Social media. Am I missing out?

[tshapiro]

I'm curious, why don't you consider TB to be social media? I would say it is. It's certainly a medium - information gets transmitted through it. And it's social; there are members, all members are able to post here, we can react to each other's posts with likes and replies, we can message each other. That's how social media works.

I would say, thought, that TB is a certain KIND of social media; an interest-based private forum. It differs from the big social media platforms in that it doesn't aspire to be ubiquitous for everyone on the planet, but only for the community of bass players, and as a result - critically - it doesn't have an algorithm to generate more "engagement." Also, since it's private and interest-based, it's much easier to establish moderation rules and enforce them; that allows us to keep the discourse here civil and on-topic.

I consider TB special interest club. I think the goal of people here is to learn and share info. Social media is about growing your network and influencing. Personally, I could spend the rest of my TB interactions with the same small group of people that share my interest in bass and bands and be happy. Also, I think the no politics rules are a great thing.

 

[hrodbert696]

I consider TB special interest club. I think the goal of people here is to learn and share info. Social media is about growing your network and influencing. Personally, I could spend the rest of my TB interactions with the same small group of people that share my interest in bass and bands and be happy. Also, I think the no politics rules are a great thing.

So it sounds like your way of organizing it is by the purposes it's used for, rather than the functions it offers?

 

[tshapiro]

So it sounds like your way of organizing it is by the purposes it's used for, rather than the functions it offers?

I think you’re giving it way more thought than I do

 

[Heiwa]

LOL and here I thought it was Twitter/X that was for political garbage!

I have an Instagram account, but don't use it much. I'm not much to look at and don't take many pictures, and FB is more text-friendly (without the absurd character limit of Twitter), so that's where I usually post. Apart from here, of course.

It's interesting that it seems like we've gotten to the point where the toxic features of social media can predominate in people's minds, so much so that they ARE "social media" to them, and a forum that doesn't have that toxicity doesn't count as part of the category.

Well, Twitter is full of porn lol, I think it has way more of that stuff than any site

 

[vokain]

I consider TB special interest club. I think the goal of people here is to learn and share info. Social media is about growing your network and influencing. Personally, I could spend the rest of my TB interactions with the same small group of people that share my interest in bass and bands and be happy. Also, I think the no politics rules are a great thing.

So many times I'll see someone post something they're doing somewhere, or vice versa, and I happen to also be there and we'll link up.


There are certainly very useful groups and such on FB. I see FB and IG as sort of like a photo album. I often find events on FB as well. IG can be neat to reach out to new people with, so networking is useful through it. When I meet someone, often we switch IGs so we can get a quick glance of what each person cares to showcase of their life. It's also a way to stay in touch because sometimes I'll exchange numbers with someone and that will be that and I may , whereas if I see a post from them the connection may stay alive better. Twitter is mostly about influencing but is also a neat way to talk to people. Social media increases accessibility of communication to a point. You can use things for good, you can use things for otherwise.

 

[Not Insane]

I’ve just left Facebook and Instagram, or rather I’ve taken the apps off my phone and started hanging around on Talkbass and getting to more projects around my house.

I skipped reading the thread but I’m sure I’ll be joining a chorus of “don’t do it”

The platforms are never ending gravitational wells of scrolling. And they even now divert to never ending sidebar scrolls of time wasting short videos called reels.

I’m glad to not be reeling and doomscrolling any longer. I much prefer to chat with you all.

I've been active on internet forums since 1997, but the only social media I ever got into was Myspace and Facebook. And I only got into Facebook to monitor my teenaged daughters. I did end up using at alot because I got into sharing photos and finding old friends, which it did really well. But about 5 years ago I took the app off my phone and about 4 years ago I unfriended everyone, made my page public, and posted a "to whom it may concern" message telling everyone that it was nothing personal, but letting them know I was no longer actively using the site. Since then I've added three or four friends and really only use it for marketplace. And that matters because of where I live.

I'm in rural Kentucky and, though I lived off Craigslist when I lived in seattle, it has virtually no footprint here. Marketplace, OTOH, is huge. It has become my Craigslist replacement. But I don't post there any more.