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Save Social Media by Treating It like a City


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Illustration superimposes social media buttons over a city skyline photo.

What does the physical city have that the virtual one doesn't?

Credit: Getty Images

Being on social media can feel a bit like living in a new kind of city. Millions of people can do things their parents never dreamed of. They can live together, play together, learn together. The city is a marvel. But it's also rotten. Every once in a while, a mass frenzy takes hold. Citizen denounces citizen. Relationships are irrevocably broken.

If social media is a new city, why is it so hard to govern? What does the physical city have that the virtual one does not?

From MIT Technology Review
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