peril and its metaverse fantasy in irons. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has caused advertisers to pull spending and power users to shun the platform (or at least to tweet a lot about doing so). It’s never felt more plausible that the age of social media might end—and soon.

I actually started a blog about this very subject but on Friend's Realm. Adding the link here in case anyone would like to comment at this thread on Tech's. Friend's Realm- Has Social Media Reached it's peak? https://friendsrealm.com/blogs/2/42/has-social-media-reached-it-s-peak Since I posted this several months ago, I'm not sure I feel the same that "social media has reached it's peak". I think the mega media moguls are going to continue to churn out new products in the effort to keep their multi-billion dollar media complexes flush with money and users. What I always question is what is the pull to these large websites where you think you may have all of the privacy settings set, but often they expose your private data and other nefarious access points that you really don't know "they" have pried? For me personally, I favor the smaller niche websites where "everyone knows your name" *circa 1982 to 1993 Cheers.

Web Diva said: I actually started a blog about this very subject but on Friend's Realm. Adding the link here in case anyone would like to comment at this thread on Tech's. Friend's Realm- Has Social Media Reached it's peak? https://friendsrealm.com/blogs/2/42/has-social-media-reached-it-s-peak Since I posted this several months ago, I'm not sure I feel the same that "social media has reached it's peak". I think the mega media moguls are going to continue to churn out new products in the effort to keep their multi-billion dollar media complexes flush with money and users. What I always question is what is the pull to these large websites where you think you may have all of the privacy settings set, but often they expose your private data and other nefarious access points that you really don't know "they" have pried? For me personally, I favor the smaller niche websites where "everyone knows your name" *circa 1982 to 1993 Cheers. We can seldom envisage big names disappearing but 20 years (maybe more) ago FriendsReUnited was the 'big thing', now no more. If I recall before Google it was alta vista, also Lycos, remember the black labrador? AOL is a shadow of its former self. Yahoo is merely a name. I think the various censorships being blatantly enforced along with the various Government so called 'safety acts' enforcing encryption breaking will signal a major change. The techie community will find a way to overcome this Government control being exercised, maybe, as you have eluded to, smaller niche sites will be the way forward as much of the 'control legislation' is aimed at organisations with huge user bases. Maybe back to the days of fidonet and BBSs. Geffers

I agree @Geffers....hard to imagine what will be "in" or "out" in twenty years, however, Facebook, Twiitter "X" and Linkedin seem to still be thriving on the top (early circa 2000's) and of course there are others with a bit of a different brand, such as Reddit and Discord that are very popular.

There was a discussion on NZ about Friendster and another website like FriendsReUnited that discussed their reach to the top and then their downfall. Here's the link from NZ; post #27.

https://nerdzone.uk/threads/why-its-so-hard-to-start-a-forum-nowadays.526/page-2#post-2850

Two links within post #27 maybe of interest.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/20/mark_pesce_40_years_in_tech/

https://www.theregister.com/2003/11/05/why_the_friendster_bubble_has/

I ponder the future of internet/website tech as to what will really be here in 5 years then 10 years? So we now have blockchain tech, decentralized websites (which I think is just a gimmick), NFT's (non fungible token's) and of course AI tech is really morphing into mega tech with lots of different applications. "They" want to make a future internet called Web 3. How will Web 3 look and does that allow for the creation of more unique websites or will "they" shrink the competition and make sure there are only a few choices for social communication? I probably think too much, lol....but I know how much I enjoy the internet and I'm grateful we all have the opportunity to communicate through various mediums. I'm kind of in the "don't break what's not broken" right now, however, new tech that makes the internet better is welcome as long as it doesn't put the kibosh on the little guy.

Funny that AOL still exists and I can still remember the "yahoo" slogan when it was beginning.

Censorship is big and will put a real "hush" on the internet if the governments don't stop messing with it, which a lot of this started because of censorship as conservatives voices were being demonetized, because of the controlling few (eg. Google) were taking their posts and messages off... which I think is wrong.

