Given my now rather advanced age, I’ve been fortunate enough to witness the rise of what we now call “social networks.” In my view, it’s been a tragedy for my generation: we’ve transferred all the flaws of our generation (and those that came before it) onto social media.
It seems to me that digital natives know how to handle them better.
My son is twenty years old and isn’t particularly into social media; he uses it, but nothing out of the ordinary. When he was younger, however, there were daily battles and heated arguments at home. Since he’s the son of separated parents, I decided to give him a cell phone when he was ten; earlier than I had planned or wanted, but things don’t always go as expected. Of course, the phone had limits on both usage time and content. One hour a day seemed reasonable to me, but not to him: I’ll let you imagine the endless arguments.
But let’s get back to us “veterans.” At first, Facebook and Twitter seemed wonderful to me, but then they grew, and all sorts of things started popping up: wonderful people, ordinary folks, and people I don’t usually have anything to do with: racists, flat-Earth believers, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, various fascists, and other kinds of people I always avoid.
I think LinkedIn deserves a separate discussion; it’s full of people I can’t stand there too, but you can usually spot them by their job titles: when I read a title and don’t understand what they do, I avoid them.
Getting back to Twitter, after Musk’s acquisition, my account was suspended within a few weeks; perhaps to make room for all those groups of fascists and conspiracy theorists they were ready to welcome.
Facebook, which I’d used for years, eventually became unbearable; the average level of discussion was so low that my dog would have been excluded for being considered too intellectual. In the end, closing my account was the only option. It’s one thing to have to dodge idiots, but helping companies make money while dumbing down my fellow humans seemed excessive to me.
I don’t know what to say about Instagram: I’ve never used it. Every time I opened it, what I saw saddened me and made me think that perhaps our species really is overrated.
After leaving Facebook, I switched to Bluesky. The quality of the conversations was better than on Facebook, but there was still one major drawback: unverified accounts. In real life, when you talk to someone, you know who you’re talking to. In a discussion, I put my reputation on the line, and so do others. On social networks (not all of it, as we’ll see), that’s not the case. You find yourself responding to people who have neither a face nor a name, yet they insult and threaten you. This isn’t freedom; it’s fueling chaos and ignorance. With a little money to invest, anyone can create large groups of idiots who believe any old nonsense (QAnon strikes me as a prime example).
But let’s get to the long-awaited evolution: a social network where people are real. W Social.
I first heard about it last year and immediately signed up for the waitlist. Earlier this year, I was in Stockholm for an event and met the W Social team. I attended their presentation and really liked it. I waited for updates, and finally, a few days ago, I joined the community. Signing up works just like on other social platforms: if you just want to read, you can; if you want to participate, you have to go through a verification process. I find this as wonderful as it is obvious. Finally, zero trolls!
Anyone who thinks verifying an account is an illiberal act probably has no idea what freedom is. For political dissidents, there are a thousand ways to communicate; they don’t need to use a social network platform where their voice, among other things, can be hidden or, worse still, exploited. Just look at what happened with “Anonymous”: today, any idiot can call themselves “Anonymous” or recruit other fools in the name of “Anonymous”… I used “Anonymous” as an example, but I could have been talking about any criminal organization or other things we’d rather not see spread. Is this freedom? It reminds me a lot of Idiocracy.
That said, join W Social if you have interesting things to say: I think it’s worth it. It’s a long journey and we’re just getting started; there will be things to iron out, but I think the foundation for success is there.
Emiliano Carlesi's blog 