(Fisrt time posting on Lemmy, please be patient)
I don’t know if it was also like this before, but I feel like recently every social media is focused on getting comments, likes, views, people sharing your post, being popular, when the before that (late 199X- mid 201x) was more about being unique and just sharing your own creations and remixes. What makes me feel like this is that whenever I (rarely) open Twitter and go to the homepage most of the posts are something baiting the viewer into commenting or sharing. When your post doesn’t has many interactions or views, you’re deemed as “a failure”. It seems like the (anti)social media is empty with baits and overshared memes. Long gone were the days of being original without having to directly copy someone to have validation and recognition.
Agreed. Probably not unpopular? It’s a big business now for sure focused on ads, propaganda, and money.
Yes. Welcome to lemmy we like to think we are different because we are the rage isnt served to u by the algorithm its served to u by genuine dumbasses so u can get that much more angry at it.
Don’t forget the mass manipulation of public opinion. There are a lot of players out there doing that all the time. From companies making ads that look like silly posts, and paying people or using bots to speak ill of the competition, to media agencies spreading fake news aiming at shifting people’s political views.
I think this is quite the popular opinion, even among people who enjoy social media. I feel many people just accept this is the current state of things. But yeah, the evolution happened as the stress to monetize increased, so anything to keep people on the platform.
If you post something that makes someone stay on platform long enough to see an ad or two, wonderful! The algorithm will bless you with exposure and the emptiness in your soul will be filled with likes.
Social media platforms want to make ad revenue, they need the audience to stick around and they will employ all kinds of psychological trickery to do so.
The high-quality content is still there. It’s just harder to find now. I don’t use Twitter or Facebook (and Lemmy is like junk food for me) but I do read a few interesting blogs regularly and they often link to other interesting blogs.
Do you have any suggestions of how to find good content?