This rambling nonsense was inspired by a conversation on a forum. One of the members was patiently explaining how best to use Facebook, but admitted they also cross-posted the same information to a web site. That struck me as a strange thing to do, doubling all the effort just to ensure the content could be seen by people that didn’t occupy Facebook. Anyway, rambling nonsense…
The Open Web as designed – free and open source
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and the code that underpins it, HyperText Markup Language, in 1990 as a way to help academics share their work more easily on the then new Internet. He gave them to us, the world, to use, freely and without restriction.
You can read more about the history on the Web Foundation’s web site.
The basic foundations of WWW, URI and HTML are still there. Web sites are still the main way for companies and individuals to share stuff. However, enterprises like Meta (née Facebook), X (née Twitter) and Google have built empires on the World Wide Web – and not, I think for the better.
The World Wide Web is still free, as is HTML, and I think we may be seeing something of a resurgence of web sites as people begin to rediscover owning their own spaces on the internet.
Proprietary walled gardens – feed the algorithms, feed the advertisers
Social media is the catch-all term. The idea is to be in the same digital online space as your mates, family, relations, whatever. Social media platforms work best via an app, usually on a mobile phone.
The biggest platform, mainly because it’s outlived several predecessors and rivals, is Facebook. At the last count, over three billion humans are signed up to the place – getting on for half the human population of this planet. Being a member is free. The caveat is once you sign in you become the product the parent company, Meta, sells to its advertisers. Complex algorithms feed posts they think you might be interested in, and advertising, into your timeline. Facebook relies on endless churn of content from its users. Posts about personal life, holidays, births, marriages, deaths, movies, music, fashion, anything. Companies run pages, small businesses run pages. Facebook feeds on and absorbs all of this information, and uses it to target advertising.
I dislike Facebook. I’m not sure I’ve made that clear. During the Brexit referendum campaign, Facebook teamed up with a mob called Cambridge Analytica. Between them, they targeted misinformation at susceptible punters. The morality and legality of such actions remains to be debated, but it’s believed to have had a not insignificant effect in the outcome of the vote. Such misinformation campaigns are very likely to occur during the oncoming US presidential election, and also the impending UK general election. This is a worry for those of us that care about free and fair democratic plebiscites.
Meta has also acquired, or absorbed like an amoeba, other social media empires. Whatsapp, a messaging service, and Instagram, a photo sharing service, and a Twitter rival, Threads, are all part of Zuckerberg’s empire. Whatsapp is, amazingly, used prolifically by politicians of all stripes. I am staggered that no-one has bothered to consider this might be in any way dangerous.
Twitter, since rebranded as X by Elon Musk, appears to circling the plughole. One of Twitter’s founders has launched a rival, called Bluesky. I used to like Twitter. I’m unlikely to head for the wild blue yonder, if reports about Bluesky are to be believed.
The social media space seems to be splitting and reforming. Whether it’s simply regurgitating the old ways again, or it’s for the better, remains to be seen.
Refusenik – Going your own way
At first, I was definitely a social media sceptic. I resisted for quite a while. Then, almost by accident since my employer decided to start using Facebook and Twitter for promoting their business, I found myself sucked in. I became a convert. I did get rather disillusioned with Facebook quite quickly, and eventually closed my account. Twitter lasted a lot longer, but the takeover and decline of that platform has seen me close that down, too. I found a home on a Mastodon server for my instant fix of chatter and information.
Before all the social media stuff, forums were the way to share information, have fun, and make new friends. Well-moderated forums are an excellent use of the Web. I have been a member of two modelmaking forums for many years. I have made firm friends through being a forum member. I have shared experiences, and learned new things, through forums. The good forums have shown staying power.
Sharing and caring – web sites and web logs
What’s my point? Do I have a point? Does it matter? This is a blog, after all!
Like many others, I find myself returning to some roots with this blog, and perhaps a web site or blog for hobby stuff. I have noticed a sort of resurgence and rediscovery of things like RSS feeds, news readers, plain old boring web sites and blogs. It is going to be all but impossible to pry many people away from their favoured social media walled gardens, but if enough of us start to again share our stuff on the free and open web we might just see the tide turn just a tiny bit.