Are your social relationships determined by capitalist corporations?
This is an important question to consider when thinking about whether or not to use commercial social networks: how interested are you in letting your social relationships – including your friendship and love relationships – be mediated and determined by capitalist corporations?
To think about this question, let's consider three moments:
1) The years before 2004, when commercial social networks on the Internet didn't exist; 2) The year 2004 (and beyond), when the first commercial social networks (Orkut / Facebook) appeared; 3) The present time (2024), when non-commercial social networks already exist (they began to appear in 2008 and have increased their visibility since 2016).
1) The years before 2004, when there were no commercial social networks on the Internet
Back then, certain companies (capitalist corporations) mediated our social relationships to a certain extent, including those of friendship and love. Let's take an important type of company in this scenario as an initial example: the bar. People go to bars to socialize: to talk to friends, to meet new people and to flirt. Each bar is a capitalist corporation that fulfills an important social function in its city, enabling and mediating social interactions between its occasional or frequent customers, establishing a form of social network between them. But – let's remember that there are streets where there are several bars, one next to the other – a bar doesn't prevent or forbid you from seeing and talking to people who are in the bar next door; or that you and your friends pay the bill and all go together to continue the conversation in the bar next door, or in another bar, in another part of the city. The bar thus mediates sociability according to an open logic, in which people can move freely between the various businesses, keeping their social relationships active. The same goes for other corporate sites in our cities that also mediate social relations: restaurants, cinemas, theaters, private parks (note: to socialize and have fun in these places (companies), people pay). This is how people used to experience sociability mediated by companies. (In the case of sociability experienced in public spaces – streets, beaches, institutions and public parks – people also pay, through taxes).
2) The year 2004 (and beyond), when the first commercial social networks (Orkut / Facebook) appeared.
When these new capitalist corporations that mediate sociability, the commercial social networks, appeared on the Internet, they decided to adopt a different business model, in which they didn't charge their customers (a fee); or so it seemed at the time. Several years had to pass for people to realize and understand that, in fact, in the relationship with companies, when you are not paying, you are the product. And in order to maintain this business model and ensure the continuous flow of our personal data for the sale – to real customers – of spaces for targeted advertising, these companies have adopted a closed logic to ensure permanent access to their resources (the users). Thus, by joining a commercial social network, you lose your freedom and can only see and interact with people who are also there – and this according to the rules of visibility and interaction that the company decides and imposes, without consulting you, in order to maximize its profits. The provision of this closed sociability environment governed by hidden rules (algorithms) is what has led to these commercial social networks being called “walled gardens”. For several years, apart from person-to-person online interactions (by email, for example), this was all there was for the general public when it came to online sociability; there was no choice or alternative to another model. Either you were trapped in the walled garden – and conditioned by it – or you went outside and ran a serious risk of losing contact with friends and people in other circles. It is therefore understandable that this scheme has lasted (and still lasts, for many) for so long and for so many people, despite the experiences of dissatisfaction and even suffering often reported by users.
3) Today (2024), when non-commercial social networks already exist
But non-commercial social networks are already available, which don't operate in the way described above. They don't adopt that business model simply because they're not a business. And this opens the door for their operation to be thought out and defined with the autonomy, freedom and control of the network participant at its core. These networks are made by people for people. They operate transparently, free from abuses of privacy and the use of their participants' personal data. They are decentralized (allowing anyone with sufficient technical knowledge to create and manage a website (instance) of the network) and enable communication with other non-commercial networks (and are therefore open networks). And, they are available for you to start using (and invite your friends to) today.
So, unlike that time when there were only commercial social networks, today, fortunately, there are great alternatives in the form of non-commercial social networks. In this new scenario, what will be your choice, your move, your decision?
Many users of commercial social networks, when they learn of the existence of non-commercial social networks, often receive this information as a kind of threat, as if this possibility presented to them were asking or demanding that the person abandon commercial social networks in order to start using non-commercial social networks – when, in reality, this request is not made. You can perfectly well carry on using commercial networks – at the same time as you start experimenting and getting to know non-commercial social networks. Soon, I assure you, this double and simultaneous experience will provide you with interesting observations about the quality of your experience using one type of social network and the other.
[January, 2024] Updated: August 18, 2024