Current platforms care about two things: data for advertisers and user retention in order to serve the ads. This informs the worst parts of their design and influences user behavior, often for the worse. The gamified karma and award system of :reddit-logo:, the endless scroll of slop, the parasocial hell that is influencer culture, constant notifications, Twitter's hot take economy, etc.

Now, let's say, for the sake of argument :expert-shapiro: that you were asked to design a new social media platform, and profit/operating costs are not a concern. How would you go about doing it? Would it be somewhat similar to what we currently have, or radically different?

For example, how could a facebook-like platform that actively wants you off it and touching grass with your friends do that? Maybe encourage meetups by suggesting activities and helping with scheduling? Do away with the like/share functionality? Is the whole format doomed from the start?

I'd say this place is a good example: by removing a part of reddit design (:downbear:) better discussion was incentivized and a tool for harassment was removed.