Is this the end of social networking?
&gt; [TikTok]&#x27;s addiction-based advertising machine is probably close to the theoretical maximum of how many advertisements one can pour down somebody’s throat.<p>Well put. It&#x27;s interesting that we pivoted in my adult lifetime from:<p>1. Myspace&#x27;s emphasis on sharing things on your own webpage, essentially a hosted blog
2. Facebook&#x27;s evolution from &quot;hosted blog&quot; to &quot;friend update aggregator&quot; to &quot;chat client&quot; to &quot;friend update &amp; ad aggregator&quot;
3. Instagram&#x27;s callback to simple update sharing (with pictures) and a chronological ad-free news feed
4. Snap&#x27;s emphemeral sharing
5. Facebook&#x27;s slow agglomeration and bastardization of all of the features that made Instagram and Snap distinct.
6. TikTok&#x27;s addictive advertising machine that barely includes any friend connections at all.<p>Initially I was concerned that this would mean the death of real social media, just like the article initially suggests. But I really like the conclusion the article ultimately comes to: we basically don&#x27;t have social media right now, we have advertising engines masquerading as social media. Better that Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat show their true colors and become disgusting advertising machines just like TikTok.<p>If we&#x27;re lucky, that means a federated, open, mostly-ad-and-suggestion-free open source social media experience can fill the power vacuum for intimate, interpersonal, high-latency communication over the internet. microblog seems promising, but I think even mastodon could provide the experience I&#x27;m looking for.