There is little to distinguish one social media company from another beyond window dressing and the feed algorithm. Any startup competitor can provide a platform to send messages with media to others, to post and display them publicly alongside otherwise private information.

So the social media corporation obsesses over its own coding that determines the post display order of your feed – generally giving preference to the desires of the advertisers who pay for space there.

The most ideal algorithm is one that is customized for the user, by the user — not one presented without option. The user has no incentive to view ads anymore when an ad-free alternative becomes available.

All this competition in creating the best secret algorithm recipe is like wading in old bathwater.

Skip the bullshit and compete on creating the best tools for allowing users to choose how their own feeds will operate.

Build educational onramps and profitable parallel infrastructure rather than centralized closed-system walled gardens.

Protocols, not platforms.