Social media as we understand it is really algorithmic feeds with ads in between.
People genuinely do not seem to be able to conceptualize a different model. The reaction to Mastodon's learning curve has been very disappointing. You would have thought that the people that most want to leave the site would welcome an alternative model that is specifically un-Twitter like.
And yet the complaints are all "Hey this isn't like Twitter, I can scroll right to the bottom of the page. Where is the randomness?"
It is that very randomness that keeps people addicted to scrolling, keeps them viewing more ads, and eventually, has them responding to the quoted tweets of people they don't like to 'dunk' on them, ignorant to the fact that dunking counts as engagement, and boosts the reach of those posts.
Mastodon specifically avoids all those things, but most Twitter users can't see that forest for the trees.
People genuinely do not seem to be able to conceptualize a different model. The reaction to Mastodon's learning curve has been very disappointing. You would have thought that the people that most want to leave the site would welcome an alternative model that is specifically un-Twitter like.
And yet the complaints are all "Hey this isn't like Twitter, I can scroll right to the bottom of the page. Where is the randomness?"
It is that very randomness that keeps people addicted to scrolling, keeps them viewing more ads, and eventually, has them responding to the quoted tweets of people they don't like to 'dunk' on them, ignorant to the fact that dunking counts as engagement, and boosts the reach of those posts.
Mastodon specifically avoids all those things, but most Twitter users can't see that forest for the trees.