# The New Social Loop *Learning from the past as a key for the future* By [The Simmonsstummer Chronicles](https://paragraph.com/@simmonsstummer) · 2024-06-01 socialnetworks, farcaster, twitter, personalconsiderations, opinions --- ### **Intro** Most of those like me, who do not spend their lives completely on social media, have at least once felt a sense of frustration towards sites, algorithms and content distribution systems that somehow failed to bring out what one had written or posted. This sense of frustration is cyclical. If it were constant, one would simply abandon ship and do something else. The problem is precisely its cyclicality. There is hope and this fuels a series of behaviors that lead us to travel the same paths over and over again. This is not an article on psychology or philosophy, it is just a personal consideration. So a few days ago, I felt the need to graphically represent what I was feeling. I ended up creating the so-called: The New Social Loop. But before we get to that, we need to take a few steps back and understand how we got to this point (I promise I won't dwell on it). A bit of history (skip it if you're in a hurry) ----------------------------------------------- Once upon a time there was Facebook. Definitely one of the first social networks that we started using en masse (at least those my age). Suddenly you had the ability to share “stuff” with people you knew. In the period before that, from the mid-90s until just after 2000 there was a huge surge in technology that was suddenly within everyone's reach, more and more computers in homes, digital cameras, scanners and things like that. . Suddenly we were loaded with content that was destined to end up in abandoned folders or seen by few, or completely forgotten. But then the light, a place to exchange this data with friends to show one's life, one's interests and everything that came to mind. I won't focus on MySpace, Flickr or others that have brought the outside world ever closer to the personal sphere and turned sharing content into a normal thing. We all know this story. Let's take a step forward. Never like with Twitter have I felt like I was reaching distant people and being able to actually participate in what was happening an instant before somewhere in the world. I remember with great pleasure, constant updates of the home page feed where you didn't have time to read that hundreds of new tweets were already available. A marvelous continuous flow. But it was with the advent of Instagram that people really started sharing their lives with complete strangers. We've all seen photos of food platters posted by friends, or have done the same. That's how the world was. After a while, all this sharing started to be annoying, and while some willingly surfed the wave of popularity, others closed themselves off to the world, forgetting about social networks. I still have friends who adamantly refuse to do this. [![User Avatar](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/eb01dd35b0024f9154fc1ffc5a3132c1.jpg)](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer) [Simone Pompei](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer) [@simmonsstummer](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer) [![Twitter Logo](https://paragraph.xyz/editor/twitter/logo.png)](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer/status/1501587945849069570) Sometimes the path is not clear at all ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/fba6eac176714a70c1e24a9a19b1c695.jpg) [![Like Icon](https://paragraph.xyz/editor/twitter/heart.png) 6](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer/status/1501587945849069570)[ 16:57 • 9 mar 2022 ](https://twitter.com/simmonsstummer/status/1501587945849069570) With the popularity of some, problems began for others. Some before, some later, all these social networks have started to think of being able to **monetize** this contents. This was the key moment where everything fell apart. Your content, regardless of the chosen social network, was screened and selected by an algorithm that chose based on a series of parameters who to show it to and for how long. The time of spam and two hundred and fifty thousand photos of your friends' lunch was over. Now it was the algorithm that chose, not you. This led to the birth of figures such as the social media manager who somehow studied the algorithm to try to optimize posts to increase reach. _A horrible thing (not for the work itself, of course, but for the possibility of exploiting the loopholes)_. While on the one hand a well-made algorithm can help avoid having an infinite amount of news on the home page, on the other, an algorithm that is influenced by sponsorships or systems that alter the user's visibility is the worst thing that can happen. Basically each algorithm rewarded or punished you depending on your participation. I've never understood this. Everyone and I mean all social media started rewarding those who were constantly on social media. But this doesn't make sense because more content doesn't necessarily mean more quality. