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Tradeoffs in Social Media
Mar. 17th, 2023 08:05 pmOne thing I've accepted is that if I want to have the freedom to avoid some of some of the worst social media issues, I need to be willing to make some sacrifices, because otherwise that's never going to be realistic. There are advantages to the big social media sites that it's just not feasible for smaller sites to emulate. But there are also advantages to smaller social media spaces that you will never have on the large social media sites.
Dreamwidth and Pillowfort and Mastodon can't be Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter, but just as surely, Tumblr and Facebook and Twitter cannot be Dreamwidth or Pillowfort or Mastodon. The big mega-corp run sites are all on a race to the bottom in how they treat their customers. While they've pivoted to more of an emphasis on charging those customers money, this hasn't been to improve their experience or empower them.
I thought for a brief time that perhaps Tumblr having paid options might improve it, but on further reflection it was obvious to me that this by itself would never lead to true change. Because the underlying principles and purpose of the service (to the people running it) hasn't changed. Tumblr started out with no ads and with a very generous nsfw policy. But look at it now. How bad will it have to be before people leave? The answer, as evidenced by Twitter, is either completely unuseable or totally nonexistent. It's like the whole being boiled slowly metaphor. You accept it and you accept it and you accept it until you are simply too weak to leap out.
This is why I have to consider whether I should even keep my account on Tumblr, or whether I need to cut the cord for my own sake. I will miss many people on Tumblr, but I will not miss Tumblr in any capacity. What it once was is gone. What it once was was also an illusion, a venture capitalistic dream, built on nothing but empty promises and privilege. It could never have been sustainable in the environment in which it was produced.
Dreamwidth and Pillowfort and Mastodon can't be Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter, but just as surely, Tumblr and Facebook and Twitter cannot be Dreamwidth or Pillowfort or Mastodon. The big mega-corp run sites are all on a race to the bottom in how they treat their customers. While they've pivoted to more of an emphasis on charging those customers money, this hasn't been to improve their experience or empower them.
I thought for a brief time that perhaps Tumblr having paid options might improve it, but on further reflection it was obvious to me that this by itself would never lead to true change. Because the underlying principles and purpose of the service (to the people running it) hasn't changed. Tumblr started out with no ads and with a very generous nsfw policy. But look at it now. How bad will it have to be before people leave? The answer, as evidenced by Twitter, is either completely unuseable or totally nonexistent. It's like the whole being boiled slowly metaphor. You accept it and you accept it and you accept it until you are simply too weak to leap out.
This is why I have to consider whether I should even keep my account on Tumblr, or whether I need to cut the cord for my own sake. I will miss many people on Tumblr, but I will not miss Tumblr in any capacity. What it once was is gone. What it once was was also an illusion, a venture capitalistic dream, built on nothing but empty promises and privilege. It could never have been sustainable in the environment in which it was produced.