a pile of ropes

Is the web falling apart?, Eric Gregorich wonders.

Meanwhile Manuel Moreale is confident that the web is not dying.

I agree with both of them. These views aren’t contradictory. Falling apart is what the Web does best. It’s been falling apart since it started, and reconfiguring itself too.

Google search used to control and shape the web. Because everyone just Googled their searches, websites all used Search Engine Optimization in a vicious circle of conformity. But that’s finally changing.

Search gets degraded by advertising greed on one side and AI tools are generating drivel on the other. Both are examples of what Ed Zitron calls the rot economy.

So how can good material rise to the surface?

In part it’s a return to the old ways. Blogrolls and webrings and RSS are having a mini-revival and it’s not entirely mere nostalgia. One-person search engines like Marginalia are having a moment, as are metasearch engines and other ‘folk’ search strategies. I like little experiments like A Website Is A Room.

Here’s my tip: to find interesting books, great quotes, and intriguing podcasts, more people should know about micro.blog Discover!

Photo by Valeria Hutter on Unsplash