What’s up with social media? Why personal networks are giving way to promoted content

What was the last thing you shared on social media? An inspirational or funny quote? A photo of your kids, or a pet? Perhaps you felt compelled to let your social circle know that you were on a fancy vacation, in a fancy restaurant, or “living your best life” some other way.

Actually, that’s old news. These days, it’s more likely to be a video. Since TikTok became the latest social media sensation – particularly with younger users – excerpts from movies and TV shows, clips of people singing and dancing, and internet celebrities doing whatever it is that internet celebrities do, are constantly being served up to an audience that seemingly can’t get enough of them.

According to the research company Data.ai , nearly half of mobile screen time was spent on social apps last year. In total, we collectively spent more than a quarter of our waking hours staring at our smartphones and other mobile gadgets. It’s big business. As well as having three of the top five social networks , Meta is now second only to Google when it comes to advertising spend . And at the beginning of this month, it reported its largest profits yet.

The thing is: social media might be winning, but social networks are actually disintegrating. It hardly seems possible, but it’s 20 years since a website called TheFacebook became the CEO of social media (to borrow some TikTok slang ). And 20 years is a long time these days, especially in tech – and especially online. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that how the platforms operate, and our habits, have changed over the years.

If I think about my own social media use, Facebook was initially a super positive place for finding old friends and connecting with business colleagues in a private and more personal way. Instagram was a fantastic place to enjoy beautiful photos taken by people with better skills than me. And YouTube, where this whole video thing really started, was great for seeking out interesting (and relevant) content.

However, these days, a heavy emphasis on advertising, along with the rise of Reels, Shorts and For You Pages, have essentially changed my feed into a mini TV experience where you zap from channel to channel ??. And while the content echoes my hobbies and interests, thanks to the AI running the show, in my opinion it lacks interesting new stuff.

To give you some examples, some of the last things I saw were endless ski shoe promotions on Facebook (after I had already bought a pair online – a bit late to the party there) and some scary fake news clips about North Korea on YouTube (after watching a single documentary about the country). What’s more, after liking a couple of clips of talking parrots like one that my grandfather used to have, you should see my Instagram feed now. Actually, don’t bother.

So, what happened? In a word, algorithms. Or, in another, monetization. As platforms decay (a process that Cory Doctorow, a blogger and journalist, memorably dubbed “enshittification”), services are first of all good for users, then less good for users and better for business customers, and finally not great for either. He describes how this has come to pass at Facebook in a Financial Times article .

In short, this approach is increasingly pushing people away from social media if they want to interact with people they know, and towards private or closed messaging apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat and Signal. These appeal more to users like me, who want to hear from family and close friends on our apps, instead of being fed a constant stream of stuff from random strangers on the internet. As for those who are interested in news and microblogging, the jury still seems to be out on Twitter/X alternatives like Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky.

Where do we go from here? Are young people doomed to spend their lives endlessly sending memes, clips and incomprehensible acronyms back and forth to one another? Actually, some experts think that gaming communities (and possibly even the metaverse, if that comes to pass) will form the next virtual networks. If you’re not convinced, just ask any parent of an under-12 how much time they spend on Roblox. ????♂?

As for me, other than WhatsApp and also LinkedIn, which I find genuinely useful in my professional life, I am considering reducing the time and energy I spend on my “socials”. What are your views??

Photo credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay