Thread | Brutkey

Finally, comments are either closed or anonymous -- it's hard to interact with the story, the author, or other readers on the publisher's web site. So, you have to find your way back to the social networking post and give your likes, comments, or shares there. Hopefully you can just back-button away, but sometimes not.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

Many social network users make the conclusion that it is a bad idea to try to read the whole article (paywall, not interactive, abusive ads, lose your place in the social network interface) and just respond to the headline, clickbait image, and 10 words of the lede instead. Given the UX provided, this is a very rational step.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

Maybe, if we actually want to have better-informed citizens, we should make a better news interface. The full story should be included in social networking posts (including images). Interactivity should be integrated with the reading experience -- not fully separate.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

The economic model of social news -- that social networks include minimal information to generate clicks for ad-supported or paywalled Websites or apps -- is clearly not working. We should consider using more integrated models where the news is in the platform, not separate from it.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

I think that public broadcasters can lead the way on this. If they don't rely on ads on their sites, they can include their full content in social networking posts -- not just a link.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

But it's also possible to include a subscription model into social networks. You can't follow Publication X unless you make a payment, either in-band or out-of-band. It's how the newsletter market works, after all.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

Even advertisements can work to some extent in full-content posts, although you don't easily get the same level of targeting as with the click-through model.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

We have a great opportunity to make the social news experience much better on the Fediverse.

Evan Prodromou
@evan@cosocial.ca

I know that I'm a techno-utopian, but I believe that having more voices in the conversation is a net good, not a net evil.