Post #1974011

2023-07-05 03:14 UTC

You know, before we got used to the term &#39;#algorithms&#39; and expecting &#39;algos&#39; to feed us content, the social web quite organically surfaced interesting stuff through people who collectively became curators. Curatorial work, being subject to human biases, is also not perfect, but in the arena of political discourse, that is to say, in the course of conversing about what norms to abide in a public space, it was one that felt human. Tumblr and LJ (in fandom spaces maybe) had this down to an emergent art, since every reblog or link post is subject to the poster&#39;s whims. That&#39;s why TERFs got discouraged (ok, shouted down) there, I think, and how they found engagement-driven algos in places like twt and TikTok so promising. Millennials in their teens weren&#39;t less stupid than Gen Z and Alphas. It&#39;s just our sources were less poisoned. Here, we make jokes about serial boosters and include them in the standard advice to newbs to fill out their tl. Curators are back. (ETA: ok tagging #fediverse)

Replies (5)

@whatshisays@aus.social 2023-07-05 03:23

@cendawanita@mefi.social rec lists were such a part of my reading diet 🥺

Open ##2213704
@irfan@calckey.social 2023-07-05 03:35

@cendawanita@mefi.social on the #fediverse, u just need to follow the right people (curators) and ure golden.

Open ##2213722
@geraineon@blahaj.zone 2023-07-05 03:36

@cendawanita@mefi.social web rings! Fic rec sites! Links to sources, etc. Long form writeups! Idk how I'll be like if I grow up during the Now Internet... As millennials we got to see the before and after of a lot of things ahaha

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@seldear@aus.social 2023-07-05 11:20

@cendawanita@mefi.social "Our sources were less poisoned" indeed!

Open ##2213740
@kameka@mastodon.social 2023-07-05 13:30

@cendawanita@mefi.social Not sure I agree entirely. Actually, lack of “companies” on social apps is what created the sharing environment and curation. Folks were doing the curation because the news outlets, brands and “influencers” weren’t doing it as a day job. If you went somewhere interesting, you shared. If you read an interesting article, you shared. If you were in a debate, you would share sources or relevant quotes etc. Brands, news outlets & “influencers” shape-shifted the experience.

Open ##2213742