I predict that the Age of Facebook is coming to an end soon. If you haven't already heard, you're about to see a huge change to your feed. Mark Zuckerberg announced that he is moving towards a newsless feed where friends and family are prioritized to encourage more engagement from users. What Facebook is trying to avoid is users passively scrolling through their feed, watching videos and reading articles but not interacting with other users (not clicking like or commenting or sharing).
What prompted this decision by Zuckerberg? It seems the backlash against the 2016 election and the fake news phenomenon got to him and Facebook is trying to go back to the basics. "Recently we've gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post last Thursday. "I'm changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions." So, the company is set to try to have users see fewer posts from publishers, businesses and celebrities, and more from friends and family. Since Instagram’s algorithm is beginning to mirror Facebook’s more and more (and Instagram is owned by Facebook), expect to see more organic content from people, and less from brands and business pages as well in 2018.
People use Facebook and social media for different things. I used to use Facebook to read the news and keep up with what's going on culturally, especially via private groups. I actually think these changes, while bad for Facebook, will end up benefitting Twitter over all the other platforms. For the first time ever in December 2017, my blog traffic came mostly from Twitter. Before that, almost all of my traffic was coming from Facebook. I use Twitter for conversations and debates about trending topics. When it comes to breaking the news or a cultural trend, Twitter is lightyears ahead. I also love how it has very few videos and memes in its feed.
I do not use social media platforms to keep up with family and friends (they either text or DM me). Because of how the algorithm works, there are very few personal posts shown in my Facebook feed and the only time I see anyone's family photos are when I log into my personal, private Instagram account a few times a week. If you are like me, you will find yourself using Facebook even less once Zuckerberg's change takes effect.
What else will change on Facebook? I have never been a fan of the "pivot to video" move that most publishers have taken in recent years in an effort to be prioritized by Facebook's algorithm. I have no patience for video. I can read much faster than I can watch something. "This change is likely to cut into the money publishers can make from producing and distributing custom branded and sponsored editorial videos on the platform, their top source of revenue on Facebook."
“There will be less video,” Facebook’s head of news feed, Adam Mosseri, confirmed in a Saturday interview with Wired. He explained that watching video is “a passive experience” that provokes “less conversation” than other types of posts.
Less organic reach for publishers and a newsless feed means they won't be making as much money from their sponsored video content anymore. And since videos are expensive to create and produce, many publishers will find it's not worth their time anymore. "Zuckerberg anticipates Facebook's 2 billion-plus users will spend less time on and be less engaged with the social network — including watching videos, a lucrative new revenue stream." (USA Today)
Hopefully, we can go back to valuing words again. In fact, some publications are already doing just that. Slate redesigned its entire site and with it, released a statement that said they would be "pivoting to words." Unlike other publications, they will be hiring more (paid) staff writers and focusing on their podcasts. And unlike other publications, they will be doing the opposite of "pivoting to video." I hope that more media companies follow their lead.
All of these changes are why I've spent the past year rediscovering Twitter. When I first signed on to Twitter back in 2008, it was the place to be. Then, Facebook and Instagram (and for a while, Snapchat) took over and Twitter was my least prioritized and enjoyable social network. But something is apparent ten years later. While the other platforms have slowly evolved into content management systems, Twitter remains the only pure social network where people interact with content, with each other, and with events in a way that no longer happens anywhere else. "On Twitter, you can dive into any conversation about any topic -- cooking, outer space, films, sneakers, politics, or skateboards." (Gary Vaynerchuck, Crushing It!) Twitter is the most conversational of all the social platforms and has never turned into a consumption platform.
How do you think publishers will be distributing their content now that Facebook will no longer be the main traffic driver?
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I usually do a write up of the events I’ve organized or hosted and my most-read articles at the end of the year. This was an unusual year (obviously, there is no need to go into it here) so I didn’t bother. Instead I want to highlight a project of mine that I am particularly proud of — it’s my new podcast show, Unverified Accounts, that I cohost with my frequent collaborators, Chris Jesu Lee and Filip Guo. If you're a big movie/TV/book buff, have leftist sympathies, but can't stand 'wokeness' dumbing down our culture, then we're the podcast for you. So far in our 25 episodes, we’ve covered a range of contentious topics.