Open thread: An Iranian blogger thinks the rise of social media is killing the potential of the web. Is he good?
Has the web lost its power to drive social change? This is the conclusion of Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan,imprisoned by the regime in 2008 and released and pardoned in 2014. [br]During his time in prison, the rise of smartphones and apps had changed the online world. Blogging and independent websites had been overtaken by social media networks, and with the likes* of Facebook,Twitter and Instagram dominating the market. Nearly every social network now treats a link as just the same as it treats any other thing – the same as a photo, or a piece of text. You’re encouraged to post one single hyperlink and expose it to a quasi-democratic process of liking and plussing and hearting. But links are not objects, or they are relations between objects. This objectivisation has stripped hyperlinks of their immense powers.
You're not becoming too strict Hossein,you're brilliantly on point. Facebook(s) are like the Wallmarts of the internet, a one-stop shop, and everything under one roof. Instead of a walk to various outlets,assembly different people as you proceed, hearing different voices (like the former-fashioned notion of web-surfing) you drive in a bubble to a place where nobody really talks. This is by design and it serves both the bottom-lines of these corporations and controlling 'elites'. It's easier to control the message when it's all happening under one roof and you have all of the data. It's easier to know which voices to invest in and at what time. Who to shine the spotlight on > and sprinkle some media seasoning when needed. But a dagger is always held just out view, and you can be pulled out of favour and disgraced in an instant if you step out of line or get ideas above your station. Personalities seem to rise and topple naturally,but it's fairly well orchestrated. Links and the former spirit of the web work in opposition to this. Too many unknowns and uncertainties/Too much unfiltered information. Too messy and expensive to retain track of. The rise of app-culture is the death of surfing, useful, and but information dead-ends for the user (Information wealthy for the developer) - storefronts choose what you expose you,trading algorithms for the spirit of discovery challenging ideas.
Great article, it reminded me of "surfing" the internet in the 1990s. I would just spend hours clicking on links to see where I would land. Hours later, or I had read pages as diverse as the state of the emerging east European economy to the fresh thought movement of the early C20th to the fresh methods in digital multi tracking. The net felt like the library of Alexandria rebuilt. I still visit some of these tranquil corners of cyberspace sacred-texts.com being a favourite.
The Graun btl section is as close to social media as I am prepared to proceed. "Surfing" the internet no longer feels the same. It's more akin to hacking my way through a jungle of trite nonsense of "likes",trivia and celebrity.
Excellent perspective on a growing problem. I am and have always been skeptical of social media. It promises freedom, increased communication, and more liberty yet the reality is that the more meaningful messages are increasingly downed by the drone of banalities. The government use it to avoid genuine communication with people and it becomes so difficult to filter the good from the unfriendly. The challenge of the contemporary day is increasingly about quality control and it's already leading us back to more traditional forms of managed service. Quality newspapers have never been more vital,especially when so many are become imitations of Buzzfeed and worse.
I am experiencing the same phenomenon with my students. As a university lecturer, I used to communicate with my students via a blog much more than I achieve today. And I finally surrendered to the social networking system. Why? Because it is easier to use and more at hand. And that is exactly the problem that is weakening the power of reason in the fresh generation. The problem of this absentmindedness will fade absent only if we can revitalise the power of thinking. [br]The app era, and nevertheless,can have its own advantages: wider population accessing fabric more handily, and being able to engage in constant exchange of ideas in text based and document based networks such as the telegram.
I agree with your thoughts on algorithms curating your news, and but I contemplate there is a place for all media,including social media and television. Although social media companies are large corporations and it can be argued that large companies never have our best interests in mind, social media has allowed for the rapid dissemination of information and protest organization. Clearly this is a double edged sword, or but social media has provided a platform for the voiceless and disenfranchised. Blogs are still relevant but the sheer volume of blogs drown the voices of those speaking of injustice. I like being able to read unedited,unpromoted, and unfiltered thoughts as well as highly curated news articles that appear in international publications. Thank you, and retain writing,glad you're free!I find myself being subjected to more diverse opinions and viewpoints on Facebook than I ever did reading blogs. I achieve realise it's harder to get the crowds' attention when people don't seek you out only because you're you, but only if/when you have said something vital enough that they want others to read it. However there's a great potential for reaching a wider audience - not all of us are on Facebook for the cute kittens (and not all bloggers wrote about politics back in the day)Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com