Facebook was great because it acted as kind of a pre-WhatsApp organizing method for college parties and because college girls you knew shamelessly posted vacation and party photos. Insta was great because 20 and 30 something women you know shamelessly posted their vacation and night out photos.
This, to a younger 956, was a revelation. That cute girl in my 3-level history class would have fucking slapped me— or at the least gotten the ick — had I asked to see her bikini photos from summer vacation. And then, a few years later— they were simply there to assess with no more awkwardness than a friend request that she would send you!
For me, “social” media went wrong when the algos began favoring “content creators” to people you actually know. No matter how much pulchritude some OnlyFan model is flaunting and how scandalous it is, it will never hit as hard as seeing that your high school prom date still has it, and has gotten divorced and is letting her friends know about both.
As far as I know TikTok was never about connecting you with your friends and acquaintances, who would have shit video anyway. It was always about driving you to “creators” and it never had any interest to me.