Tuesdays with Tom: The Social Network(s)
Social media is part of our daily lives. For better or worse, most of us check our various social media accounts several times a day and make decisions about what we engage with and share on those accounts. This digital experience serves as both social currency and a representation of who you are on the Internet. But what is the future of social media? It’s inevitable that change will come for all of these companies and some day, they may go the way of Friendster and MySpace. Even in the last few years, the landscape has experienced major change in reaction to our world. Since this is both directly and indirectly a topic in this space, I decided to give it the full TWT treatment. What’s going on with your social media platforms? What’s good? What’s bad? And where are they headed? I’m going to give you my $0.02 on the matter. Maybe you’ll like this post. We don’t have a dislike button by the way.
Overview: The artist currently known as Meta is more commonly known as Facebook. It was originally designed for college students to meet other students at Harvard. It quickly grew outside of colleges and, as infamously portrayed in The Social Network, became the dominant social media network across the planet.
Pros: If I have to choose a pro, I’d say Facebook functions better as a museum of your past than a mirror of your present. Facebook is excellent at reminding you of past moments, memories and photos. It will tell you when it's someone's birthday and it’s a decent place to buy and sell random items on their Marketplace feature. You can even plan events for the people who remain on it. But for a company who’s entire brand was being the cool place for young people, being relegated to Museum of Memories status is a tough pill to swallow.
Cons: If you don’t like questionable and frequent posts from your middle-aged relatives, you might as well delete your account now. Nevermind that a lot of the “memories” Facebook suggests aren’t worth remembering. Your present timeline is littered with content spam, clunky advertising and comment section arguments from acquaintances you don’t talk to anymore. I have taken extensive measures to make a birthday calendar so I don’t need to rely on Facebook. The last Facebook event I created reminded me that a lot of my friends aren’t on it anymore. Facebook has become your parents favorite social media app. Which is a polite way of saying it's become a boring, outdated space.
Future: Facebook’s been on a bad path for several years now. Their aging audience won’t be as relevant for advertising in the future and they’re already seeing the consequences of that. Apple’s privacy updates have had a very negative impact on Meta. They dropped out of the top 10 Apps in the US App Store this year and have ranked as low as No. 44 in 2022. As a whole, there’s something that just feels wrong about their company. It’s been covered to death, but there’s plenty of issues that have been made public. I’m pretty close to getting rid of my account for good. I’ll fully admit that I wouldn’t shed a tear if Facebook disappeared.
FINAL RANKING: 2 / 5 Toms. For an occasional trip down memory lane and a friendly birthday reminder, Facebook will get the job done. Outside of that, this is not a fun place to hang.
Overview: The photo sharing app that’s evolved from a nice novelty to the new most dominant way to showcase your life on social media. From posts, stories and even reels, Instagram is the go-to place to check out what most people are like. Or at least, what they want you to think they’re like.
Pros: If Facebook is a museum of your past, Instagram is a live look at your present. Most accounts are just photos with brief captions. No scorching hot takes on the main feed. Stories are a good outlet for sharing moments, information or the occasional Spotify playlist. Their content discovery area is a solid way to find new things. The memes supply joke content and reads on current culture. Overall, I’d say the biggest benefit is keeping up with people in a more accurate way than Facebook. For the most part, their advertising shows you stuff you would actually buy. It’s also a great place to advertise yourself. It’s in that sweet spot right now where it’s still cool enough to be relevant today.
Cons: Let’s acknowledge that no one wants to represent themselves poorly online. With that said, some people are really stretching the truth on Instagram. Influencer culture has created a deep rooted, misguided desire for others to pursue an unattainable look and lifestyle. Additionally, the ridiculous amount of thirst trapping, virtue signaling and “look at me” posturing is at its worst on Instagram. If you actually do tap through everyone’s stories, you quickly realize most people live regular, uncompelling lives. As helpful as some of their advertising is, the accuracy is often creepy.
Future: If Meta didn’t own Instagram, they’d be in big trouble. But they do own it so they’ll continue to profit from Instagram as long as possible. I don’t think they’ll ever spin it off, but maybe that changes down the road. One thing that’s been controversial is Instagram’s shift towards reels and non-follower content in the feed. Their arms race with TikTok has pushed them into this direction and a lot of users are unhappy about it. However, I still think people find value in what Instagram provides and it’s a great place to make money as an influencer. There are a lot of valid reasons to be there. That’s a good spot to be in for Instagram.
