Art vs Algorithm

Anyone else noticing a shift on social media right now? If so, you're not alone. Maybe it's the whispering rumors of the Tik Tok ban that is sending people back to Meta. Maybe it's the aging of social media that has everyone feeling burnt out/fatigued? Not sure, but what I do know is I’m noticing a shift and it's a very apparent one.?

Scrolling on social media has become so much of a thing- as a society I feel like we are growing numb to seeing numbers online. Specifically viral numbers. One million views on a video doesn't seem viral anymore. Yes, it's subjective. However even if it's not my piece of content I still feel like I've personally grown weary of seeing high numbers online.

Feeding the Content Machine

Is Quantity over Quality the new thing???

A video on Youtube titled, “Tips and Tricks for (x,y,z)” could get 4.1 Million views and that video alone would be the top search result in its niche- say Beauty. You would always reference that video when you needed to learn something or pull information from it at any time. You knew how to find that video with just a quick search because you know the SEO will pull it to the top.

Now with vertical scrolling-based content (short-form video), that same video could also receive 4.1 million views. However, that video is now buried in feeds, and hidden in the algorithm. A person would have to dig through feeds by the posting date in order to locate that piece of content.?

With vertical scrolling-based content it's about quantity over quality. Whereas long-form horizontal content there's quality over quantity.?

30 Million Silent Watchers

I’ve been watching videos on Instagram since they launched a 15 second videos-as-posts feature in 2013, then IGTV happened in 2018, and now it’s Reels in 2020. Since then I’ve noticed an influx of “viral” videos with ZERO engagement.?

Point #1: User Behavior- People on Instagram view everything, but barely engage. How is it possible that this video received 30 million views but only totalled 1.3k comments??

Point #2: Audience Engagement: The top comments aren't even top comment worthy?? Typically when a video “goes viral” the top comments also go viral as well, typically leaning in towards the majority groupthink style thoughts about the video.

Is the platform over-saturated? Is the algorithm bad? Is there user-content fatigue?

Conclusion

My answer is that I think it's best for brands and creators to always have a diverse strategy and mix of posting tactics.?Along with clear cut goals for content.

• Going viral doesn't equate engagement. cough cough to all the brands in my inbox stilllllll asking me to make them go viral.
• Engage in content that makes you happy at the end of the day.
• Create the content that makes you happy at the end of the day.

Chat soon,

Keli