Text in the image: “Are social platforms working as designed? / The reality is that microblogging sucks, but Twitter managed to make it addictive for a few reasons, which is why / the most popular alternative, Mastodon, is basically a copy of the underlying formula, but tweaked to work on the / ActivityPub federated network (the so-called fediverse). / The formula is not that hard to understand if you understand how people think and react to stimulation. People / are inherently social creatures, and because of the formula used by Twitter, have tried their best to use Twitter / despite the inherent conceptual flaws behind microblogging. / If you've ever sat down at a slot machine, you will likely note that they are constantly making noises as you / interact with them. These sounds are designed to stimulate the reward center in your brain and thus cause it to / release endorphins. In the same way, microblogging and other social platform formulas have built rich / notification systems to ensure that users experience pleasure from being online. Don't believe me? Try muting the / notifications from Twitter or Mastodon and see if you remain interested in it: odds are, after a while, you won't. / The other key part of the formula: sow discord amongst the users. This can be done organically (by users) or / algorithmically. People have an inherent desire to be right, and this keeps the engagement loop going as people / fight over stupid things like whether Android or iPhones are bette