There is a "vibrancy" to social networks that are growing that is difficult to quantify or even explain. I'm still on IRC, I'm still on some phpbbs that the average age of the users must be somewhere in the middle 50s, and which might get 10 new sign ups every year. They started out big, but the attrition is much greater than any growth (I doubt that most of the new signups even stick around).
That's why social networks seem so magical early on, not only is everyone you like maybe on them, but there will be new people in the next week, month, or year that you'll like too. New things and new ideas are possible. But at some point, this turns sour. Eternal September describes that phenomenon, I think, but doesn't explain it well.
In some unfortunate networks, I think the latter can come even before the former (preempting it, making it impossible). You don't ever get the golden age.
Mastadon looks alot like this. Ignoring the politics, it looks alot like Voat did, and all the "we didn't learn the lessons of Voat" reddit alternatives that came after. It's almost as if you can't build a social network as a refugee tent city and make anything that anyone wants. Maybe that's the problem. In such a place where everyone is fleeing, there is nothing new there. It's all the same old people who were at the last place with you, there is nothing new about it.
That's why social networks seem so magical early on, not only is everyone you like maybe on them, but there will be new people in the next week, month, or year that you'll like too. New things and new ideas are possible. But at some point, this turns sour. Eternal September describes that phenomenon, I think, but doesn't explain it well.
In some unfortunate networks, I think the latter can come even before the former (preempting it, making it impossible). You don't ever get the golden age.
Mastadon looks alot like this. Ignoring the politics, it looks alot like Voat did, and all the "we didn't learn the lessons of Voat" reddit alternatives that came after. It's almost as if you can't build a social network as a refugee tent city and make anything that anyone wants. Maybe that's the problem. In such a place where everyone is fleeing, there is nothing new there. It's all the same old people who were at the last place with you, there is nothing new about it.