We don't see the social transformation that social media is. It's not about 'sharing' now, we're well past…

We don't see the social transformation that social media is. It's not about 'sharing' now, we're well past that. Social media *is* increasingly peoples' social lives. They don't just use it to share details of those lives. /1 https://t.co/QsIfrM41z8 https://t.co/9K3NbZV5D5

We're paying billionaires now to provide our actual societies. People transact their lives on SM now, and the platforms in turn shape their lives off SM. /2

They not only shape how we think and what we believe, they even shape peoples' bodies. The imitative rivalry that is the core of all social life is nuclear on SM. People's physical bodies are even shaped to take part in this rivalry. /3

Meanwhile business has shifted to the platforms, so that now our social lives are a seamless hybrid of personal and commercial. Every thought and feeling you express on a platform is now monetised. /4

Economics is now integrated into our most intimate personal thoughts and feelings and social relationships. Think about where our public spaces now are. /5

Where do people gather, socially? Day to day, apart from single events. On social media. It's become our public square. But also our 'economy'. And our politics. /6

And so does the public own it? I think we know the answer there. /end