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Amidst shirtless photos and online trolling of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg has been sharing his insights on the future of social media this summer. With the launch of the record-breaking app, Threads, people are paying attention.
Threads, a new social network by Meta, garnered 100 million sign-ups within its first five days. Not bad for a simplified version of Twitter. According to Zuckerberg, the aim is to create a public conversations app for one billion people.
However, this doesn’t mean a billion people actively engaging in conversations. Threads functions less as a public town square and more as a stage where Zuckerberg wants us in the audience.
Nowadays, social media networks lack sociability. Feeds are algorithmic, dictating the content we see. After joining Threads, I found myself seeing more brands and celebrities than updates from my friends. It’s now more about following popular creators than connecting with one another.
This transformation is the result of the TikTok-ification of social media. On TikTok, the focus is on content consumed by the largest audience possible, rather than connecting with known contacts. This has led to an odd form of anonymity, where TikTok creators claim, “if you know me — no you don’t.” Their intended audience is essentially strangers.
As a result, social media companies no longer solely rely on real-world relationships to attract users, making it possible for more competition to enter the market. However, to draw an audience, these new apps need well-known names and brands, leading to heavy promotion of such accounts on platforms like Threads, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook.
This shift has changed the dynamics between social media users and companies. What was once free content has become expensive, as influencers gain more power and influence in areas such as news. Platforms like Snapchat even collaborate with news start-ups to provide basic journalism training to creators.
The era of social networking may be coming to an end, but the role of creators in digital media entertainment is just getting started.
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