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There was a time when Facebook was intended to keep students in touch, Instagram was a social network dedicated to photography and Twitter was used to launch extremely synthetic opinions and thoughts. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically: these social networks have expanded their functions to become global platforms, on which videos, polls, memes, articles and even documentaries circulate, directing the most important events and […] shows
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Twitter cuts subscribers to those who bought them
The result is that their realization becomes more and more pbadive
: a way to kill time scroll through the flow and limit ourselves to put tastes here and there. If that were not enough, the increasing attention to privacy, the use that these social networks make of our data and the way algorithms can influence public opinion have greatly reduced the confidence in these platforms; as confirmed – speaking with The Ringer – communication professor Scott Campbell: "People no longer trust; especially they do not trust Facebook, its algorithms and the manipulation of the news thread. "
It's in this scenario that niche social networks are making their way; with a clear function, which promote the emergence of communities gathered around the same pbadion. Niche social networks are making their way; platforms with a clear function, which favor the emergence of communities united around a single pbadion Applications like Diplodils, for hiking enthusiasts; Untappd, for beer lovers; Yonders, for those who want to organize group trips and adventures, as well as social activities, much more prevalent than RunKeeper (used by race fans)
Unlike traditional social networks, these tools have a numerically lower but much more active use and are used – like the 3 9, says Sandra Cortesi, director of Harvard's Berkman Center – "when you have something specific in mind you want to do and when you want to connect with a certain type of community". Unlike Facebook or Instagram, these platforms stimulate active behavior, which allows to exchange information, to make new discoveries Unlike Facebook or Instagram, that we open and scroll often for no particular reason, and almost without warning what appears before our eyes, these platforms stimulate active behavior; this allows you to exchange information, make new discoveries, organize meetings and even compete with friends (as is the case with RunKeeper).
Instagram and Facebook test Do not disturb
The result is that the growth of niche social networks continues at a high speed: Quantauxils had 200,000 users in 2012, today it declares seven million; Untappd has tripled its users in a few years and now has over three million subscribers; Runkeeper, in 2017, has reached $ 50 million. In theory, a social network could be created for every imaginable pbadion: from comics to tennis, from art to yoga; until modeling.
The potentials of the niches were also intuitively designed by Facebook, which has tried to satisfy this type of need by creating groups in which the different communities of enthusiasts can be united. But there is a problem: "One of the reasons why communities congregate in these platforms and not in Facebook groups is certainly the general disaffection for large social networks," continues Campbell. The potential of niches has also been understood by Facebook, which has tried to satisfy this type of need by creating groups Not only: the simple fact of opening Facebook to access groups may lead us in this whirlwind of infinite and unmotivated flow of news thread that we all know too well.
The real challenge for these niche applications is to become economically sustainable without having to distort; which would compromise their reason for being and make them more and more similar to Facebook and Instagram. And traditional social networks, what will they do? True, they are not destined to disappear: the risk, on the contrary, is that their use becomes the smartphone equivalent of zapping lazily in front of the television.
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