Why it’ll only get worse from here.
Yes! Thank you. I tried to be careful with my wording and I’m glad it came through. Facebook is not “over”, neither is Twitter or shopping malls. But they’re not what they were and the reason they’re not what they were (I feel) really comes down to corporate incentives. Something I found really interesting to learn these past weeks is that Twitter and Reddit are not profitable, which kinda implies that the business model may not really work on that scale. Maybe Steve Huffman isn’t a greedy monster, it’s possible he’s between a rock and a hard place with profitability.
Which if that’s the case, it kind of implies that open source/Fediverse-style social media might actually be the most sustainable kind, as weirdly structured as it is.
Truth is stranger than fiction - e.g. how people are now saying that despite how he was a mod of r/jailbait, he also was not at the same time; and yet still yes too. That complexity used to be handled in the golden era of news by people who genuinely cared at getting to the root of a story and telling the (whole) truth - before all the news outlets got bought up and those who continued to do that were fired, while those who pushed “engagement” (likes, shares, whatever) promoted over them, to make their already-billionaire bosses even moar monay.
Anyway, it’s possible that he is both a greedy monster, and being heavily pushed by those above him - who in fact hired him b/c he shares their values, in order to do exactly that. You were peeling back the onion one layer - yes it’s more the system than Huffman b/c if he weren’t there then someone else much like him would have been - but it’s also him at the same time, as in they pushed but he’s the one deciding how to get it done, and doing those AMAs saying exactly what he said, that’s his choice.
Yes, absolutely please do not interpret my comment as a defense of Steve Huffman haha, moreso a criticism of the structure of incentives he chooses operate within.
You can relax now, we aren’t on Reddit - you are among friendly people here:-). Everything is going to be different now.