For example, would removing infinite scrolling help make it less addictive? Would you keep the upvote/downvote system, remove it, or classify posts differently to foster better discussions? How about adding a countdown timer to log the user out after a certain number of hours of use?
If psychological research can be used to keep users engaged on a social network for as long as possible, I believe it can also be applied to help prevent excessive use, improve the quality of discussions, and create a more empathetic environment. That’s why I’d love to hear suggestions from those in the field.
I have both Matrix and Revolt, but they remain empty unfortunately. The advertised public servers are so full I usually leave within an hour. And I can’t get my friends to join my Matrix channel instead of the discord server they are used to using. I also fully admit that real time chatting is just not my thing, so my bias is definitely towards non-real-time social media sites. Growing up with dyslexia and AIM, I’d always feel really insecure about spelling things correctly and it always takes me a while to send a message. Again, fully a me-issue that other people generally don’t have, but I can dream haha
I have managed to get friends to use Matrix but not switch, if they don’t even bother to try using it (i really mean use, not replace or switch, that’s a bigger ask) they are either just lazy (I don’t mean it in a bad way, some people usually are because they are in a bad mental state and just too exhausted day-to-day) or it’s just not worth your time as much as you think. There are friends and there are people who are just going along.
Have you heard of Neocities? They’re also open-source.
Every day I relearn that Neocities still exists I’m surprised. I also had no idea it was open source! Thanks for the info! I honestly love the “small web”, and neocities really has a large portion of those kind of sites. I also follow some Bear Blogs, though I think it’s rare to find comment sections on these sites, so communication is limited to emailing if this was to be considered social media. But it definitely makes me feel more cozy than any of the corporate owned media sites.
Wow, first time I hear of Bear Blogs, thanks for sharing, I will try it out!
I also find blogs more cozy, nothing wrong with emails for communicating (if you use a good email provider/self-host).