How Do We Save Social Media? I Want Your Ideas!

Hi, all! I’m excited to share that my new book is officially available: Saving Social: The Dysfunctional Past And Promising Future Of Social Media! Writing this has been a labor of love for me over the past year, and it comes out at a time when social media is again making headlines, and not always for the right reasons. If you’re passionate about the future social media, please check it out and weigh in on the discussion below!

Thought Of The Week — Saving Social 

I still remember my first Tweet. It was March 5, 2007, and I wrote “Brewing coffee.”  

Not exactly timeless words of wisdom! But what struck me, even then, was how revolutionary what I was doing was: sharing ideas, in real time, on a platform where literally anyone could see, respond and interact.  

As I write these words now, that all seems like a much simpler time. In the intervening 14 years, social media has become a civilization-shaping force. Globally, 3.8 billion people use platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The benefits of the social media revolution have been so pervasive and so profound — from connecting friends and families to democratizing the flow of information to empowering voices who wouldn’t be heard — that we almost take them for granted. 

But with that have come very real challenges — with misinformation, with moderation, with bullying, with privacy and more. During the 2020 election cycle, we saw many of these issues come to a head. The spread of lies on social media has threatened to erode faith in the electoral process itself. The events of January 6 in the Capitol were, in some ways, a tragic culmination of this influence.  

So where do we go from here? How can ordinary people and businesses continue to harness social media’s power, while overcoming its pitfalls? Those questions, which I’ve been asking myself for years, were the spark that inspired me to write my latest book: Saving Social. It launched last week, against a political and cultural backdrop that shows just how important those questions are, and how urgently we need to find answers. 

In writing the book, one thing that I discovered is that social media isn’t the first communication technology to take the planet by storm, enthralling people with its potential, before transforming relationships, politics and even knowledge in ways never intended. Indeed, you could argue that every new communication medium has followed this exact trajectory. 

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, maps these shifts as far back as Ancient Greece. “With a new medium, it starts with euphoria and then goes to hysteria and then hopefully you get some kind of balance. It happened with the radio. This happened with TV. There was a huge amount of skepticism about reading Plato because he was writing and no one could argue versus yelling into a public square,” he explained to the New York Times.

This is a time of ideological extremes, where half the country is convinced that social platforms have done too little to moderate hateful and divisive content, while the other half is convinced that networks are quashing free speech. The reality is that both sides are right. What lies ahead is the hard work as a society of grappling with how to moderate discussion without chilling discourse, and how to enable a free exchange of ideas without promoting falsehoods.    

The task can seem impossible and overwhelming. But it’s worth remembering: history proves we’ve done this before. The choice isn’t whether to turn away from or to embrace innovations like social media. Instead, it’s about willingness to engage in the messy and sometimes daunting task of shaping innovation to serve, rather than subvert, our needs. And I believe we’re up to the challenge. 

Feedback From Readers

I got some great responses to my question last week asking readers for their thoughts on the right way forward for social media. I wanted to highlight this comment: 

Would be nice if education provided a far more realistic view of [what] social media is or was meant to be, a reflection of your real social self … we need to ensure that social media is meant to augment not replace our lives and be a reflection of who we are and how we want to be received and treated. — Ashwin Kutty, President and CEO of WeUsThem  

Thanks, Ashwin. I’ve always subscribed to the idea that you shouldn’t do anything on social media that you wouldn’t do in front of your mom. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook shouldn’t be seen as these abstract digital spaces, where anything goes. Rather they’re an extension of our IRL interactions, and should be approached with the same kind of decency and dialogue in mind. Interestingly, new platforms like Clubhouse — an audio-only network where people actually have to speak to one another — are proving more civil, human and engaging precisely because they force people to behave like people. It’s my hope that as social media norms and education deepen, more people will treat these platforms with the same care and decency as they would a conversation in a classroom, on a bus, or over coffee with a friend.  

Callout For Ideas: How Would YOU Save Social Media? 

I really feel that the responsibility to “save social media” extends beyond individual companies to embrace government, citizens, the business community and advocacy groups — in short, all of us. I’d love to hear from you. What are practical ways that we can refine/reform social media to better serve the billions of people around the world who rely on it? Please join the conversation here! 

Thanks, everyone. Appreciate all the thoughts and encouragement from so many colleagues as I wrote Saving Social over the last year (from Doug Coupland, Michele Romanow, Jeremiah Owyang, Henk Campher … the list is endless). If you’d like to check out the finished product, you can pick up a hardcopy or ebook on Amazon (or here for my Canadian followers).   

And, as always, please reach out with any comments, suggestions or feedback! Until next time!