FINAL RANKING: 3.5 / 5 Toms. By comparison, it’s flat out better than Facebook in almost every way. On its own terms, it’s a good place to keep up with friends, family and other interests. Be careful what you consume though.
Overview: The little blue bird began as an Internet fascination for the diehards. Today, it is the world’s bathroom wall and a primary digital ecosystem to find all types of information. From news, entertainment, and a whole lot more, Twitter is where people have endless conversations.
Pros: Twitter is great at disseminating quick bits of information across news outlets everywhere. You can curate your feed to match your interests and get it aggregated into one place. Twitter’s detective skills are well known and can come in handy at times. If you are a public figure or pursuing an entertainment based career, it can be a crucial tool in getting your message out to the masses. There’s plenty of fun things to discover on Twitter if you use it correctly.
Cons: You don’t need me to tell you Twitter can be a terrifying place. It turns out that giving everyone in the world an Internet soap box to squawk from is a bad idea. For every helpful tweet, there’s 100 mouth breathers tweeting complaints at brand accounts that go nowhere. Misinformation can spread like wildfire on Twitter and there aren’t enough firemen around to put out the flames. On a personal note, I was off Twitter for a full decade and only recently rejoined to promote my podcast. It took me a while to get reaccilimated to the app, but I find it to be extremely similar to the Twitter I remember from 2011. That’s a bad sign for their innovation department.
Future: Like Meta, Twitter had poor Q2 earnings this year. They’re pointing the finger at Elon Musk, whose aborted attempt to buy the company was elite Internet fodder and on brand Musk poppycock. I’m not buying that story. They’re in the same boat as Meta. Can they maintain relevance with advertisers? Will they continue to keep people’s attention and gain more users? Twitter isn’t going anywhere, but they need to keep feeding the machine. Can they do that while also policing the bad actors off the app? I think they’re in a strange position going forward.
FINAL RANKING: 3 / 5 Toms. If used appropriately, Twitter can be a good resource for information and a few laughs. In the wrong hands, it is a toxic environment that proves many people don’t deserve a platform.
TikTok
Overview: Originally a teen music sharing app, TikTok has exploded into the most popular app in the world. While they brand themselves as an entertainment platform, it is undeniably a social media experience as well with 1 billion worldwide users. It is a nonstop stream of videos and clips aggregated to your liking and designed to hold your attention.
Pros: TikTok is masterful at sucking you into its vortex and never letting go. The algorithm is frighteningly adept at learning your interests and curates your feed accordingly. It’s quickly become on par with Google’s search feature as users frequently search for things on the app. It’s definitely the cool kid in social media and advertisers are flocking to it. Essentially, Generation Z feels destined to be known as the TikTok generation. You can’t get better branding than that.
Cons: About that algorithm. Trusting your data with a mysterious Chinese company is uncomfortable at best and unsettling at worst. It’s public knowledge that their internal company culture could be better. The same lightning fast reaction that propels users to stardom overnight can also be a curse. Just ask Jake Novak how he feels about earnestly pursuing his dreams. Or the growing number of people who get inaccurately dragged by other users. TikTok’s cool kid status doesn’t absolve them from being expert bullies at times.
Future: TikTok’s growth is astounding. They became the fastest social media company to reach 1 billion users, doing so in five years. They’re the hottest space for influencers and they’re projected to overtake YouTube and Instagram for influencer ad dollars by 2024. The biggest unknown with TikTok is their parent company ByteDance. There have been many rumors about another company buying them from ByteDance, but it’s unclear what that would entail or if ByteDance would entertain an offer. Whatever happens, TikTok is here to stay and it will have a massive impact on our culture.
FINAL RANKING: 4 / 5 Toms. There are downsides to TikTok, but far fewer compared to its competition. They’re the darlings of the social media world for a reason and the app provides the most opportunity to grow your digital brand and stay relevant. It’s also pretty fun.
Snapchat
Overview: The company that created a safe space for private photos is now one of the established social media giants. Snapchat is a custom selfie sharing app where you can go wild with filters and other tools to create unique images or videos. Today, it is most popular amongst friend groups who share jokes or random things throughout the day.
