Not sure. I do think there’s room and need for an actual global public square. It can only exist in a protocol context. It’s just going to take a while to get there.
Discussion
A global public square will be an experience controlled by media and algorithms for most. So no, it was always an illusion. I'm looking forward to vibrant, healthy and inspiring local public squares, where ones own perception matters more than media.
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I will always miss peak Twitter, but I’m not sure how much demand there is for such a platform today - as long as there are fragmented communities that feel much “friendlier” (because more folks think the same) people will prefer that. Maybe you can emulate that feeling with platform design, but that seems to have tradeoffs that make the virality of peak Twitter impossible/very rare.
I could just be over-indexing on today, but I also think a more decentralized Internet is good, and not just decentralized protocols, but many different platforms and protocols available to people.
(You might argue that there will be many platforms built on nostr, which is far, and insofar as they’re sufficiently siloed I think that would still be my point, even if they share a common backend)
The friendly enclosed communities you’re referring to are called echo chambers.
I didn’t mean that as barbed as it sounds. We just need a place where ideas can battle and sharpen.
It is an echo chamber! But it’s a hell of a lot better than somewhere where you’re constantly “doing battle”. And let’s be honest, if you’re always “doing battle” rather than learning, Twitter is also an echo chamber.
Much room for improvement on global/universe feed & search that could give a wider perspective by topics….