Turmoil in social media makes the future shaky!
There has been an alarming development in the rise of social media. It all started with Six Degrees (1997) Friendster and Myspace(2003), which were later overtaken by Facebook(2004) and Twitter (2006, now X).
Ordinary people were given the opportunity to express their opinions or experiences to friends and acquaintances, which also opened the possibility of a new network of contacts all over the world, for those who wanted to.
The biggest breakthrough was Facebook, as the name suggests, your book with your face. This has later been abused with the help of fake images and identities. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, followers entered the competition.
Today we have: Flickr, Reddit, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Quora, Snapchat, Telegram, Discord, Tik-Tok, Clubhouse, Bluesky You Tube and Google+. (Maybe even more?)
It has all developed into Big Business!
Unfortunately the economic impact thereby forgets the real people and members, behind the success, who have built this enormous network of contacts.
The first Big Business turmoil happened when Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, a brand that reflects his business empire, with many still continuing to call it Twitter, even though the purchase price was $44 billion.
Recently there are rumors of a new big purchase of the absolutely most popular media group, Tic-Tok! The American billionaire Frank McCourt has made a bid through his Project Liberty, which is not yet official, but it must be a gastronomic sum for the Chinese owner, ByteDance, to accept.
Challenging Big Tech
Frank McCourt is a former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a construction and technology entrepreneur who wants to use his business to benefit society and therefore started Project Liberty a few years ago to counter Big Tech, which in his opinion has gone off the rails.
The constant surveillance, the exploitation of our data in a way we could never have imagined. The problem with social media that threatens our democracy by optimizing for polarization.
Media conflicts.
This development to improve the relationship between writers and companies has also been discussed in recent days by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg after pressure regarding free speech rights. This follows a number of attacks by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, who have criticized the right to censor in the media.
A significant reason for this discussion has its origins in Tik-Tok’s possible ban on publishing in the US market, as its government suspects that the Chinese government has political influence in Tik-Tok. This ban could possibly be lifted if an American owner of Tik-Tok becomes available.
In the midst of these great powers on the battlefield, writers and members of social media groups have a hard time making themselves heard. A utopia would be for EVERYONE to stop posting! But this is unlikely because it has all become a huge money game instead of a family network.
Finally, I would like to mention the danger that these social media pose to our new generation of children, who are constantly being manipulated, without control. Facial scanning should be introduced, so that younger children cannot access all the fake and other garbage posted by adults.
Let common sense convince the giant media owners to restore order. I am prepared to say a prayer, to that end.
Thanks for reading my post.
#Windmush / #curtbergsten
