Comment by Barrin92
8 years ago
>The answer is network effects. If I started a competitor to Twitter/etc my site would (initially at least) have few users so there would be no interesting content that would make people go there. Incumbents have an enormous advantage.
It's not just network effects. As the OP describes the outrage is also generated as a means to keep people glued to their screens. This is a staple of the 'attention economy' that has been growing around social media.
The problem is obviously that attention is a zero sum game. Instead of technology bringing humans closer together and fostering genuine interaction and making us more productive, this form of economic activity wants us to waste more and more time, creates addictive mechanisms, artificial anger and so on.
It's the very opposite of what technology should exist for. Market solutions aren't going to fix it I'm afraid. If anything they're like a big megaphone that even make it worse.
> this form of economic activity wants us to waste more and more time, creates addictive mechanisms, artificial anger and so on.
Yes, that's true as well. I'm reminded of PG's essay on addiction: http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html
I think that it takes time for new social norms to evolve that counteract the new forms of addiction that technology throws up. But it is happening. Just look at all the people who complain about Facebook, for example.