Dan GoodinIt should be clear now that it was and remains a catastrophic mistake for people to view privately owned social media platforms as any kind of public resource. People didn't know better a decade ago. They have no excuse now.
Bruno Nicoletti@dangoodin I’d go further and say _any_ automated platform that relies on advertising for revenue will always end up deeply enshitified as they have to chase “engagement”. And what engages most is outrage. So we end up with systems, that by design, drag you further and further in the world of grift and crazies.
Jo - pièce de résistance@bjn @dangoodin
I have to strongly disagree about what engages most. If Mastodon is a platform without that variable...then I can confidently say my most popular posts are just posts about beautiful things. I get the most boosts, likes, comments, etc. on really nice things most.
But I was throttled first by ad-based social media and that is how they get you to dance for the devil to get seen and they groom and channel the outrage type of engagement, rather than the joyful kind.
Jo, it sounds like you strongly agree (not disagree) with Bruno that engagement is considerably different (and better) on platforms not supported by ads. Unless I'm misreading something.
My experience on ad-supported platforms like Shitter was that outrage DID drive the most engagement. Here on Mastodon things have been much different, and I think Bruno was saying something similar. I read your post as largely agreeing a well.
¯_ (ツ)_/¯
My point is they made outrage the algorithm on purpose. Like media covering Trump all the time, giving him air. He was not popular, just made to look popular, bc everyone else gets ignored, pushed down, not funded or promoted. It's hate influencers & people doing damage control. It only drove the most engagement bc those people were not throttled. Views are 1st barrier to any engagement. They are making personality choices who gets views. This is the outrage algorithm.
I certainly agree with that, and I wouldn't be surprised if Bruno did too.