• krashmo@lemmy.world
    19·
    8 months ago

    Anytime it gets mentioned there’s always some neckbeard who defines anything on the internet as social media making that exact comment too. “Lemmy is social media hehehe” as if there’s no difference between this and and FB.

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
        2·
        8 months ago

        But the point is, almost every page on the internet has a social aspect now. It’s all about engagement. Is NYT social media? They have arguments in the comment section under every article. Is healthline social media?

        • MxM111@kbin.social
          3·
          8 months ago

          Good points. I would say those are examples of webpages with social media elements. I guess it is about focus of the website. NYT focus is news. Lemmy? Interaction between users. At least for me. I just can’t call lemmy a news aggregator.

          • TheFriar@lemm.ee
            1·
            8 months ago

            I see what you’re saying, but the term “social media” applying to just a section of a website doesn’t make sense—to me. Call it whatever you want!

            I, someone who was the perfect age for every iteration of what I might call “first gen” social media (MySpace/xanga/live journal in middle school, Facebook in the middle/end of my high school career into college, Instagram in college and while I traveled), only see “social media” as personalized connection sites. Sites where you are exactly who you are, connecting with others, saying exactly who they are—basically creating a “social media self.”

            THAT is social media to me. But these all pose interesting questions: is a blog social media? During xanga/live journal days, it was considered social media. Are dating sites social media? Is Chatroulette? Is Facebook messenger? If that is, is telegram?

            If a site where you anonymously talk to other anonymous people on the internet is social media, I stand by what I said, everything would be “social media” these days. YouTube. Is that social media? It’s all messy, I grant you, but that’s why draw the lines where I do.

            Your criteria seems different. But I, as a millennial that grew up with it, I see it as a persona-first platform where people sell themselves. Lemmy is interesting because they’re technically different sites/servers about specific things, linking with other sites/servers, where people discuss the topic of the community. The focus is the subject being discussed, not the subject speaking. Social media is subjective, I think that’s where I make the distinction.

            • MxM111@kbin.social
              1·
              8 months ago

              Interesting. So, if a person is anonymous, then it is not social media in your mind?