There used to be real world, physical separation of subcultures pre-internet. Literally you'd drink at different bars, see music in different venues, live in different neighborhoods sometimes, etc. Then in the earlier internet era, there was online separation. Different forums and sites were closer to a 'walled garden' model where things…
There used to be real world, physical separation of subcultures pre-internet. Literally you'd drink at different bars, see music in different venues, live in different neighborhoods sometimes, etc. Then in the earlier internet era, there was online separation. Different forums and sites were closer to a 'walled garden' model where things weren't really globally connected. You could go to those forums freely, but they weren't sharing culture with other forums or communities.
Now though, everything is in a global feed. TikTok virality is global, not local. Same for Twitter, and IG Reels, YouTube, etc. Separated spaces still exist, but in addition to those separated spaces there's also the Single Global Feed where all the subcultures are mashed together. And the Single Global algorithm promotes conflict because conflict = engagement, so you get a lot of fights.
What tied old-school physical subcultural spaces and online spaces together was, and where it still exists, really just culture. All the communication and interaction had a point. In the early 1990s, musicians in Seattle converged on a style of hard rock that mutated into grunge, and in Manchester it turned into a kind of dance-pop, but the whole point was making music. Even the internet was the same way - forums usually had off-topic pages but it was a case of everyone being where they were for a reason. You were on CivFanatics because you loved the Civilization games and wanted a place to find fandom or mods, or Beer Advocate because you wanted to get in touch with other homebrewers, or so on. Even the general-purpose discussion communities like Something Awful had a shared culture. Lowtax was a repugnant human being but a great moderator because he understood how important culture was to online communities.
The idea that fueled social media was that connection and communication could be catalysts for increased understanding, empathy, and innovation. The problem is that except for conflict = engagement = revenue, the big platforms never took an active role in fostering a culture that would lead to healthy communication. Obama-era liberal American norms were taken completely for granted, which makes total sense when you think about who designed Twitter and Facebook.
There used to be real world, physical separation of subcultures pre-internet. Literally you'd drink at different bars, see music in different venues, live in different neighborhoods sometimes, etc. Then in the earlier internet era, there was online separation. Different forums and sites were closer to a 'walled garden' model where things weren't really globally connected. You could go to those forums freely, but they weren't sharing culture with other forums or communities.
Now though, everything is in a global feed. TikTok virality is global, not local. Same for Twitter, and IG Reels, YouTube, etc. Separated spaces still exist, but in addition to those separated spaces there's also the Single Global Feed where all the subcultures are mashed together. And the Single Global algorithm promotes conflict because conflict = engagement, so you get a lot of fights.
What tied old-school physical subcultural spaces and online spaces together was, and where it still exists, really just culture. All the communication and interaction had a point. In the early 1990s, musicians in Seattle converged on a style of hard rock that mutated into grunge, and in Manchester it turned into a kind of dance-pop, but the whole point was making music. Even the internet was the same way - forums usually had off-topic pages but it was a case of everyone being where they were for a reason. You were on CivFanatics because you loved the Civilization games and wanted a place to find fandom or mods, or Beer Advocate because you wanted to get in touch with other homebrewers, or so on. Even the general-purpose discussion communities like Something Awful had a shared culture. Lowtax was a repugnant human being but a great moderator because he understood how important culture was to online communities.
The idea that fueled social media was that connection and communication could be catalysts for increased understanding, empathy, and innovation. The problem is that except for conflict = engagement = revenue, the big platforms never took an active role in fostering a culture that would lead to healthy communication. Obama-era liberal American norms were taken completely for granted, which makes total sense when you think about who designed Twitter and Facebook.