Usenet didn't die because of signal to noise, it died because over the history of the internet people have been moving from communication to broadcast. (Mail -> Usenet -> Web Forums -> Facebook -> Twitter).
Each step becomes more like "One to Many" broadcasts.
Err, no. Your analogy sounds great but doesn't hold up at all.
In fact, the percentage of people you'd reach in a given Usenet forum far eclipsed what you'd reach on most any web forum when people first started switching. And most people on Twitter don't have many followers.
It's not about reaching more people, it's about where the people you want to associate with are.
Yes, people did abandon Usenet because of the signal to noise ratio, and people abandoned web forums for the same reason nd will eventually abandon Facebook and Twitter for the same reasons.
Comments
Usenet didn't die because of signal to noise, it died because over the history of the internet people have been moving from communication to broadcast. (Mail -> Usenet -> Web Forums -> Facebook -> Twitter).
Each step becomes more like "One to Many" broadcasts.
Err, no. Your analogy sounds great but doesn't hold up at all.
In fact, the percentage of people you'd reach in a given Usenet forum far eclipsed what you'd reach on most any web forum when people first started switching. And most people on Twitter don't have many followers.
It's not about reaching more people, it's about where the people you want to associate with are.
Yes, people did abandon Usenet because of the signal to noise ratio, and people abandoned web forums for the same reason nd will eventually abandon Facebook and Twitter for the same reasons.