Pros: Let’s start with the obvious: it’s private! Ironically, the app with the most filter options offers the least filtered view into someone’s personal life. That’s rare for social media and it’s by design. The snaps are not meant to exist after you open them and stories end after 24 hours. Of course, you can screenshot it, but your friend is notified if you did that. The story feature was one of the biggest game changers in social media at the time. I certainly took advantage of it for several years. In simple terms, it’s still a lot of fun if you are a creative person. Even if you’re not, it’s pretty much built for anyone to enjoy and there’s very little controversy around the company as a whole compared to Meta. Like TikTok, many people use the Maps feature to search for things they’re interested in.
Cons: I’ve been one of Snapchat’s biggest supporters since 2014. But even I have to admit that it’s lost some of its luster over the years. Instagram shamelessly stole their innovative story format and people use it more on that app than on Snapchat. Their attempt to make a splash in the original content space fell flat. Most of their discovery feed is filled with trash and clickbait. I’ve discussed my concerns with the intrusive Snap Maps feature. I suppose people opt into that, but its benefits are questionable. TikTok has overtaken their status as the cool disruptor in the space. Now, Snapchat is squarely in the Millennial audience that’s grown up and not quite as wild as it used to be. Outside of one-to-few messaging, I don’t know what compels people to keep Snapchat long term. They’re overdue for a dose of creativity to keep people on their app.
Future: Continuing the trend, Snapchat also posted a weak Q2 earnings number. That resulted in layoffs for the first time in awhile. They also watched their two leading ad sales executives ditch them for Netflix. They are overdue for innovation and I’m sure their employees are working tirelessly on that every day. Will it happen? I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, they need to keep advertisers on the platform and their core audience is still strong enough to do that in the short term. What are they doing to attract new users? That’s going to be the biggest question at Snapchat for years to come.
FINAL RANKING: 3.5 / 5 Toms. This is probably a generous score for Snapchat. As a fan and a consumer, it’s still quite fun often. Objectively, I am worried about their future, but I’ll enjoy it as long as I can.
Overview: The world’s largest professional networking space is firmly entrenched in the world of social media. LinkedIn is both your online resume and a vast resource to look for new work opportunities. You can connect with colleagues and friends and read about your industry.
Pros: This is certainly the most straightforward social media app. If you are looking for jobs, LinkedIn is where you want to be. Recruiters will reach out to you or you can look up opportunities on your own. You can also get a quick 30-second view on someone’s professional background. It’s as simple as that.
Cons: I personally think LinkedIn is by far the most obnoxious social media network today. The amount of absolute bullshit on LinkedIn is off the charts. It’s devoid of (actually funny) humor and the self congratulatory posts are nauseating. It’s definitely the most filtered view of a person you’ll find on the Internet. Granted, it is a professional network and you want to position yourself in the best light. But the try-hard culture and false modesty on display within the LinkedIn feed makes me cringe. If I get one more offer to start graduate school or see another five-paragraph post about a rags to riches tech start up success story, I am going to lose it!
Future: LinkedIn doesn’t have any competition in its social media niche. They’re owned by Microsoft and their revenue is steady. I’d love to hear what their ad sales pitch is these days. Unless you work in human resources for a brand or a company, I find it hard to imagine it’s a must buy for most advertisers. Between that and the very expensive premium feature, there’s a ceiling on how much they can monetize the platform in my opinion. I think most people are joining to check the box and are not really engaged daily. That’s a problem for LinkedIn.
FINAL RANKING: 1.5 / 5 Toms. LinkedIn is basically a requirement if you work in certain industries or if you’re looking for new work. Outside of that, this is a joyless, heavily filtered experience.
BeReal
Overview: What the fuck is BeReal? The newest social media app is a photo-sharing platform that asks users to…well you know! The app only allows you to post once a day and you are randomly alerted when it’s time to make your post. Then you have two minutes to take a photo that shows both the front and back of the lens. This forces users into candidness and reduces your ability to put filters into photos. You can post outside of the two minute window, but that defeats the purpose of the experience. Although this app debuted in 2019, it’s only recently gained a significant following. Today, it’s been downloaded by 20 million people and counting.
Pros: I’ll say this much about the concept of BeReal. It is refreshing to see a social media network openly promote authenticity. Perhaps there is hope for the generations to come that some people still value that trait. Clearly, BeReal is a reaction to the sponsored content and largely fake existence we see on all of these other apps. And yes, I did actually try this out myself. How about that! I’m being REAL.
Cons: There’s nothing to do after you post. I also don’t like being told when I have to post. More broadly, there is something highly ironic about a social media company demanding human authenticity. It creates bigger questions. How many people are you 100% authentic with in your personal lives? How much of our true selves do we actually share? Can that ever be fully captured into a stream of photos or videos? And what is the value of full authenticity online? Intentionally or not, BeReal is inviting existential questions into the social media experience.
