One of the main reason I was starting Facebook groups was so that people interested in just one specific topic could see a list about this topic. So I think this will definitely be useful! Although Facebook groups / pages might still be useful so that people see LW posts in their newsfeed. I wrote more about this idea on Facebook.
Have you considered using Telegram groups+channels? A Telegram channel can have an associated group. The importance stuff go into the channel, which is auto-forwarded to the group, and people can discuss stuff in the group. The network effects are against Telegram, true, but it is quite a superior platform. It also doesn’t perpetuate the bad design of most social media that waste a lot of your time on ultimately unimportant stuff.
One of the main reason I was starting Facebook groups was so that people interested in just one specific topic could see a list about this topic. So I think this will definitely be useful! Although Facebook groups / pages might still be useful so that people see LW posts in their newsfeed. I wrote more about this idea on Facebook.
Have you considered using Telegram groups+channels? A Telegram channel can have an associated group. The importance stuff go into the channel, which is auto-forwarded to the group, and people can discuss stuff in the group. The network effects are against Telegram, true, but it is quite a superior platform. It also doesn’t perpetuate the bad design of most social media that waste a lot of your time on ultimately unimportant stuff.
I dislike Telegram. AFAICT:
it’s not indexed by search engines
it’s archivable by the Wayback Machine
it’s not organized by threads (posts with comments with replies)
Plus, Facebook makes it easier to add people to groups, and as a network effect. Telegram seems strictly worse for what I value.
Beside, I don’t want to encourage too much chatting outside LessWrong / the EA Forum; I think discussing here is often better.
That’s why I created the LessWrong Karma 20+ (https://www.facebook.com/LessWrongKarma20/) and EA Forum Karma 20+ (https://www.facebook.com/EAForumKarma20/) Facebook pages. They allow the content to be seen on Facebook, but drives back the discussion on those platforms.
I wrote about controlling your attention on Facebook IYI: https://matiroy.com/writings/How-to-control-your-attention.html