Remind Me Again What The Point Of Social Media Was “Supposed” To Be?

Have we “lost” the plot, or did we never actually have the plot?

Obviously the above screenshot is a rich dude try-hard doing what he does best (?) these days and ideologically riling up one side of the continuum for approval. That’s not “social media” so much as “rich guys buy into as much stuff as possible.” That’s an important issue, but a different one. I’m not smart enough to parse that out, and ultimately complaining about capitalism doesn’t do much, because it’s the system we largely understand and revere, even if it’s a bit broken.

I do want to bring in this “Great Delusion Behind Twitter” article by Ezra Klein, which makes a lot of good points and somehow starts discussing Quaker meetings. Here’s a solid graph:

So much genius and trickery and money have gone into a mistaken metaphor. The competition to create and own the digital square may be good business, but it has led to terrible politics. Think of the hopeful imaginings that accompanied the early days of social…