Encryption is big and thanks for the video you shared on NZ. I'd go back to fidonet if it meant that message boards had a better change of thriving.

Thanks for your thoughts!

T.~

I'm not sure if it's reached it's peak yet, but saying that, I do see that the mainstream sites are in decline! Now, I have Twitter (X), Facebook and Instagram accounts but I hardly ever actually post on them. Twitter (X) I just view every now and then because I follow people about cats and animals, I do find some funny and interesting things on there, never post though! Instagram, again never post and to be totally honest I don't really see the point in it! Facebook, well, I do look at it everyday, rarely post, but I do follow a couple of support groups on there (@Web Diva will understand!) and keep in touch with a few people from my own support group. That being said, I would say that probably about 80%+ of what I see posted on FB is absolute meaningless drivel! Too many meaningless ads as well might I add! However, may I digress a little? When it comes to niche websites where people/members are actually interested in something and have meaningful things to say and discuss, maybe these websites, FB in particular, may actually be doing us a favor by keeping this meaningless drivel off our sites? Maybe we will see a new era of small niche websites again making a comeback?

I do too...I'm just holding on for that special group of people that will realize how cool and fabulous niche websites really are and we will be there with an open door and waving when they arrive I'm the same on X, I don't do anything with it, just don't know what to do, lol...facebook, just there to wish people happy birthday and stay connected because it seems that people rather share their life milestones in a major announcement rather then a personalized text message or phone call these days. Instagram, I don't have an account, but my husband does. On X/Twitter, I get why you look at the cat and animals stuff, some really cool posts there and I do get the groups on facebook that you like to stay involved with. To paraphrase; facebook is totally drivel, yes it is and even some of the posts from friends, well at least my friends..lol. Sometimes, I'm astonished. From @Mark Ransome; this really spoke to me. When it comes to niche websites where people/members are actually interested in something and have meaningful things to say and discuss, maybe these websites, FB in particular, may actually be doing us a favor by keeping this meaningless drivel off our sites? Maybe we will see a new era of small niche websites again making a comeback? A positive of FB that you recognized that they only have the drivel and the niche websites have the meaningful content. Kewl!! I'm going to hang on to that!

@Mark Ransome, you might have seen this new development in Meta, but thought I'd share, just in case. Meta is being sued by 42 attorney's generals because their features are addictive to kids. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/24/bipartisan-group-of-ags-sue-meta-for-addictive-features.html A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general is suing Meta,alleging that features on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms are addictive and are aimed at kids and teens, the group announced Tuesday. The support from so many state attorneys general of different political backgrounds indicates a significant legal challenge to Meta’s business.

Web Diva said: @Mark Ransome, you might have seen this new development in Meta, but thought I'd share, just in case. Meta is being sued by 42 attorney's generals because their features are addictive to kids. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/24/bipartisan-group-of-ags-sue-meta-for-addictive-features.html A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general is suing Meta,alleging that features on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms are addictive and are aimed at kids and teens, the group announced Tuesday. The support from so many state attorneys general of different political backgrounds indicates a significant legal challenge to Meta’s business. Odd world we live in, concerned about computer addiction but less so about gender reassignment. Geffers

@Geffers, so true. The world has become odd to us too. Hardly recognize the US. The values we were brought up by seem to have disappeared.

Web Diva said:

Has Social Media reached it's Peak? Is the end near and we are about to witness a massive transformation away from the attachment to the major social media networks?

We're witnessing the end of social media. It’s over. Facebook is in decline, Twitter in chaos. Mark Zuckerberg’s empire has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value and laid off 11,000 people, with its ad business in peril and its metaverse fantasy in irons. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has caused advertisers to pull spending and power users to shun the platform (or at least to tweet a lot about doing so). It’s never felt more plausible that the age of social media might end—and soon.

Hmm, that's interesting. You never really think of these kind of platforms going away, but it makes sense people would slowly taper off as society changes. I feel like it's most likely because the newer generation finds different ways to communicate rather then the most common social medias. Like for example, I mostly use discord, but I almost never find myself on Facebook when it comes to communicating with friends of my same age group.