To be clear: I prefer to pay for things instead of having to see ads but 13€ / month!? For a meta product that has inherently user-hostile design patterns even without ads?

Who does this appeal to?

  • @[email protected]English
    8•8 months ago

    Then email is also social media, Google docs is social media, phpBB is social media, Amazon review sections are social media, even Pornhub comment sections are social media, and so on…

    If Lemmy fits the criteria, then so does 95% of the internet. Not a very useful definition, in that case.

    • InstigateEnglish
      3•8 months ago

      Yeah, I guess under that definition any web-based application that allows for a person to create an account/profile and generate and post content is a form of social media. That makes sense when you consider that they’re media that allow for social interaction.

      What’s your definition of social media? Genuinely interested because I’m not sure that there even is a single definition that can be agreed upon.

      I think the whole public vs anonymous profiles thing doesn’t really stack up, as I can create profiles on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok etc and provide no identifying information about myself, much as I do on Lemmy. I can also choose to add a profile picture and info about myself to identify myself on Lemmy if I choose, much as people do on other social media.

      If your definition only includes those platforms that force you fully identify yourself in order to maintain a profile, that list will be pretty small and exclude a lot of sites that the vast majority would consider to be social media, including the ones I’ve named above.

      • @[email protected]English
        3•8 months ago

        You might be able to create profiles anonymously, but you can’t use those services anonymously. They only work if you have other people added as friends or whatever, unlike content aggregators like lemmy or reddit, where you can be as anonymous as you want and still interact with all features of the site.

        I think that narrows it down enough. If you can use all features of the platform without personally knowing anyone on it, it’s not social media.