Geert Lovink: Networks in the Age of Platform Capitalism

In his book Sad by Design (2019) he distinguishes three phases: the age of media, networks and platforms. In this lecture I go deeper into decentralized networks vs. centralized platforms. There are alternatives such as DuckDuckGo, Telegram and Signal but the vast majority of users are stuck on the platform and do not know how to leave behind Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. Independent community networks have virtually disappeared and have almost become subversive (again) in favour of large, closed worlds of platforms. Is the ‘organized networks’ concept that he introduced together with Ned Rossiter an alternative? Will offline networks thrive in response to the rising platform hegemony? How we need to embrace the socialist love affair with centralized platforms? Will we scale up or down, Can we take power and dismantle power at the same time?