[cmoneyspinner]

Aw man! What's the point of competition that doesn't benefit the consumer?

I like when businesses compete with each other to get my business. That usually means I get a deal or a bargain when I use or purchase the product or service.

But I am not really getting any benefit from this current war between the social media platforms.

FACEBOOK
First Facebook rebranded to Meta. But so what! Zuckerberg lost money on this venture.

Then Zuckerberg competed with Twitter by creating Threads.
Initially, Thread gained quite a few subscribers but the last business report I heard was that Threads was having a hard time keeping those subscribers. So I guess Musk is WINNING!!

**I did not sign up for Threads because I couldn't do it on my laptop or desktop. You have to use a phone. To me, a platform loses points when they don't design it so that it can be accessed on various types of devices.

TIKTOK
Now Tik Tok is trying to beat Twitter by allowing text threads. Similar to tweeting. TikTok is really a video-based app. But now they will be allowing users (like me) who write content to publish via TikTok.

Nothing to report so far. But if I were going to predict the outcome, I'd say people will still use Twitter for writing and TickTok for videos.

TWITTER
(1) Musk has added "Live Spaces" but I never used this feature. No reason to use it. The Spaces are never talking about anything of interest to me.

(2) Musk changed the name of Twitter. It's now "X". I don't see any immediate or long-term benefits to the user from this rebranding. (O.o) So now tweets are no longer tweets. Instead, they're called "exes". Does Musk know how silly that sounds? Even though he spells it "X's". It still sounds like people are talking about their breakups. LOL.

Elon Musk says tweets are to be called ‘X’s’ now
https://news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-says-t ... 39083.html

What are tweets called now that Twitter is X? Users weigh in | Mashable
https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x- ... ets-called

(3) Musk is promising that if you pay $7 or $8 a month, you will be able to share in the advertising revenues.

~ Frankly, I don't believe his promises. Not because I think he's a liar. It's my experience. I can't tell you how many times I have signed up at sites that promised a share of their ad revenues and I earned practically NOTHING!! HUBPges is the only site where I actually earned a share of its ad revenues. Promises do not equal CASH!

~ Also, when Musk first took over Twitter he LOST a lot of advertisers. How much is that platform making in advertising revenues now? I say: Win back those advertisers or get other advertisers to replace the lost revenue and then talk to me about sharing the wealth. I mean ... How do I know he won't do something in future to piss off more advertisers?

~ Also ... and I have no Insider info on this ... it's just my suspicion. I think Musk is promising to share ad revenues but the money from the monthly subscriptions is going to be diverted and used to be to pay for his "toy company". (I'm talking about "SpaceX". I call it his toy company.) Nobody is publicly reporting this. I'm sure it will happen behind the scenes and the monthly subscribers will be none the wiser. Hey! I can have a suspicion or an opinion.

BLUE SKY SOCIAL
I am so disappointed with Jack Dorsey. When Musk bought Twitter, I receive an eMail saying Dorsey would build a new social platform called Blue Sky. I was excited! I signed up to be notified once it was active. Haven't heard a peep about it since! Here is a recent article dated June 2023.

Bluesky, championed by Jack Dorsey, was supposed to be Twitter 2.0. Can it succeed? | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/bluesky-twit ... d87857c766

MASTODON
I remember all that buzz about everybody leaving Twitter and moving over to Mastodon. I have an account but I only have it because Meium.com invited me to create one.

Honestly, there is nothing that moving and shaking on this social platform that benefits the consumer. It might s well be a ghost town in that regard.

Sadly the buzz about Mastodon is disappointing and even shameful! These reports are recent!

FBI Seizure of Mastodon Server is a Wakeup Call to Fediverse Users and Hosts to Protect their Users | Electronic Frontier Foundation ~ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/f ... tect-their

Mastodon's decentralized social network has a major CSAM problem | Engadget ~ https://www.engadget.com/mastodons-dece ... 19000.html

Twitter rival Mastodon rife with child-abuse material, study finds - The Washington Post ~ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... udy-finds/

The "Others"
Then there are other platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Discord, Minds, WeChat, etc. that are nothing to talk about. The crypto-related social platforms like Steemit, Noise.Cash, etc. also did not do much better.

***
I'm disappointed The competition between the tech corporations isn't benefiting the users at all.

Thanks for letting me RANT!

[mrki444]

I don't think it helps.
Most new apps are in ownership of big players like Threads. Exception is Mastodont.
They share data between each them as never before. EU try stop some of this actions but it is to small market. Australia try something similar few years ago but users to much depend on it.
Some say they use personal data to train A.I models.
Accounts become connected and when you try delete one, you lose all connected accounts (Threads and Instagram).

[eldavis]

Normally that's how its supposed to go. The customers or consumers should benefit more from it cause they would be lots of options to choose form.

[Kenti]

The exes part really cracked me up. We are still hoping though that Threads would force Twitter to drop that their $8 monthly verification stuff.

[cmoneyspinner]

The exes part really cracked me up. We are still hoping though that Threads would force Twitter to drop that their $8 monthly verification stuff.

That's not going to happen. Threads can't even keep their subscribers. As for Twitter dropping that monthly verification fee? Forget about it! But it would be nice if every once in a while, Elon Musk offered a discount.

One time I subscribed to a streaming service and I was going to cancel, but when I hit the cancel button they offered me 50% off for a certain period of time. They gave me half off the monthly subscription charge? Obviously I stayed.

[Kenti]

The thing is that it is very easy to create monopolies in tech because the first innovators would grow so big another won't have a chance. How can a giant like Meta not be able to give us a viable alternative to Twitter in the microblogging industry.

[cmoneyspinner]

The thing is that it is very easy to create monopolies in tech because the first innovators would grow so big another won't have a chance. How can a giant like Meta not be able to give us a viable alternative to Twitter in the microblogging industry.

AMEN!! and AMEN!! That is exactly my point. Supposedly these corporations have the best and brightest minds working on their projects. So why can't they make something better?? Although ... ??? ... I think Zuckerberg's sister quit Facebook and went to work for Google. (I seem to vaguely remember that. IDK. I'll have to Google it. ) It's like they keep reinventing the wheel but the wheel does go any faster or get any better.

[Kenti]

Now that Tesla is evolving, no other tech organization is innovating at a similar pace. When it has established itself and found footing that everyone is using globally, that is when another company would spring up to try and compete. Obviously, it won't be able to keep up.

[Mika]

For a long time youtube was the only video sharing platform, Twitch came in 2011, facebook also launched dedicated video sharing in 2016. Now, there are multiple platforms where a normal user can start making money form videos

[cmoneyspinner]

For a long time youtube was the only video sharing platform, Twitch came in 2011, facebook also launched dedicated video sharing in 2016. Now, there are multiple platforms where a normal user can start making money form videos

I have noticed that the video creators on Hideout TV link back to their YouTube channel in the description. It must be easy to upload their YouTube videos to Hideout TV.