Imagining Alternatives
20.6. Imagining Alternatives#
Now try thinking about different ways online social media could work.
Are these alternatives good ideas? 🤷
Reflect on these prompts and try to work out what the consequences would be for different ways of social media working:
What if social media sites were governed by their users instead of by shareholders (e.g., governed by the subjugated instead of the colonialists)?
How would users participate in decision-making?
Would non-users have a say (e.g., if the whole user base decides to harass a group of non-users)?
How do you think the sites would work differently?
What if social media sites were created in other countries and cultures? (Note: we already have various Chinese social media sites as one point of comparison)
What different values would be embedded and what would that look like?
For example, many cultures value family connections much more than white Americans do, but current American social media sites do not emphasize them.