Social media is Evolving

As we hit the 20-year anniversary of Facebook, we’re finding that social media usage is changing in a fundamental way. The platforms are evolving:

 from displaying personal information publicly (“Here’s where I went on vacation”; “This is the food I ate at a fancy restaurant.”)

to a place to watch and listen to curated content (often resembling TV and streaming in short form)

Curated & Closed

Instead of status updates, there are algorithmically curated videos. Many of the users who were creating and posting are now just consuming—at least, in the public sphere. This is particularly pronounced among first-gen social media users, that is, millennials between the ages of 27 and 42. This is why Instagram has seem the most growth in the last five years in DMs and stories limited to friends. The type of content they used to share in public posting is moving into private messaging and closed groups.

The advantage of closed groups is:

• Greater privacy

• Less sensationalism

• Improved mental health of users

The downside of closed groups includes:

• The lack of moderation

• The spread of misinformation

• The spread of new ideas suffers

•  The support of news outlets weakens   

Social media is becoming less social. There is less emphasis on connections and greater focus on individual consumption of media produced by content creators. This focus toward engagement amplifies extreme content, which (among other things) hinders the sharing of actual news content and accurate information.

 Read more:

The end of the social network – The Economist

People are posting a lot less on public social media – Fortune

First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to Go – Wired

Why the Internet isn’t Fun Anymore – The New Yorker