commit: 0a919128878e4be762c0e1950cf4ae4c3551cee6
parent 0579704b840d4b183d2c453132e3a299f0825ff1
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2023 12:50:18 +0200
Parasocial media
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diff --git a/content/blog/Social-and-parasocial-media.md b/content/blog/Social-and-parasocial-media.md
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+---
+title: Social media and "parasocial media"
+date: 2023-06-30
+---
+
+A few months ago, as Elon Musk took over Twitter and instituted polices that
+alienated many people, some of these people fled towards federated, free
+software platforms like Mastodon. Many people found a new home here, but there
+is a certain class of refugee who has not found it to their liking.
+
+I got to chatting with one such "refugee" on Mastodon today. [NotJustBikes][0]
+is a creator I enjoy watching on ~~YouTube~~ Invidious, who makes excellent
+content on urbanism and the design of cities. He's based in my home town of
+Amsterdam and his videos do a great job of explaining many of the things I love
+about this place for general audiences. He's working on building an audience,
+expanding his reach, and bringing his message to as many people as possible in
+the interest of bringing better infrastructure to everyone.
+
+[0]: https://inv.tux.pizza/channel/UC0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A
+
+But he's not satisfied with his move from Twitter to Mastodon, nor are some of
+his friends among the community of "urbanist" content creators. He yearns for an
+"algorithm" to efficiently distribute content to his followers, and Mastodon is
+not providing this for him.
+
+On traditional "social media" platforms, in particular YouTube, the interactions
+are often not especially social. The platforms facilitate a kind of intellectual
+consumption moreso than conversation: conversations flow in one direction, from
+creator to audience, where the creator produces and the audience consumes. I
+think a better term for these platforms is "parasocial media": they are
+optimized for creating [parasocial][1] relationships moreso than social
+relationships.
+
+The fediverse is largely optimized for people having conversations with each
+other, and not for producing and consuming "content". Within this framework, a
+"content creator" is a person only in the same sense that a corporation is, and
+their conversations are unidirectional, where the other end is also not a
+person, but an audience. That's not the model that the fediverse is designed
+around.
+
+[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction
+
+It's entirely reasonable to want to build an audience and publish content in a
+parasocial manner, but that's not what the fediverse is for. And I think that's
+a good thing! There are a lot of advantages in having spaces which focus on
+being genuinely "social", rather than facilitating more parasocial interactions
+and helping creators build an audience. This limits the fediverse's reach, but
+I think that's just fine.
+
+Within this model, the fediverse's model, it's possible to publish things, and
+consume things. But you cannot effectively optimize for building the largest
+possible audience. You will generally be more successful if you focus on the
+content itself, and not its reach, and on the people you connect with at a
+smaller scale. Whether or not this is right for you depends on your goals.
+
+I hope you enjoyed this content! Remember to like and subscribe.
