Social Networks
Having grown up with the dawn of the Internet, I was already connecting via BTX. I ran my own mailbox (bulletin board system, BBS), used it to participate in FidoNet, and shared it with others. Back then, you still had to dial into the Internet via a phone line. So it didn’t make much of a difference to download your messages yourself onto your PC using a modem.
Later, when the Internet came into my home via a router—initially still as an ISDN dial-up connection—much of that activity shifted to the Internet. By the time flat-rate plans were introduced, I was interacting with others online in a different way and gradually building connections. I then ran my own forum using a content management system (CMS), which served as a meeting place for gamers and others interested in the topic and brought many nights of work—and fun.
During this time, the first social networks emerged. Initially, these were for gamers, allowing them to share their progress and use it as a signature in forums. The first major network for me was Facebook; back then, it was still purely a network for students in North America. But our gaming community—and the people we were friends with or competed against—were spread all over the world, so it made sense to use those kinds of tools as well. I deleted my account when Facebook changed its terms of service to claim rights to all the photos I would post or had already posted.
Much later, I tried out Google+ (g+), Twitter, Instagram, and the like. I also started using various messaging apps, but I’d rather cover those in a separate post. The platforms that now belong to Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Group have all been banned by me, since there’s no bigger data leaker out there and their terms of service are all outdated. Since I eventually settled on G+, I deleted my (then pseudonymous) Twitter account. Time showed that Google didn’t share the same enthusiasm for its product. Today, I’m back on Twitter under my real name. You can also find me on Mastodon.
When I follow discussions on social media these days, I often hear that certain types of content are associated with specific platforms: hate speech on Facebook, conspiracy theories on Twitter, and nerd content on Mastodon. I don’t think that’s true! The platform doesn’t set the tone or dictate a topic; it simply amplifies or suppresses it to varying degrees. The networks run by publicly traded companies make money from advertising and/or the data they collect; they’re interested in keeping us on the platform for as long as possible and gathering data about our connections.
On Facebook, users who already know each other in real life share their status updates and make plans in groups. Twitter was originally a short-message service. You followed celebrities and social media personalities you knew from radio and TV and got to know new users; it was always about reach. These are just two well-known examples to explain how each algorithm has evolved. The former shows you when your friends “like” something or use an app within the platform, while the latter tries to use your interests to show you other high-reach posts that might interest you.
Friends of friends or topic-based recommendations… but both form networks of interconnected accounts that you then encounter as your “bubble.” In both cases, what you see is filtered—it’s just the “why” that differs. This is a very simplified explanation, but it captures the essence of what the algorithm is all about.
