this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
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I had this discussion with a friend, and we really couldn't reach a consensus.

My friend thinks Lemmy (and other Reddit-like platforms) is social media because you're interacting with other people, liking/disliking submissions, and all the content is user-generated.

I think it isn't because you're not following individual people, just communities/topics. Though I concede there are some aspects of social media present, I feel that overall it's not because my view of social media is that you're primarily following individuals.

In my view, these link aggregator + comment platforms are more like an evolution of forums which both my friend and I agreed don't meet the criteria to be considered social media (though they maintain that Reddit-like platforms are social media while I do not).

So I'm asking Lemmy now to weigh in to help settle this friendly debate.

Edit: Thanks everyone! From the comments, it sounds like my friend and I are both right and both wrong. lol. Feel free to keep chiming in, but I have to go do the 9-5 thing that pays my mortgage and cloud hosting bills.

(page 2) 42 comments
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[–] Nemo@midwest.social 4 points 6 months ago

"social media" is the rebranded name for what they used to call "Web 2.0", which refers to websites where the content both comes from users and is associated with user accounts.

Both reddit and lemmy clearly fit the bill just as much as livejournal and blogger do.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not exactly. Lemmy (like Reddit) is a social news/link aggregator. So it’s not social media per se, but it’s certainly social media adjacent.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Lmao because you changed media to news/links it's somehow adjacent?

I can't believe the number of comments like this one. All these online platforms are social media

Social media websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lemme isn’t a social network like Facebook or Instagram or TikTok

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Facebook isn't like instagram, instagram isn't like tiktok, tiktok isn't like lemmy, Lemmy isn't like Twitter, but they are all social media.

When people find communities like making bread or wtv and share tips and pictures, that's networking. Plenty of support communities too.

Most create content, and post it publicly for other social circles to see their media. It's social media lol

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

you're using a pretty arbitrary definition for your opinion, and i disagree.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah yes, the arbitrary definitions of the dictionary are my opinion. Well formed argument

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Being petulant and throwing a tantrum isn’t really a good argument either.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So now i'm "throwing a tantrum" because saying I was inventing definitions (from the dictionary) didn't work. Seems like youre the one throwing a tantrum because you were wrong. My argument is fine and far from pedantic. Saying "news and links" aren't "media" is what's pedantic

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago
[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Most create content, and post it publicly for other social circles to see their media. It's social media lol

this isnt even kind of true. most users of these systems post nothing. the content posters are a very small, valuable contingent compared to the lurkers/viewers.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah that's a badly written sentence. "Most post for other social circles to see their media when they create content".

Doesn't change the arguments that this is social media. Lemmings and reditors just like to feel special

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

so the term social media involves any written word where more than one person can see it. got it.

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Essentially , but that wouldn't be totally correct, youre framing it that way to make a strawman. The definition is:

Social media websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

So written words, shared on a platform made to exchange words and images publicly for others to discuss/comment on, if you really don't want to use the dictionary.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I don't really think it matters to have some context-free definition. It certainly is very much like social media in a lot of ways, and even you seem to acknowledge that. Unless your friend is trying to compare reddit like apps to Facebook in ways it isn't like Facebook, how you label them doesn't matter.

[–] RedIce25@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Fell like it could be used as social media, but I tend to use it as a forum

[–] nfsu2@feddit.cl 3 points 6 months ago

I do not, while yes you can socialize I think it intended to be used as an aggregator unlike other sites. Much like you can discuss(forum) and shop in other social media sites.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I think it's a massive forum.

I think of social media as Facebook where it's your real name and contacts who you interact with (primarily anyway).

But this is any number of topics you can go in and out of, with a huge array of strangers that you may or may not interact with again. More links, discussion, specialities.

You can get into precise definitions to force Lemmy/Reddit into social media, but I'm still forum.

[–] eyy@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

Aren't forums technically social media as well?

[–] Juice@midwest.social 3 points 6 months ago

Lemmy is social media. Reddit is sociopath media

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't want to associate this place with the garbage social media pits like Facebook and Instagram...

I liked the idea of calling it antisocial media, because it really is about building the opposite of what Facebook and Instagram is about.

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You could call them antisocial then. The problem with social media isn't the social part, it's that the media part is controlled by a single entity.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The problems with social media absolutely include the social part and I'd even go as far as saying it's the biggest problem with it.

People post on social media like they're talking privately to their friends...whole lot of opinions they wouldn't dare say within punching distance of a stranger. And because it's to such a broad audience, they will find other people who will share the same awful opinions and feel validated, further entrenching their beliefs. It also encourages exaggerating or outright lying for attention.

Not to take away from the harm of data collection and targeted marketing, of course, but social media has a people problem. And to quote MIB, "A person is smart. People are dumb."

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This idea that anonymity breeds toxicity seems to be a piece of received wisdom that people just assume, but I would honestly love to know if there's any real information to back it up.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I didn't know of any studies claiming either way but what I was referring to happens on sites like Facebook, too

[–] Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 months ago

Oh you mean how echo chambers get created. Yeah, that's almost entirely down to Facebook's scummy algorithms, not an inherent feature of people. Facebook had tools to prevent the spread of hate on their platform and noticed they reduced revenue so they turned them off. This is entirely down to that platform being controlled by a single entity with no regard for the people who use it.

[–] krowbear@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

I feel like it's similar to social media, but serves a different purpose at least in my use of it. With social media sites like Facebook and Instagram I'm mostly interacting with people I know in real life. To me it seems closer to Youtube, because for both of those it connects me more to larger cultural or artistic things, rather than what's going on with my friends.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Absolutely social media. On Facebook i mostly followed groups - cannabis, gardening, work related interests, local news, etc. Same as here.

[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

I don't think they are. In my view, social media is either personal ( i.e. pictures on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat ) or short + very mainstream ( Twitter, TikTok). Reddit has too many niches that collectively make up an enormous chunk of the platform, plus it is very anonymous. I'd argue that the same is true of YouTube, and a lot of the content is closer to TV and journalism.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago
[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

It's all social media as the content of the site is generated by users interacting with each other.

The difference you've identified is between individualist & content-focused social media.

Most networks are the individualist kind, you follow people and they post about their lives for the most part

Reddit & lemmy are primarily content focused social media as you follow topics and post about them

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 1 points 6 months ago

So, I think forums are a form of social media, so trying to say this is a forum and not social media isn't a good argument for me.

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