• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    In economics, a network effect (also called network externality or demand-side economies of scale) is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Network effects are typically positive feedback systems, resulting in users deriving more and more value from a product as more users join the same network.

    The value of Twitter and Substack isn’t the HTML or the CSS, it’s the social circle behind it. That’s why Facebook, founded as a Harvard social media site, outpaced Friendster and MySpace. That’s why half your current crop of comedians and media pundits came out of the Ivy League. That’s why The Federalist Society exists.

    Like, by all means, make a new BlueSky or Mastodon or Lemmy whatever. Thank you. But “What if we had a new Facebook, for annoying marketing dweebs?” it’s how we got LinkedIn. And a thousand other knock offs of LinkedIn.

    So, keep that in mind.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      I have as much power as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it

      • George Carlin

      Power, popularity and authority is always based on how many people you can convince to follow your movement. If you have enough people who believe it, I can become Master of the Universe!

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Add to that section 1201.

      Facebook grew because it was able to make migrating away from Myspace easy. Facebook supplied a tool called SpaceLift that logged into MySpace on your behalf and moved messages back and forth for you. It meant that you didn’t have to leave Myspace behind when you started using Facebook.

      If you tried that today, Facebook would send their legion of lawyers to crush you using section 1201.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 days ago

      Not all cities start from villages: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underoccupied_developments_in_China

      Although a feature of discourse on the Chinese economy and urbanization in China in the 2010s, many developments that were initially criticized as “ghost cities” in China have since become occupied and are now functioning cities.

      Some cities are literally just built into the empty space, then wait until people move in. It has worked multiple times in China. Some cities literally went from zero to a million inhabitants in under 20 years.

      • Jankatarch@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I actually remember this one. Weren’t western articles shitting on China endlessly for this? Calling it “ghost cities” and making up conspiracy theories and all.

        • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
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          6 days ago

          You still get lemmitors who think China just has empty cities made of tofu, trains that nobody uses, giant concentration camps full of people whos only crime was desiring freedom, and that china will collapse any day now.

  • normalexit@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I miss the old days of people making niche websites for their hobbies, their own blogs, and message boards.

    So many people think of the Internet as Google, Meta, Netflix, or <favorite social network here>. That makes me sad.

    I don’t see a way back to a less commercialized internet, but little pockets of goodness like Lemmy make me happy.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      The thing that I’ve repeated more than anything else the past 5-10 years:

      I miss websites.

      [Edit] ok second most. I think I’ve said “RELEASE THE LIST” at least twice as much.

      • crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        I miss things spreading by word-of-mouth, not The Algorithm.™

        I miss people making things for fun, not for the exit strategy.

        I miss misinformation being called out and bullied mercilessly, not rewarded for Engagement.™

        I miss Nazi being hyperbole, not an alternative viewpoint we’re supposed to acknowledge as valid.

        • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I remember The Blues Brothers and “I hate Illinois nazis” and John Belushi and Dan Akroyd running the fucking nazis into the fucking river. The sad thing is, that shit was universally funny back then - there weren’t people in the theater saying “hey wait a minute, that’s not respecting their free speech rights” or worse, “hey, what’s so bad about Illinois nazis?” Just straight up “of course they drove the nazis into the fucking river”.

        • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I miss stumbleupon. I found so much cool stuff and web comics I’m still reading 20 years later.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      You’d think that with QR codes every-fucking-where these days, that we could easily swing back to everyone having their own website. Back in the bad old days, it was hell on wheels to share URLs with folks. Now? There’s nothing stopping us.

  • Agent641@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    First name choice was “The internet”

    Second name choice was “The pornography machine”

    They have forgotten our provenance and purpose. There is no pornography sullying out social media. There is social media sullying our pornography.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    It’s good more people are realizing, buts substack’s owners have been openly pro-facist for at least a year

    • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      Loads of early tech leaders who were all free-love back in the day became strangely capitalist once they realised how ludicrously rich they could get.

  • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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    6 days ago

    I can still hear the <iframe />s falling.

    Those were the dark days, at the beginning of CSS, when we fought for scraps of anything that smelt like standardisation.

    e: autocorrect

      • Midnight Wolf@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        My first dummy intranet site for grade school used it, but it was a new technology at the time. I remember having a site on geocities a couple years earlier that was all wysiwyg and only used text. Back then, email was cool.

        Internet nostalgia.

      • Midnight Wolf@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I never understood why seemingly everyone uses WP. ‘I need a personal, but professional, web presence’ ‘use this blogging platform’, ‘I need an e-commerce site’ ‘use this blogging platform’ like what.

        Maybe I’m old and WP now does everything and the kitchen sink, but I was there when it started and made no sense.

        • Optional@lemmy.worldOP
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          6 days ago

          It’s true. They got through some gnarly WYSIWYG problems and, yes, due to plugins they basically do have the kitchen sink available.

          There’s some good comparative alternatives as well, but I don’t know much about them yet.