Or how to ignore the fact that the problem with social media is not harmful content, it's the social media itself. The addiction, the loss of time, and the constant comparison with others. Go design a social media without those.
The nature of social media just leads to it's very unhealthy problems. By taking away the ability for social media to make viral posts, you take away a lot of the reason people use it. To see popular posts and memes. Then nobody uses it, so nobody sees the ads, so advertisers leave, etc etc.
Personally, I'd be happy if we all went back to interest forums that aren't reddit. But I'm not going to pretend that age is going to come back without deeply overreaching legislation.
Connect with just your friends and family, and optionally groups/pages.
My goodness I wish I could go down to just friends and family on Facebook. Maybe 6 months ago they started aggressively showing other groups I don't care about. Right now, it showed:
3 posts from pages or friends I follow
17 from pages I have never cared about or followed
1 from a page I follow
23 from pages I have never followed
It feels more like reddit than what I care about most - my friends and family.
Unfortunately it doesn't get rid of sponsored posts or reshares of pages/links from friends, but its closer.
Even that has two major flaws:
First, people while using it compare other's highlights to their own norm. Look, this couple can afford a fancy vacation while we don't.
Second, it was still a tool to peer int other people's lives, and gossip.
The most attention capturing innovations will take the market. If Facebook didn’t stay on top of it, someone else would.
There is very little parasocial relationship on the platform although this could definetly grow as channels become a medium for influencers.