Future: The app is growing in popularity by the day. Is BeReal’s quirk enough to create long term success? I’m skeptical of that. Unsurprisingly, Meta is already trying to steal the concept for itself with Candid Challenges on Instagram. Ironically, so is Snapchat, the original company others wanted to mimic. That may say more about their future than BeReal’s. This app is currently only for close friendships, but in order to make money it would need to go the ways of Instagram and TikTok and try to show you content from everyone. There’s no advertising today which would also need to be incorporated for profit. I have no idea what a BeReal ad would look like. A 23-year-old underpaid media planner taking a photo of a box of Frosted Flakes from their parents home office? That’s a joke for a few! The point is the company’s ambitions are unclear and so is its staying power.
FINAL RANKING: 2.5 / 5 Toms. This is a neat idea that I got bored of pretty quickly. I don’t foresee BeReal becoming a major social media player. But at least I’m being honest about it.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The next piece will be another mailbag. Please send through your questions and I’ll answer as many as I can in two weeks.
Tom’s Thoughts of the Week
In the last two episodes of Friday Night Beers, Vince and I drank a beer called Clear Eyes and three beers from the nation of Fiji. Clear Eyes is a very good double IPA, if that’s your thing. But I highly recommend the Fiji episode for everyone because it’s a rare set of beers, combined with a Fiji history lesson that I found quite illuminating. And of course, it’s funny. Come on, what are you waiting for! Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast here and follow our Instagram page for relevant updates!
It’s my duty to inform the people that Rick and Morty is back. The sixth season premiered last Sunday. I was surprised that the episode was so focused on the serialized portion of the plot after it seemed like the writers made it clear they don’t care for that element of the series. I’m curious to see where the rest of this season goes now. Mostly just glad this incredible show is back in my life though.
It’s a testament to how good HBO’s Industry is that I could not possibly describe the details of their jobs, yet I am captivated by the series. We’re about halfway through the second season of this London-based drama about investment bankers. It might not sound scintillating on paper. Let me tell you this show has me on the edge of my seat every single episode. Most of the actors are not people you’ve seen or heard of before, but the collective cast is incredible. Think Wolf of Wall Street meets London's young professional party scene. Even the frenetic, electronic score helps set the tone for how hectic and rapid-fire these people's lives often are. HBO continues to deliver intriguing original series that keep me coming back. Catch up on this show if you haven’t seen it already.
I was in the middle of college during the Manti Te’o saga. You may recall that in 2012 the former Notre Dame linebacker went from a storybook senior year to a national punchline for having a fake girlfriend. The short summary: Te’o publicly revealed that his grandmother and girlfriend died on the same day. Unfortunately, he had never actually met his so-called girlfriend as it was an elaborate social media catfishing scheme created by a troubled man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Te’o was one of the most celebrated college players of his era and a Heisman Trophy finalist. But the girlfriend hoax loomed over his football prowess and his character was called into question. At the time, some people even believed he was in on the hoax himself. It was also the first very public case of catfishing. Netflix recently released a two-part documentary about the situation called Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist. It’s a truly bizarre and heartbreaking story. I don’t even like Notre Dame football, but I don’t know how you could come away from this story without a ton of sympathy for Manti Te’o. I particularly feel for him as it relates to his NFL career. Clearly, this harrowing situation impacted his mindset and he had an average playing career in the pros. We’ll never know what his future would have been like if this didn’t happen to him. I think he was a naive young guy who got taken advantage of. I also detest that the same media outlets who made a hero narrative around this story gleefully danced on his grave when this truth came to light. This documentary is a great example of a football and human interest story done well.
Streaming news update: you can now bundle Paramount+ and Showtime into one combined service. Both of the services are also available standalone, but for $12.99 per month you can have both in one place. They are owned by Viacom so it keeps them in house. The bigger issue is that hardly anyone cares about the content on either app. Paramount+ is well behind on the list of popular streaming options. They don’t even own the streaming rights to Paramount’s most popular show, Yellowstone (nice work on that Peacock). Showtime’s reputation has taken such a precipitous fall that I can’t name more than two or three active series on the app. Coupling up feels like two people in their late 30s who are desperate for kids deciding to give it a whirl with reckless abandon. Do they like each other? Do they make sense together? Who has time for those questions?