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Comment by ultratalk | Hacker News Reader

Network effects will keep a person on a platform until a critical mass of their social circle decide to leave all at once. I'm no expert, but I suspect that that critical mass is pretty high, maybe more than 50% of a person's circle. So it's not exactly vanilla free-market competition. Entrenched players have a pretty big advantage.

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what does your social circle being on Instagram bring to you? seriously, this picture-sharing app has evolved into this content spread machine that brings very little value.

When most of your social circle exists on one platform, you tend to use that platform less for its specific features, and more because of the fact that all your friends are there. I don't personally use Instagram, and this is anecdotal information, but I know a lot of people who only use Instagram to see what their friends and family are up to, and to watch the occasional reel.

But you're absolutely right about Instagram's evolution. It's crazy.

this is a very 21st century thing, the ability to know what everyone is doing at any time. extremely voyeuristic too.

the only social circle that truly matters is the geographically close one. no amount of E2EE or fancy chat app will replace being physically present.

First you said that people should use decentralized platforms. Now you acknowledge that there's nobody of value on those platforms so now you say people should stop wanting to connect in the first place.

I mean, okay? Next time just say social media is a cancer, and don't waste our time moving goal posts.

> that there's nobody of value on those platforms so now you say people should stop wanting to connect in the first place

that's exactly what i said and not a figment of your imagination.

if your social circle mostly exists on instagram like the person that i was replying to mentioned :), then you have no social life. any of these platforms is just an add-on to real social interaction. prioritize the real thing and the platform stops mattering.

> social media is a cancer

it isn't but your comment is.

Ah Network effect, That's why we all are still using Skype, microsoft messenger and ICQ.

You don't have to wait for everyone to switch, in fact it's pretty normal to reach different people on different chats.

https://xkcd.com/1810/

Well, maybe it was normal ~10 years ago, when that comic was published, but is now getting rarer and rarer, as each new generation consolidates itself on a single platform.

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