Believe it or not, social media is dying.
Social media was flawed from the start. At the dawn of digital connections, nobody anticipated how our real-world relationships and mutual interests would be weaponized for advertising campaigns. We probably should have considered it—maybe some even thought about it—but this was when smartphones were still a new idea.
After nearly two decades of making connections across various platforms, social media users often complain their most important relationships are nowhere to be found. “I never see ____ anymore,” people will tell you, often as a justification for missing an important event or detail. “The algorithm must not like them.”
But the problem with social media is far more complicated than simply showing you different posts. Algorithms learn from behaviors, and our behaviors have told algorithms that we don’t want to see our friends or parents in our timeline. We may like their posts from time to time, but we like memes, news, and viral content far more often. Those actions make it clear that the best way to keep you engaged is to give you more of what you already like, which creates a loop of relevant content.
Breaking these loops can be difficult, even when you no longer care about the content. In this Music Biz update, host James Shotwell explains how the infrastructure behind an entire generation of social media apps was not built to adapt to modern times and which leading service is closest to getting it right. He also explains the rise of so-called “recommendation media” and how its popularity speaks to a positive future for creators everywhere.
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