Facebook is declining, and Twitter is in disarray. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has caused advertisers to withdraw their spending and power users to abandon the platform. The practice evolved through a strange mutation, one that was so subtle that it was difficult to notice at the time. The shift began about 20 years ago when networked computers became common enough that people began using them to build and manage relationships.
Social Networking
Many social networks walked the Earth a long time ago. Today, all of these services and more are referred to as “social media,” a term so overused that it has lost its meaning. You could surface a larger network of trusted contacts by connecting your personal network of trusted contacts to the networks of others.
Twitter, which debuted in 2006, was most likely the first true social media site, even if it wasn’t labeled as such at the time. As a result, blogs began as social networks, with mechanisms such as blogrolls and linkbacks. Looking back, social media had already arrived in spirit, if not by name, at this point. Social media has surpassed social networking.
Instagram, which debuted in 2010, may have bridged the gap between the social network era and the age of social media. As a primary activity, it relied on user connections as a mechanism to distribute content. However, all social networks eventually became social media first and foremost. When groups, pages, and the News Feed were introduced, Facebook began encouraging users to share previously published content.
LinkedIn has also launched a programme for publishing content across the platform. Twitter, which was already primarily a publishing platform, added a dedicated “retweet” feature, which makes it far easier to spread content virally across user networks. Other services, far more popular than Twitter, have arrived or evolved in this vein, including Reddit, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. Social networks, which were once latent routes for possible contact, have evolved into content superhighways.
The Transition from Social Networking to Social Media
However, as social networking evolved into social media, user expectations rose. That was a terrible thought. They shouldn’t have so much to say, they shouldn’t expect such a large audience for that expression, and they shouldn’t think they have the right to comment or respond to every thought or notion. From being asked to review every product you purchase to believing that every tweet or Instagram image is worthy of a like, comment, or follow, social media has produced a positively deranged, sociopathic version of human sociality.
The Foggy Future
That should come as no surprise, given that the model was forged in the crucibles of Big Tech companies like Facebook, where sociopathy is a design philosophy. If Twitter fails, either because its revenue falls or because the massive debt imposed by Musk’s deal crushes it, the result could hasten social media’s overall decline. This is the moment’s hypocrisy. If change is possible, implementing it will be difficult because we have adapted our lives to conform to the pleasures and tribulations of social media.
It was never a bad idea to connect computers to one another on occasion, for legitimate reasons, and in moderation. We must learn to muzzle the soul of social life if we are to win it.
