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In February 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, a centralized platform designed to socially connect the Harvard student body. Prior to Facebook, keeping a pulse on everything pertaining to a young adult’s social life at university required immense dedication. There was no convenient way to know what events might be taking place during a given week or where students were thinking about spending Spring Break.
Previously, these matters traveled by word of mouth, which inevitably made it so any student who wasn’t already in the know was further out of the loop. In addition to improving the quality of existing friendships, Facebook also opened gateways to new friendships and experiences. It did this by creating the ultimate digital playground to rid Harvard students, and eventually the world, of the social, emotional, and physical barriers that plagued previous generations.
Nearly two decades later, it’s difficult to say whether or not Facebook (now called Meta) and its competitors have imposed a new set of obstacles on their users as growth and profitability came into the forefront. With the introduction of advertisements, overly-engineered content algorithms, and the use of power, I believe social media has lost what made it so great to begin with — its unserious and inviting feel. And while it might just be that social media’s glory days are behind us, one thing’s for certain: the need for accountability of these platforms remains paramount despite the associated challenges.
Party’s Over
There are growing concerns about the impact social media has on the mental health of its users. No matter who you might be, your relationship with social media is likely a virtuous cycle of both love and hate.
We’ve seen an exodus of celebrities from the world of social media in recent years. International superstars such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Iggy Azalea, Ed Sheeran, Kanye West and many more have gone as far as deleting their social media accounts entirely. In most cases, this is likely a result of untempered harassment. Conversely, we’ve seen a meteoric increase in the discourse surrounding social media’s impact on teenage mental health. According to Facebook research, Instagram makes 1 in 3 teenage girls’ body image issues worse. Six percent of suicidal teenagers credit Instagram as the source of their troubles.
Despite numerous parties calling for it, we’ve seen very little effort to establish formal rules and regulations that social media companies must abide by.
It’s All For Clicks
Just a little over a year after Mark Zuckerberg purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, the platform introduced ads in its first attempt at monetization. Instagram was able to capitalize off its exploding user base by offering advertising space to companies looking for exposure to new audiences. In exchange for advertisement dollars, companies were introduced to countless potential customers. Instagram users initially benefited from exposure to new products and experiences, but eventually, these advertisements saturated the experience. For each incremental dollar Meta and its subsidiaries chased, the end-user experience was given over to ads ever so slightly.
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The algorithms that these companies designed have been perceived as prioritizing engagement and time spent on the platform. This is in contrast to maximizing the quality of time spent on the platform for any given user. While time spent on the platform looks great when selling ad space, more time spent on an app gives more opportunity for polarizing topics to capture an audience while associated mental, societal, and political side effects can present themselves.
Some Things Never Change
Social media has forever transformed the way we interact with one another. It has found ways to bridge multiple cultures, expose people to different life experiences, as well as allow us to foster friendships and community. That said, the immeasurable benefits it introduced to humanity don’t come without cost. As they always say: with great power comes great responsibility. What becomes a cause of concern, however, is whether or not social media’s big players are at all kept honest by checks and balances known to the public.
Shadowbanning and hyper-personalized algorithms have allowed social media companies to carefully shape what their users see and what an end user may be able to successfully disseminate to their audience. I believe this explains in part why recent efforts to flee to new platforms like Bluesky have been met with little success. As the end product continues to evolve from its original form, social media companies are finding new methods to retain users — and in some cases, punish users by suppressing content that ushers users elsewhere.
Essentially, the walled garden of social media ecosystems has evolved into a never-ending maze. And the walls are only growing taller.
Conclusion
While it’s hard to see a world where social media companies lose their unquestioned power and influence within society, we can make meaningful strides toward a better world. How businesses approach this issue will play a pivotal role in what the future of social media looks like.
What we might see is the implementation of strategic limitations, such as capping the number of advertisers shown to each user. By regulating these variables, platforms can maintain a more focused and curated user experience, reducing the risk of overwhelming users with advertisements and irrelevant content.
Additionally, decision-makers at social media platforms should explore innovative revenue models beyond traditional advertising, such as introducing SocialFi, along with reasonable subscription fees for enhanced features, unique experiences, exclusive content, and early access to new products or services. This approach not only diversifies income streams but also places the onus on creating value for users, encouraging platforms to prioritize quality content and meaningful interactions over negative content geared toward cheap clicks.
It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a new consumer platform experience exponential growth, but the recent successes of ChatGPT and TikTok demonstrate that there are opportunities to cut through the noise if the product has undeniable utility. For ChatGPT, that was increased productivity. For TikTok, it was discoverability and social engagement. It might take some time and we’re destined to run into quite a few more problems before we see any meaningful results, but we’ll never improve the state of social media if we don’t acknowledge where problems exist.
