Problems

What are the main problems of Web2 social platforms that FLIIST solves?

Chaos

Digital chaos is a post-product of content abundance. In the pursuit of quickly creating documents, notes, lists, and photo albums, users keep them scattered, lose what they need, and overload their device’s memory.

“Digital clutter” is not harmless: It leads to serious internet security and productivity problems.

“Digital clutter” and “digital minimalism” are already the subject of special training courses. The fight against chaos and the desire for orderliness in all spheres is a prerequisite for comfort and efficiency with limited resources and is the key idea of the internet in the early 2020s.

This is indicated by interest in the works of M. Kondo, L. Wei, D. Watkins, S. Haag and many others.

Toxic algorithms

Social network algorithms were designed to personalize a user’s feed, prioritizing content that is interesting to interact with. This has led to “information bubbles:” the algorithm limits a user’s exposure to content from new categories or other viewpoints. Researchers at Harvard University’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences called such algorithms “predatory” and pointed out that they lead to dangerous behavior and serious psychological disorders in a number of those researched.

Toxic dopamine

Dependence on content consumption is another negative consequence of the aggressive growth strategy of modern social platforms. Executive, entrepreneur and investor Chamath Palihapitiya, in a conversation with Stanford University students, admitted that he feels “terrible” guilt for having implemented “dopamine” user engagement practices when he was vice president of Facebook.

The feedback loops we have created — short and based on the hormone dopamine — are destroying the way society works.

Abuse of social media platforms resulted in sleep problems and depression for 78% of users surveyed when they could not access their smartphones.

Digital fatigue

If temporary social media inaccessibility ends in anxiety, then using social media itself is not always enjoyable or beneficial. Social media fatigue has been considered a serious problem since the mid-2010s.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the forced growth of media content consumption. The problem of digital fatigue has become serious, as TikTok increased traffic by 600% while Instagram and Twitter increased by 30-40% in 2020. For Generation Z, this process has become a serious threat to mental health and other negative implications.

Inequality

The problem with modern social platforms is the inequality of users, especially when monetizing their activity. On the one hand, new creators who do not receive significant income from their content lose motivation to create it.

On the other hand, “successful” bloggers are losing their independence: in order to maintain the level of engagement they once received, they are forced to adjust to algorithms and advertise something they do not use in the pursuit of monetization instead of expressing themselves and keeping their audience.

The only winners of this situation are the platforms themselves, seeking more profits and more leverage over their users. YouTube’s 2019-2020 monetization policy changes were detrimental to aspiring creators and are an example of how industry players are encouraging inequality instead of fighting it.