The big conundrum of social media is that the *intent* is for human-to-human connections.

But at some point, organizations have to join. And why?

Because organizations are a critical aspect of human-to-human connections.

The problem, though, is that most organizations are based on the notion of a "fictional person" (e.g., a corporation).

That now complicates the pure human-to-human intent.

This is a bigger discussion than social media itself, but permit this aside.

It's not so much that corporations, in and of themselves, are evil.

The real evil is *why* they exist.

Hear me out.

Corporations mostly exist so people can say something like, "Oh, this isn't mine. This is the property of a fictional person. I merely work for that fictional person -- so don't sue me!"

The reason social media becomes awful when organizations join is because the people who work for them (for often legitimate reasons) want to hide the fiction of a corporation.

So they create accounts for brands.

Guess what? People don't want to talk to brands. They want to talk to people.

Therefore, brands have to do the impossible: they must convince others that they're *real people* -- even though the real people running the brands are hiding behind the facade of a corporate identity.

But the growth of brands on social media creates a further problem:

1. People are so used to brands now, that they talk to real people as though they are brands

2. Brands are aspirational, so people seek to *become* brands

Hence the rise of the social media influencer as well as the "personality brand".

Is the Fediverse free from the problem of "brands"?

Nope!

Take myself. I've had to massively change what I share on this account.

When you gain any kind of following, people hold you to a higher standard of accountability. So you have to watch everything you say in case it's perceived beyond your core intent.

You also have to be careful about your personal life because not everyone is kind.

The effect? Social media influencers and personal brands.

Why do brands exist? Why do influencers? Why do people create personal brands on social media?

For that matter, why do ads exist?

Partially, I believe this is due to the fact social media technology does *not* align with Dunbar's number:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

Social media is intended for human-to-human connections.

Problem is that, while social media scales, Dunbar's number does not.

The more people you talk to on social media, the harder it is to perceive everyone as a unique person with a complex and nuanced life.

Add corporations, brands, algorithms, bots, etc. into the mix?

Social media becomes less effective at the task of human-to-human connections.

How to alleviate the problem of Dunbar's number, and the need to perceive humans as humans on social media?

Funny enough, this is where I think organizations (work, community, leisure) becomes critical.

Organizations need to create their own Fediverse instances.

That's right. Start with a base where you already know people. You talk and interact with them every day.

You see your neighbour Susan on the Fediverse. She sees you. You're talking to each other as humans.

On the Fediverse, I don't think there should be a Wendy's account that pretends to be a person.

I don't want to see an official Wendy's account.

(Although @Wendys is quite funny.)

I do think there should be a wendys.social, and that people who speak on behalf of Wendy's should have account there.

I know! Wendy's probably won't buy into that notion!