An interesting thought is that Facebook has over 2 billion active monthly users compared to a meager 300 million for Twitter-but yet it seems like Twitter is so much more influential? The answer lays in the aforementioned terminally online. Consider also that only a quarter of Americans even use Twitter, furthermore only a quarter of all users make up 97% of tweets. Despite this, Twitter is widely considered to be the public forum of the world (or at least the western world). Why is this? It is because Facebook focuses on friends and private groups, whereas every tweet is a public statement that anyone can read, even if they are not following you or even logged into the platform. Another factor is the fact that basically anyone influential WILL use twitter, even if the overall userbase is far smaller than Facebook. Facebook is dominated by the average Joe, Twitter is dominated by politicians, celebrities and microcelebrities/public figures, ranging from having significantly sized following in the millions to moderate followings in the 10k-100k ranges. What this all means is that even though the userbase is small, that happens on Twitter can literally set the cultural agenda that seeps into the mainstream, real life culture, affecting all of us even if so many of us are ignorant of the influence.
One key example is the huge boom in the transgender/gay agenda, from being a minor, niche element of culture and mostly the subject of ridicule in movies and tv to now being one of the biggest societal talking points of the 21st century, being taught in schools, having their flags dominate in major cities. All this absurd shit can be traced to a few thousand autistic people from tumblr, which blew up when the tumblr exodus happened and they all went to twitter and thus their insanity became mainstream.
But it isn't just twitter, Reddit is also extremely influential in online discourse despite having only 430 million monthly users, and much of reddit culture is downstream from 4chan, which has a mere 22 million monthly users, many of which are lurkers or who make only a few posts. Most posts and OC on these sites is created by a tiny minority of power users. And yet consider the 2016 election, which arguably was hugely influenced by these sites, especially 4chan, with Trump becoming elected (I find it unlikely that he would have been without the effect of meme culture). The user dynamic of imageboards is different from that of sites like Reddit and Twitter, with more of a "hivemind" collective consciousness developing and natural formation of memetic dialogue, as compared to Reddit and Twitter which tend to have a more top down approach, Reddit content being heavily influenced by a handful of moderators and Twitter by the power-tweeters.
Another example of extreme influences would be Youtube and Twitch commentators. These figureheads tend to react to and opine on issues of the day, and huge numbers of people tune in to hear their opinions, in many case having their own opinions effectively molded by them. Where once Youtube was a place for cat videos and animations, it is now dominated by reaction content in various forms, where early Twitch was about playing videogames, it has now become the hub for yet more opinionators to shape the public discourse (and Twitch thots to show their tits ofc). For examples from these platforms think of Penguinz0 and Hasan Abi, both individuals being extremely famous and influential to the culture, not for having talent of any kind, but simply for their ability to react to things and spout inane comments that their slavish fanbases will eat up.
Hell, even the incels are not guilt-free from all this. Our culture would certainly not exist at this level if it were not for the modern internet. Yes ER-ers are arguably the major factor in incels becoming mainstream, but never would have there been any sustained momentum and growth if not for discussion areas like incel subreddits and incel forums. So do I entirely disparage the modern internet? No, there are many truths that I never would have come to realize if not for sites like 4chan and .is, and I likely would have remained a disgruntled sub-normie, forever knowing there was something wrong but never being able to fully come to grips with it, rather than becoming the blackpilled understander of how fucked things are that I actually am. But the internet spreads bluepill faster than it does blackpill, and it creates more harm than it has ever solved, or at least that is how I see it. The normie hoard are controlled by the elite of internet figureheads, shitposters, opinionaters and moderators, far more effectively than radio or TV could ever hope to achieve. Overall, it has been a detriment to society but in the long run I think that it will be a boon for those of us that have hope to transcend the bullshit of society, find our own purpose, cut the cord with everything and embrace the whitepill.
TL;DR A handful of sites dominate the internet, and a handful of users dominate those sites. The internet dominates modern culture. Ergo, a minority of internet users dominate modern culture.
One key example is the huge boom in the transgender/gay agenda, from being a minor, niche element of culture and mostly the subject of ridicule in movies and tv to now being one of the biggest societal talking points of the 21st century, being taught in schools, having their flags dominate in major cities. All this absurd shit can be traced to a few thousand autistic people from tumblr, which blew up when the tumblr exodus happened and they all went to twitter and thus their insanity became mainstream.
But it isn't just twitter, Reddit is also extremely influential in online discourse despite having only 430 million monthly users, and much of reddit culture is downstream from 4chan, which has a mere 22 million monthly users, many of which are lurkers or who make only a few posts. Most posts and OC on these sites is created by a tiny minority of power users. And yet consider the 2016 election, which arguably was hugely influenced by these sites, especially 4chan, with Trump becoming elected (I find it unlikely that he would have been without the effect of meme culture). The user dynamic of imageboards is different from that of sites like Reddit and Twitter, with more of a "hivemind" collective consciousness developing and natural formation of memetic dialogue, as compared to Reddit and Twitter which tend to have a more top down approach, Reddit content being heavily influenced by a handful of moderators and Twitter by the power-tweeters.
Another example of extreme influences would be Youtube and Twitch commentators. These figureheads tend to react to and opine on issues of the day, and huge numbers of people tune in to hear their opinions, in many case having their own opinions effectively molded by them. Where once Youtube was a place for cat videos and animations, it is now dominated by reaction content in various forms, where early Twitch was about playing videogames, it has now become the hub for yet more opinionators to shape the public discourse (and Twitch thots to show their tits ofc). For examples from these platforms think of Penguinz0 and Hasan Abi, both individuals being extremely famous and influential to the culture, not for having talent of any kind, but simply for their ability to react to things and spout inane comments that their slavish fanbases will eat up.
Hell, even the incels are not guilt-free from all this. Our culture would certainly not exist at this level if it were not for the modern internet. Yes ER-ers are arguably the major factor in incels becoming mainstream, but never would have there been any sustained momentum and growth if not for discussion areas like incel subreddits and incel forums. So do I entirely disparage the modern internet? No, there are many truths that I never would have come to realize if not for sites like 4chan and .is, and I likely would have remained a disgruntled sub-normie, forever knowing there was something wrong but never being able to fully come to grips with it, rather than becoming the blackpilled understander of how fucked things are that I actually am. But the internet spreads bluepill faster than it does blackpill, and it creates more harm than it has ever solved, or at least that is how I see it. The normie hoard are controlled by the elite of internet figureheads, shitposters, opinionaters and moderators, far more effectively than radio or TV could ever hope to achieve. Overall, it has been a detriment to society but in the long run I think that it will be a boon for those of us that have hope to transcend the bullshit of society, find our own purpose, cut the cord with everything and embrace the whitepill.
TL;DR A handful of sites dominate the internet, and a handful of users dominate those sites. The internet dominates modern culture. Ergo, a minority of internet users dominate modern culture.
