Shifting Trends in Social Media

After around one decade of social media we are probably reaching another stage in using it. In the beginning, as it was a ground-breaking thing, there was lots of enthusiasm of people and no one was aware of what was adequate to share or not, how to reach a balance and do not overuse it.

However, time passed and we realized that things are more complicated than we thought at first. Algorithms of mainstream medias can sometimes be complicated to figure out and it is not uncommon to hear complaints of people who claim their content was not delivered to all followers. There is also the fact that content creators often do not get the amount of likes and followers they thought they were supposed to have.

Another point is that with access to so much content, some people are in “zombie mode”, scrolling down their feeds without interacting with anyone. The pressure for as much frequency and as many followers as possible can also be tiresome for many content creators, especially those who earn a living with social media and they have to pay their bills based on engagement, which fluctuates without apparent reason.

We have reached a point when we feel the need to have more control over the content we produce and the security of not having our accounts suddenly banned due to some infringement of the rules of plataform, regardless of being intentional or not. The tastes of audiences also change with time, so when it comes to entertainment, changes and variety are normal and have always happened, even some years ago. We still do want to connect as much as before, but we long to do it in a more relaxed way, without pressure of how our posts will perform and toxic environments.

It seems we have reached the era when the pressure for having many followers and likes is gone and instead the good thing is to have a good, constant, honest relationship with our audience, regardless of the amount of followers per se. I have also noticed people within their own “bubbles of joy”, where they interact with their friends about common interests. This is an understandable trend, as many people are already exhausted with having arguments with strangers about controversial subjects, especially related to politics and religion.

Talking to an extensive audience, often made up by people we have never interacted not even once, is problematic. The brain quickly has a sensory overload of so much information and we are not ready to absorb so much at once. Furthermore, not everything we read is pleasant or informative and we end up having too much stuff in mind that are not really relevant to us. Interacting with small groups of people who we know relatively well about subjects nice to everyone involved really takes off some pressure from our shoulders.

Everything changes in life and social media changes even faster. Some stuff considered “old” have been into fashion again, like blogging, closed discussion groups, chat rooms, etc., but this is natural as history is basically a cycle of things that come and go and facts often repeat themselves. This is not new. The focus on mental sanity and well being on line is also quite welcome, for obvious reasons. Maybe the time to talk to millions of followers have passed, but the few people who follow up your work are prone to be more loyal than ever and you will also have time to connect with them in a deeper way. Fair enough. Some stuff do change for the best.