Social media platforms: what's wrong, and what's next

Summary

Table of contents: Introduction: WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me (when suggesting to build a social media platform was ok). This is not a joke. Email [email protected]. You’ll get paid when we get acquired. Must bring your own web framework. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before. I think we need a new social media platform to emerge from the web. Now, if the above sentence just sent shivers down your spine as a relic of a bygone era of entrepreneurship (So Mo Lo was parodied over 11 years ago on Silicon Valley), let me tell you why I think it’s still a good idea today. I think social media platforms as they exist currently aren’t serving people correctly, because they are incentivized in the wrong ways: When the platform optimizes for DAUs, it doesn’t care when people create alt / fake accounts, because it boosts the platform’s user numbers When the platform optimizes for engagement, it doesn’t care if content that is posted is clickbait / ragebait / outright lies, because those still boost engagement When the platform optimizes for UGC produced on a platform (comments / submissions / posts / etc), the platform don’t care if that content is generated by bots, or if the content is just blatantly stolen from TV/Movies/YouTube, etc as it gives users more “stuff” to view When the platform optimizes for reach, it doesn’t care if it gives its user’s data up to whoever wants to take it, if it means you can be integrated into more platforms When the platform optimizes for monetization, it doesn’t care that it is selling user data to give advertisers the best way to target, and it doesn’t really care that users are mainly seeing ads vs actual interesting content (except giving them just enough content to make them not close the app) All existing large social media platforms of today use one or more (if not all) of the above methods to incentivize users to consume, engage, and create content on the app — and that’s been the state of the social w...