Can We Remake Social Media Into a Fun Place to Actually Be Social?

Over the last 18-24 months, the pandemic and our virtual isolation have caused many of us to turn to the internet and social media for not only connecting and communicating with others, but for keeping ourselves entertained, connecting and growing brand communities, shopping online, researching products and services, business meetings and even helping parents and teachers with educating our students. In a very short amount of time, social platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter have grown from being a “networking site” where users can share experiences, to the primary source for news and information from around the world, a far cry from its original intent. And as predicted by many sociology experts – during the past year and a half – the social media space has begun to become toxic and communications and marketing experts are taking notice.

In a 2017 article titled, How The Internet and Social Media Are Changing Culture, author Frank Furedi, the emeritus professor of sociology at the university of Kent argues that, “The Internet and social media are very powerful tools that can influence and shape human behavior, and social media is playing a significant role in recent outbreaks of social protest and resistance” (Furedi, 2017). Today, many recent research studies are showing that the politicization of the global pandemic, cyber bullying, misinformation and media obsessions are all contributing to the toxicity and divisiveness of social media today (Kerpen, 2021).

In a recent research study conducted by The Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans believe that social media has a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the country today, and attribute most of the issues to misinformation, privacy issues, and negative propaganda they experience on social media (Auxier, 2021). With this kind of negative perception changing attitudes, it is being predicted that users will begin to reassess their relationships with social media and begin to leave the larger, big tech platforms entirely, instead choosing to frequent smaller private communities they find on WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal (Kesvani, 2021).

Unfortunately for many users leaving social media entirely is not a viable option, as businesses and communications companies convert to a remote virtual workforce, expanded improvements in communications technology, reliance on 5G internet capabilities and social platforms will be essential for driving business, finding and vetting key prospective employees and connecting a virtual workforce (Brenner, 2021). This new technology-driven business model means most executives, directors, managers and employees will need to develop a new social media mindset, creating both a smaller, more private personal account plus a more sterile, highly-managed public account that will be as inoffensive as possible.

This new social change, when combined with improved security protocols will allow users on smaller more private platforms to feel more secure in how they express themselves, while keeping the larger big platform accounts more business-like and approachable (Kesvani, 2021).  This could create a win-win for all of us, actually making the internet and social media a fun place to once again network and actually socialize with one another, go figure.

References

Auxier, B. (2020). 64% of Americans Say Social Media Have a Mostly Negative Effect on the Way Things Are Going in the U.S. Today. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/15/64-of-americans-say-social-media-have-a-mostly-negative-effect-on-the-way-things-are-going-in-the-u-s-today/

Brenner, M. (2021). The Future of Social Media. Marketing Insider Group. https://marketinginsidergroup.com/social-media/future-social-media/

Furedi, F. (2017). How The Internet and Social Media Are Changing Culture. Aspen Review. https://www.aspen.review/article/2017/internet-social-media-changing-culture/

Kerpen, C. (2021). Social Media Can Be Toxic—Here’s The First Step Toward Change. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carriekerpen/2021/02/22/social-media-can-be-toxic-heres-the-first-step-toward-change/?sh=36c1662655d6

Kesvani, H. (2021). The future of social media is sharing less, not more. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/social-media-future-sharing