Posted on Jan 4, 2024
From Amazon to Facebook and Google, here's how platforms can 'decay'
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https://www.npr.org/2024/01/04/ [login to see] /amazon-google-facebook-twitter-social-media-online
If you feel like some important places on the internet have been getting worse, you're not alone.
In 2023, there were federal lawsuits accusing Amazon and Google of exploiting their monopolies; streaming services offered less content for more money; and a site-wide protest on Reddit occurred after a new policy threatened what many considered to be identity of the website.
Social media networks are now filled with ads and recommendations for stores and products you know you never asked for. And then there's whatever is happening at X, formerly known as Twitter, under Elon Musk.
Tech journalist and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow coined a term to describe this process: ens***ification.
If you feel like some important places on the internet have been getting worse, you're not alone.
In 2023, there were federal lawsuits accusing Amazon and Google of exploiting their monopolies; streaming services offered less content for more money; and a site-wide protest on Reddit occurred after a new policy threatened what many considered to be identity of the website.
Social media networks are now filled with ads and recommendations for stores and products you know you never asked for. And then there's whatever is happening at X, formerly known as Twitter, under Elon Musk.
Tech journalist and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow coined a term to describe this process: ens***ification.
From Amazon to Facebook and Google, here's how platforms can 'decay'
Posted from npr.org
Internet
Amazon
Google
Lawsuit
Social Media
Posted 4 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Shapiro: You know, there was a New York Times op-ed that basically said what you call the degradation of these websites is actually just old people aging out of an internet that has always catered to young people, that millennials and Gen Xers just don't get it anymore. And Gen Z is still having fun online on platforms that might barely register with you and me. What do you make of that critique?
Doctorow: Well, look, I turned 50 a couple of years ago. I got docked by the AARP. They tracked me down and gave me that card that allows me to complain that things used to be better when I was young.
But I'll stipulate that the way that I want to use the internet is not the way my 15-year-old wants to use the internet. What I'm concerned about is when she wants to leave the platform that she's on because it's not serving her either, will she have an easy way to escape or will she find herself stuck to it? And you're just not going to convince me that what happened between my generation and my kid's generation is that they suddenly discovered that they enjoyed being ripped off."
..."Shapiro: You know, there was a New York Times op-ed that basically said what you call the degradation of these websites is actually just old people aging out of an internet that has always catered to young people, that millennials and Gen Xers just don't get it anymore. And Gen Z is still having fun online on platforms that might barely register with you and me. What do you make of that critique?
Doctorow: Well, look, I turned 50 a couple of years ago. I got docked by the AARP. They tracked me down and gave me that card that allows me to complain that things used to be better when I was young.
But I'll stipulate that the way that I want to use the internet is not the way my 15-year-old wants to use the internet. What I'm concerned about is when she wants to leave the platform that she's on because it's not serving her either, will she have an easy way to escape or will she find herself stuck to it? And you're just not going to convince me that what happened between my generation and my kid's generation is that they suddenly discovered that they enjoyed being ripped off."
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