Steemit vs The Algorithm Prison (Facebook)

in #steemit7 years ago

From Myspace to Facebook to Steemit

Years ago I was a proud user of the early Myspace. I learnt some HTML code (which i've now forgotten) just to have a slick looking profile with songs and videos. Background pictures in sections that I could change when I felt like it. I even done a series of “Pointless Bulletins” as it had no character limit. They were very long and had no purpose or point than to attempt to entertain the reader.

Back then I spent hours surfing the internet. Going where I wanted to and finding things through affiliation and talking to friends.
Then came Facebook. Despite being signed up early on I wasn’t impressed with its limit on personality. Everyone’s profile on view looked the same. Individuality seemed lost with the move. I stayed on myspace for longer than was probably best as i hated facebook.

Eventually I gave in and made the switched but my activity was very rare (I also had twitter but found after so many follows it was just a jumble). Enter the smart phone and mobile device revolution. Suddenly you didn’t need a PC or laptop to use these platforms. It was all conveniently in your pocket. Once I had a phone that could keep up and not freeze my activity spiked. However with Facebook I became a scroller. Rarely commented or posted my own things. And even when I started to post more things, I found very little interest in my content.

Over time it has become clear that people didn’t see or read what I wrote either due to my lack of interaction and the facebook algorithm system. This system decides what you see. You have a small amount of control over it. But the real power in these algorithms lay with advertisement companies and people with money who want to promote content (such as political targeting).

It has become somewhat of a propaganda machine where people are happy to be force feed information that facebook decides we want. Rarely do I see real human posts from friends. Group pages fill my feed and I constantly have to adjust my notification settings to not constantly hound me about stuff i’m not interested in but may have looked at or clicked on my accident.
Now i’m here on steemit. Not only can I do the same scrolling and “liking” on posts. This place promotes real genuine content aimed at sharing life stories and interests. Not just advertisements and political ideas or the dread “meal pics” #Whogivesafuck!

I feel people actually care to look at my posts here and for the effort one puts in, its rewarded by a growing vibrant community. I also have to look for what I want to see which I love. It promotes self education and how to search. Something I feel has been lost on FB.

I plan to post here over facebook for the future. However much to my own frustration I can not simply cut myself off from facebook. I haven’t been able to convert people to the best social media platform/blockchain in existence. I’m sure if i shared the fact you get payed people would be more interested but in some cases they either don’t believe me or tell me it must be a scam.
The only concern though I really have in the future is that if Steemit reaches the heights that we all hope that the meal pics and skanky nightclub pictures will arrive and be upvoted by closed social circles (with the occasional whale involved).

However this is just me sulking as if we want this platform to succeed and reach the heights of awesomeness then these people and posts have to come to create a equal, fair and diverse community.
Hopefully by that point enough of us will be closer to whale status and can stop the advertisement, meal pic, skank drop posts from taking over and keep them inline and balanced with the other subjects.
So yeah point of all this is that facebook is a closed off echo chamber of crap thanks to its targeted algorithm system. So many people connected yet so much content is directed.

Steemit is more open and to me provides more freedom for ideas. Yet the former is ironically the big dog.

But ultimately it doesn’t matter. Those who choose to use steemit will understand what I mean and get the benefit of it. Pure facebook users are just going to miss out in the end and hold on to the illusion that its the best place to be. You know whilst all their data is collected and sold to the highest bidder, then selected for targeted ads or political propaganda.

Be Happy, Be Free and Steem On!

Skiveuss
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(All views and opinions expressed are my own. And yes I am pretty illiterate)

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I enjoyed reading your post and listening to what you had to say :) I too use Facebook but really dislike the limitations (and advertisements/spam!), however it is very hard to leave due to everyone using it. People are unwilling to change and many are suspicious of 'free money' that Steemit offers.

I am also a little concerned for the future, but I am still looking forward to seeing what it holds!

Indeed. Trying to explain blockchain tech to some people is like talking to a wall. I try and always start with "if you could of been involved in the .com boom would tou have been" they say yes then listen then look at me as if im some hopful weirdo (nothing new) thier loss anyway 😊

Great post! Upvoted, Resteemed & Retweeted ;)

You post has taken me down my memory lane, lol. We used something called Orkut. It was the no.1 social site in India and Brazil, much more popular then Myspace. Almost everyone had an account. And it was the first social network I joined. Before that it was all Yahoo and local chatrooms. But orkut was not popular in western countries. The group feature of orkut was really good. We even had some very active local groups which I miss on facebook. Nowadays facebook seems like a waste of time. And even though I don't like it much, I have wasted countless hours scrolling from top to bottom on facebook, no idea why.

Its a habit! I do it now in moments. I open the app pause then ask myself "why am i here" close it then head here or bittrex atm. I also cant help but think of all those potential steem dollers wasted by posting or liking facebook stuff now lol. Im not here for the money but it sure does help!

Yeah, it's a bad habit that we need to get rid off ..lol

You are smart @skiveuss to notice and be conscious of your actions and that is why you WILL be successful on the steemit.com platform.

Keep STEEM N ON,
Frank

Try this!

Your friend or family member what are they interested in...

If you know or can find any particular post\article on steemit.com just copy the link and send it to their FB and they might end up reading it and wanting to engage which would require to sign up!

;)