discuss Is Facebook and Social Media Dismantling Some Sub-Cultures?

[DrGravitas]

An interesting editorial today from The Conversation, via Phys.org.

It examines, in light detail, the impact Facebook, its policies, and its popularity inadvertently have on body modification sub-cultures, and discusses how it impacts other such groups. It's a rather interesting article, I think and raises a few questions worth discussion:

Do you think the authors are correct in their assessment of this impact?

Are some sub-cultures more or less susceptible to this sort of 'dismantling'?

What sub-cultures might be more resilient to this effect and what characteristics make them so?

[Fossa]

I'll have to read this. I never used Facebook before, but I can see where it might have an effect of making things more homogenized, sanitized; more 'in line' with the prevailing social structure. I've been tempted to create an account for just my furry self, but have been far too lazy to do so.

[Saxon]

I am not convinced of the core premise that mainstream sites like facebook compete with sub-culture sites for potential users.

Many people have accounts on both, and the obsolescence of individual forums isn't evidence that an entire sub culture has been dismantled; even if they did all move to facebook this could also be evidence for subsumation, rather than dismantling.

 

[Vae]

The thing about today, as compared to 2005, is that the internet is now a household expectancy.
Your parents use it, your grandparents use it, hell your pets probably use it too.

Smaller communities thrived in the single-digit 2000s because they could. Because back then, you had an actual small-town feel to the internet. Limited people with limited but invested interest. Small sites actually stood out.
In today's time, they are a molecule in a drop in an ocean. Infinitely replaceable and interchangeable. Easily forgettable.
Oh, this specific singular site for this interest didn't tickle your fancy? Congrats, there's 5000 others.

This isn't Facebook's fault. It's just because the internet audience is fucking massive nowadays.
Of course they're gonna gravitate to where they might have more exposure for the things they do.