Twitter, to me, is an excellent example of why monolithic platforms are bad for society. Jack Dorsey had ultimate authority to manage Twitter as he saw fit since Twitter’s inception. As soon as Elon bought it, you could see Musk starting to shift the “culture” surrounding Twitter to his silly little man-child libertarian bullshit.

Facebook, Myspace, Twitter; They all share the same problems. They also all share the same fate. They’re destined to die. They will start life humbly, expand, peak, and eventually whither and die. It’s the cycle of “monolithic platforms”.

The biggest problem with monolithic platforms would be that they’re susceptible to the “MKUltra Effect”. They can be influenced algorithmically by the people who manage the platform. They can direct social narratives in any way they desire, and they absolutely do. This force is not possible to stop on any platform regardless of structure, but if you’re hardened against the propaganda you will not easily escape it, because you won’t find any simple alternative to consume on that platform.

A distributed platform also has pitfalls. Namely, distributed platforms suffer from something commonly called “bot hell”, because the cost of connecting a bot to said platforms being virtually nil and easy to do. In my experience there’s only one distributed platform that begins addressing the pitfalls and creating a space for all to share their experiences and connect with one another regardless of beliefs or views. You’re going to find right wing nutjobs, and you’re going to find left wing nutjobs. You’ll also find people who fall somewhere in between the two. Nostr is a home for all, and honestly that’s my ideal platform.