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/bac00f2fa347a3de73f09da116903d3d.png) The uncertainty of the market. Here to remember that when someone loses there is always someone who wins. I reached the peak of my annoyance when, despite having 8,000 or more followers on my business Facebook page, without sponsorships I couldn't show the post to more than 15 people. This is because my business doesn't lend itself to generating content every day and therefore I was punished by the algorithm. Figures such as models, gurus and influencers have exploited these algorithm imperfections to change their lives. No problem with this except that **_shifting attention to them inevitably means making everyone else lose_**. I have been registered on Twitter since 2008 but apart from the initial experiments, including many things from the beginning of _the internet of things_, I started using it seriously in 2021 when I decided to abandon Facebook for obvious reasons. And this could already be the beginning of the New Social Loop. The first cycle. Coming back to Twitter as an artist has been a refreshing experience. I remember countless conversations with friends to convince them to open an account. I remember memes of people happy to use Twitter instead of Instagram or Facebook (I can't find them now, but I'm sure you've seen them). Overall, the hype was great. At the same time there was the explosion of nfts and so suddenly I was able to come into contact with artists and collectors from all over the world. A wonder that I couldn't imagine before and that soon wouldn't last. The beginning of the end ------------------------ We all know what has happened to Twitter in recent years and why. There's no point in reviewing. "Someone" saw fit to mess with the algorithm and modify it heavily. This has created very big problems for those who until a second ago could easily make their account work at their own pace. But Twitter's economic problems have unfortunately pushed the new management to find monetization systems to try not to close. This is legitimate. Problems (In my very personal opinion) can always be addressed from many points of view and in many ways, but they are not necessarily all right. The cursed blue check which until then was a quirk of those who had many followers and were recognized as "famous" or real, was suddenly within the reach of all those who would shell out the money necessary for the subscription. Not fighting the spam at all. What was universally regarded as an identity "verification" had become a subscription. Theoretically this blue check would have enhanced user reach by creating an imbalance that was already strongly unbalanced by the changes to the algorithm. As usual, whoever participated the most and in this case paid, was rewarded. This is the main and gigantic reason why things started to go very wrong. Verifying the identity of a person or artist on an account should be simple and accessible to everyone. Furthermore, it should be something free, because you are not asking for anything in particular, you are simply certifying that your account is really that of the person you declare. This alone is a deterrent to spam. A verification system like Tezos that connects a wallet to a social network is simply perfect. I don't think a document check is too difficult for those geniuses. You might think that everyone who wants to remain anonymous would be left out, but if verification were just a matter of identification, there would be no problem. Or you could always opt for a verification with a wallet like on Tezos. But if you create a system that by paying pushes you ahead of others, **this is wrong**. Everyone should have the same chance to be seen regardless of verification, the number of followers and the number of interactions they have on the platform. People who post 500 times a day or 1 time a month **should be treated by the algorithm the same way**. It's obvious that more interactions will bring you more followers, but it's one thing to do it organically and another to do it with a boost or a handbrake pulled on your account based on participation (Or absurd and unshared rules. Shadowban I'm talking to you). If you have 8,000 followers, you should be able to reach them regardless of how much you participate. End. I dream of a social network without algorithms, where the feed is made up of **ALL** the posts of the people I follow. I will choose what to read or what to skip. We've finally gotten to the point. The exodus from Twitter has prompted many other companies to try to fill the spot. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a14e306b31400b559d012eab34aa850b.png) We are now in a situation where each new social network is the promised land that will solve the problems of the previous ones. Only to then realize after a few months that we have simply gone through another round of the cycle. **It's a never ending loop.** > **The definition of insanity** is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein It's not the technical issues, stability or missing features that make people run away. It's the knowledge that no matter what you do, history repeats itself. Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads are just some of the social media names we believed in, or had the fleeting hope that something would change. None of these have been able to respond to user requests (To today's date and imho). Those who left or significantly decreased their interactions on Twitter were looking for something different. A place where users and their needs were listened to. Here comes Farcaster -------------------- In this succession of social networks created at the last second to try to capture people who have escaped from Twitter, something new has appeared on the horizon: Farcaster. A new social network "focuses on providing user autonomy, privacy, and interoperability by using blockchain technology to create a censorship-resistant and user-centric social network". Furthermore, Farcaster has the great quality of being a protocol. This means that various applications can be created on it with different functions, interfaces and customizations. One of these, the one created by the same Farcaster team, is Warpcast. But there are also other interesting ones. Without doing a review of Farcaster, the innovations it brought made everything else decidedly outdated. One of the most appreciated features is the integration with blockchain and nfts. Furthermore, Farcaster can be integrated with a whole series of small applications that developers can create to increase or improve its features. The most interesting is undoubtedly the creation of Frames. These are basically posts (here called Casts) that can be customized to read articles, mint NFTs, view data and many