5 Things You Didn't Know About Social Media

Here are five things you didn't know about social media, or maybe things you either knew but chose to ignore, or you have forgotten about them.

Number one:?social media?doesn't care about you.

They don't care about me or anyone else. They're not our friends.?The companies that own the various platforms we love create these apps, which are full of features.?On them, you can connect with your friends across the miles, across the globe, before too long, galactically because we're apparently going to colonize Mars and the Moon. But never forget that they're not your friend. Social media doesn't care about you, and I will tell you what they care about in just a few moments.

Number two:?social media?apps are very selfish.

They don't want you to leave their platform - ever. For example, if you have ever put a link in a post to send?readers to your podcast, course, website, or your blog, they will penalize you by?not sharing that content as much as they would have. And they're not sharing your content very much anyway unless you pay for it.

Number three: social media?wants all of you.

They want your money (pay to play), time, and attention. Do you know who came up with the concept of endless scrolling? That would be social media. They want you to continue to scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll forever. They want your life, and they want everything about you. And if you don't understand this, you'd better wake up.

Number four: social media is?stealing your data*.

Well, social media is not stealing your data, and I'll explain this in a moment. If you've ever watched the Netflix documentary,?The Social Dilemma, then you know there's a line in that?film:?"if you don't pay for the product, you are the product."

Are you paying for?Snapchat,?Facebook,?Instagram,?TikTok,?Twitter,?Gettr,?LinkedIn, or?YouTube? Then you're the product! And even if you ARE paying for it, you're still the product.

And are they stealing your data? I don't know, and I'm not a lawyer. And I'm just like you. When I signed up for these services, I did not read the 14 million pages of copy that you agree to; probably in there somewhere, it says, "Anything you do on this social media platform that we own is ours." So maybe, technically, they're not stealing?because you (and I) gave?them permission.

Number five:?social media is constantly changing the rules.

Not once a month.?Not once a week.?Not once a day. The truth is probably every three minutes! But I don't know. That's why I have given up trying to figure out the algorithm on the various platforms. Because they?constantly change. I don't have?the time to figure out what the social media platforms are doing today. So I post my content and move on. Sometimes it does well; other times, it's crickets. Frankly, I don't care because my life is not social media. And I hope your life isn't either.

My favorite social media platform.

I bet this is it's?going to shock you. You probably think that I'm an?Instagram?guy or a?YouTube?guy. Or maybe you think I?look like a nerd and think I'm a LinkedIn guy. You would be wrong.

My favorite platform?where I hope you follow me is?Snapchat. Yes, Snapchat! I'll be 57 in June of 2022, and I love Snapchat.?To me, Snapchat and its?filters and lenses are fun. So, if you want to see what I'm doing behind the scenes, go follow me over on Snapchat.

I’m Mister Productivity , founder of The Productive Life Membership and host of The Mister Productivity Podcast . As a #productivity coach, I work with busy #solopreneurs to support and teach them time-saving strategies. Because we both know you have better things to do than trudge through a never-ending list, sign up for the 21-Day Productivity Challenge.