Yes, at this point of the internet, the fact that most people have decided to depend on big platforms and not develop properly all the distributed alternatives available for many years, it's hard to blame anybody except ourselves.
I don't agree. "Ourselves"? Did I have a choice in my entire social network choosing to use Facebook and Twitter? Did I have a choice in LinkedIn being my best option for getting employment? No.
I talk about this stuff all the time. I blog [1] about it and complain about it to my family and friends until it gets annoying. And it _does not matter_ how much individual effort I put into this because people have no incentive to change.
Yes, I think it's hard for normal people to use those networks because at this point they are unable to replicate the network effects of centralized media, as in there is no simple way of going from 1to1 communication and build from there to many-to-many.
But I think we people who are into tech should have coordinated more among ourselves that at least we used and helped to grow until they are mature enough for regular people.
Yes, because linkedin is not the best way to get a job. Jobs are the one area you have better choices. Indeed is much bigger anyhow.
For social networks did you have a choice? Yes but your choices are join the network others are on, get others on networks you want or make friends on networks no one you know is on. This has always been like this.. if the group is going to a movie.. you can tag along, you can try to influence what movie, you can throw a party and get others to drop the movie idea.
In your case I would pick new friends and become the leader of that pack. Family I would go visit..
> Yes, because linkedin is not the best way to get a job.
In my admittedly short experience, LinkedIn and in-person networking are tied on this front.
> your choices are join the network others are on, get others on networks you want or make friends on networks no one you know is on
I think it's bad that we're expected to choose between existing communities and our privacy, our consent, and our dignity. The correct way to address this is regulation.
Well, there's nothing properly developed, that's why we are still here. The basic building blocks are all there, cryptography for privacy and identity. p2p networks for data transfer have worked in the piracy world for many years too.
What is missing is putting it all together and be able to replicate the network effects you get from centralized media, like if you are able to reach one person, be able to reach in a simple way all of his friends as well (supposing they want to be reached).