other things. The developers are having fun. I won't mention today the importance that **Degen** has had and related applications such as AlfaFrens and various clone tokens that basically do the same thing. But all this was made possible thanks to the innovations on Farcaster. Another big difference mainly with Twitter is the possibility of creating Channels. These are thematic channels that anyone can create by paying an annual fee. This means that unlike other social networks which tend to penalize very varied content, on Farcaster it is possible to talk about 100 different things and post each one in the right channel. _As a guy who loves doing very different things and who has always felt penalized by algorithms for this, I couldn't help but be happy._ But the best thing is the possibility of being able to write directly to the developers. This helps you feel part of something that is developing and still has room for improvement. Every opinion could count and have a bearing on the fate of the platform. UPDATE (11/06/2024) I have to update this little paragraph because unfortunately some messages I saw started to make me think otherwise. That is, you can actually write messages to the developers, but apparently you may not get any answers, especially if you don't have a power badge. ### What you consume, you pay for. To use Warpcast, you pay an annual fee. This should ensure that spam is eliminated and everything is managed. On Warpcast, you don't have infinite storage, but a portion that you can use between casts, interactions and follows. If you want more you have to pay. It is certainly a disadvantage compared to all the other free social networks we have been used to, but if this is the price for not having spam and advertising, so be it. The beginning of another cycle ------------------------------ Without realizing it I now find myself at the beginning of a new cycle of the New Social Loop. I signed up, I got excited, I created a channel, I'm trying to make it work, but it seems like it's not working the way it works for others. Here we go again. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/523e703edd193add94eb996ee32dcfd9.png) Another Icon to hate [ ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/859af0e6c47a4dcc5a11a02adb79c137.png) Farcaster Simone Pompei on Warpcast ------------------------- "you get the power badge if power badge holders interacting with you" This doesn't make any sense It's like saying: you are famous if famous people interact with you. But people don't interact with you if you're not like them... So as usual these badges are poorly thought out. A simple wallet check is so hard? https://imagedelivery.net/BXluQx4ige9GuW0Ia56BHw/f135bfef-b2cb-4d2a-e8f0-bd3d5bd46a00/original ](https://warpcast.com/simmonsstummer/0x8fc02141) This was my reaction when I realized that the _powerbadge_ is not simply a cute little icon that identifies the most active users, but a cute little icon that identifies those who have friends who already have it. Basically, "**to be famous you have to have famous friends.**" Furthermore, this power also guarantees a certain boost to your casts, so not only to have it you have to be someone that already active users know and interact with, but if you are, you also get more visibility than the poor users who have just arrived and are unknown to the masses. . Always the same complaints. But think about it, it's easy for those who already have many followers to move to a new social network and suddenly have many followers. Because they are already known. What need is there to further enhance the reach of their posts? Furthermore, showing a user's content more because he has the powerbadge compared to another without a powerbadge is a way of creating a social classification closely linked to how many people already with the PB interact with you. **THIS IS WRONG**. Furthermore, having it, apart from boosting your reach, is absolutely not indicative of quality content. What could be improved? ----------------------- * Overcoming these rating systems and selective boosting of users (PowerBadge). Everyone must be equal before the algorithm regardless of the amount of participation. * No more algorithms that select for us what to watch. I would like a social network (or even just a tab) with the COMPLETE feed of all the people I follow. If I have time I'll read them all. * A verification system based on the identity document or wallet that serves exclusively to define whether a person really is who he says he is. No boosts or special treatments. * A content archiving or download system to free up useful storage. * More than 2 images per cast. * Video for everyone, not just apparently randomly selected users. Why am I writing all this? -------------------------- Because history (in this case of the social networks that we have tested and criticized) must teach us how to improve future products. If we always remain in the same cycle without trying to change things and by slavishly accepting the algorithms we will do nothing but always follow the same path. **Farcaster has a lot of potential.** It's quite doable to reach developers who are attentive to what people ask for and willing to collaborate. **_Discussion is always the best way to achieve a good result._** This is an invitation to discuss, think, try to understand how to improve things together and definitively close this repetitive cycle that leads to nothing. Thanks if you made it this far or even if you completely skipped the text. Until next time! UPDATE (11/06/2024) Unfortunately I confirm that the new cycle has begun. I already see users reluctantly returning to Twitter. I don't know how the story will evolve, but not listening to users' suggestions or requests certainly won't help the development of this platform. We will see. --- *Originally published on [The Simmonsstummer Chronicles](https://paragraph.com/@simmonsstummer/the-new-social-loop)*