An era of the internet is ending, and we’re watching it happen practically in real time. Twitter has been on a steep and seemingly inexorable decline for, well, years, but especially since Elon Musk bought the company last fall and made a mess of the place. Reddit has spent the last couple of months self-immolating in similar ways, alienating its developers and users and hoping it can survive by sticking its head in the sand until the battle’s over. (I thought for a while that Reddit would eventually be the last good place left, but… nope.) TikTok remains ascendent — and looks ever more likely to be banned in some meaningful way. Instagram has turned into an entertainment platform; nobody’s on Facebook anymore…
I actually really like this take. Maybe this is just social media growing up, becoming more focused and self aware. The fediverse is currently super rough around the edges, but it really knows what it is. That’s more than can be said for pretty much any of the big social networks.
I’m so down for an open, transparent Internet with focused communities and small websites.