I'm not even sure what the point in social media is?

[Borkins]

Is there one?

That should say corvids

Agree with NorthEndGirl; it is what you make it.
Some people use it to create a fantasy, that “best life” if you like..and others to stay in touch, learn, create, etc.
For myself, I have found out about so many things thanks to t'internet, including making great lasting friendships through shared interests. I can watch my grandson in Holland grow, day by day. And Mumsnet, of course....

To make zuckerberg money

I agree with you, OP.
When I started using MN there were no smartphones, there was no FB or Twitter or whatever else. I never thought of it as social media.

When FB started it was OK for catching up with people you went to school with or far-flung friends.

When Twitter came along it was just for brain-farts really. You couldn't have a conversation or anything.

I can barely do anything without having my phone on me, just inc are I have a spare 30 seconds to 'check things' - it's desperate. I am honestly totally addicted.

monetised and weaponised

Can you translate into words I can understand please @SurpriseSparDay ?

Monetized - turned into a way to make money, eg by placing ads on the page.

Weaponized - adapted to be used as a weaopn, eg being used to promote Brexit; or social media being used to destabilize a political party or country by creating discord among different social groups.

I talk to my cousins, see stuff going on in their lives. I have a zillion cousins.

I follow journalists on Twitter, lots of news to follow in recent years...

DS organised his DoE group on WhatsApp.

All good stuff.

Thanks Thelnebriati, yes, all that.

Data, specifically. Who possesses it, who sells it, who buys it. And what use they make if it.

All our data is being harvested. That is all.

I don't think most people realise how big a business their data is.
The scary thing is I've met a lot of people don't take data protection in the workplace seriously either.

I’ve been contemplating this a lot recently.
It’s for marketing purposes for small, mediums and large businesses.
For the normal person it’s either to “creep” on other people which ultimately leaves you comparing yourself to them, and potentially feeling shit about yourself.
The other is the convey a life that you wish you had, by posting a picture or a saying which can Imply something, even if that picture is not a real representation of who you are or your circumstance.
It’s all smoke and mirrors and it’s poison.
I’ve personally stepped away quite a bit and I’m much happier.
Nothing pisses me off more than seeing “fake friends” like or comment on stuff when you know they don’t really rate that person that they are publicly brown nosing.
It’s scary how hung up I’ve been on who has seen my post and or why they didn’t like it.
Slowly getting a grip and escaping it all.
I wish social media didn’t exist, we would be a lot happier!

I didn't meet a computer until i went to uni. And then only for uni work.

What did we do?

As mentioned we just went out and drank with whoever we found.

We phoned people we had walked home from school with using the phone in the hall where everyone could listen to the conversation.

We sat on the wall outside our house waiting for others to come our

We read Just 17, probably more damaging to 12 year old girls than anything available now.

Social media just lets you keep warm and dry whilst doing basically rhe same socialising.

The point of all social media is to monetise your attention.

That’s it. That’s all it is from the developers POV. To get your eyeballs fixed on their adverts. Whatever it takes to drag your attention here - rather than there - that’s it. That’s the point.

Y can't SM be multi-purpose?

I read about Trump's 6 pg letter insanity, jokes from DH's aunt , my childhood friend's daughter being cute, my old workmate's kids being cute, a cute sloth, what movie my other cousin went to see with her adult sons, Billy Graham's magazine dissing Trump today, some great dad jokes from another cousin's husband, somewhere to see local Xmas lights, Climate Deniers backing BJ, DH's cousin's hacked email... and that's just on my FBk & Twitter today.

SM is a good way for me to get this range of information. Works for me.

@ragged and others

None of that is the point of am: they are just the bait that is used to drag you eyeballs “here” rather than “there”. Something about each of those interactions made you pay attention: and that earns money for whichever sm company you were viewing at the time. No one would enable you to experience any of that if it wasn’t profitable in some way.

The point for me (which is fair enough who I care about) is to find out stuff others are doing.
The profit margin off of me is probably very slim.

I'm not sure what the point is, moaning about the advert & profit margin linked to SM...

Coz no one ever profited if you went to the pub, or
If you sat & watched telly with your mates, or
if you read a book/magazine (since books & mags were always free), or
if you gardened (since all gardening supplies are free), or
if you sent a letter or made a phone call -

yup, never a profit margin linked to any of that, right?

Data is not just about a profit margin. Its so much more than targeted advertising.

So when advertisers had 'data' (not to mention actual mailing lists) on who watched which tv programme in the 1970s, or who subscribed to which magazine, or who liked what kind of pub food, or bought X kind of gardening stuff, and designed their advertising and offerings around that intelligence...

The world was a totally safer place. Is that the thesis?

For me...

Keeping in touch with my friends and wider family. Far quicker than letters.

Organising stuff, all members of group/organisation get the same info at the same time and see all replies (unlike email) or word of mouth.

Gives extroverted me people to talk to when stuck in the house with introverted kids.

Get messages to/from the church community which have missed the deadine for the paper newsletter.

Connect with similar minded/similar interested people across the world.

No. Where are you getting that idea from? The way data is collected and used has changed. Forget the past, its gone. Its no longer a useful analogy.
Your data is for sale to anyone who can afford to buy it.

Indeed @Thelnebriati and @SurpriseSparDay, they are no doubt 'collecting data when I use social media.
The same as they do when I use a Nectar card or Boots points card or shop on-line, or watch TV, or use a meerkats 2for1 movie.

so ?

OP asked what the point of it was. Yes, companies gather data from you, but I don't have a problem with that. In return I get to use all the social media I want to, which is a massive step forward from the pre-internet days.

Hmm ...

I don’t have a Nectar card or Boots points card and don’t know what meerkats 2for1 movie is. I also don’t/won’t have an Alexa thing listening in on all my conversations. (Don’t possess a TV but that’s for different reasons.)

I do shop online - the tracking worries me a bit.

uhm I do not think social media is good at all since there is so many inappropriate things such as FORTNITE

Back in the 1980s, Before we had SM, we had email lists & Usenet.
A lot could be harvested from that too, if anyone had bothered to develop the algorithms.

I love facebook because it means I can keep in contact with people without actually talking to them.