>>509181994 (OP)the old way used to be pen pals which would be sending letters. that moved digitally to emails. after smartphones nobody emails for fun anymore so there is no way to social proof yourself outside an app. relying only on visuals doesn't work across cultures, like someone posting pics of them eating their ethnic food just looks weird or snapchats in their durka language. then there's bots and upvote turning it into a porn site.
tldr smartphones