Future of personal social media
Is personal (or perhaps personable) social media on the way out?
Iāve been onā¦ inā¦ usingā¦ makingā¦ Iām not even sure which verb to use but thatās by the byā¦ let me start again.
Iāve been āinvolvedā with social media for a long time now, certainly longer than the term itself existed (round āere, tāwere all fields.. etc) and recently, with yet another option starting to make some noise in my own circles Iāve been wondering about where my future with social media lies.
What value social media?
I am not a follower whore, but then my livelihood doesnāt depend on my internet presence, so as a hobbyist internet user I have a different view of the value I get from social media. For those who worry about stats, how to improve their coverage and saturation is important, but as I use social media on a personal level my value judgements are very different.
For me it boils down to a simple equation, what is my return for the energy I spend on social media?
Recently I closed down my Google+ profile because I wasnāt expending any energy or time using it so, obviously, it wasnāt giving me anything back. My lack of desire to invest made it an easy decision to close that account down. Zero investment. Zero loss.
But could I do that with Facebook? Possibly, although it has some uses for keeping up to date with friends and family (as opposed to, you know, phoning or visiting them). I donāt use it all that often, and itās definitely not where I focus my energy. Equally I rarely get ānewsā via Facebook. Low investment. Medium loss.
Could I close my Twitter account? Again possibly, but of them all itās the most āfunā. Itās also the easiest way for me to get a view of the world that is different from mine and due to the nature of the medium Iām much more relaxed about āmissingā any updates. But the world of Twitter is changing, adverts are becoming more and more prominent, and some people are starting to look elsewhere. That said, Twitter is where Iām most active and where I find out whatās going on in the lives of my āinternet friendsā. High investment. High loss.
Another channel
Itās not the first time this has happened – anyone remember App.net? – and the current noisy startup is Ello which is promising to be āad-freeā. And yet, after only a few days of noise, there has been a tempering of enthusiasm. This cycle has happened before but it seems to have quickened around the launch of Ello. The realisation that there is a business, money and investment behind something being offered to us for free is an obvious one that many still donāt always consider, and why should they when places like Facebook offer no āharmā (on the surface at least, which is where most people focus).
And there is the key. The many millions of people who use these free services, monetising them, who donāt mind how Facebook makes money, just that they can use it for free. Itās a simple enough equation.
My social media
What of my usage? There is no doubt itās changing. I find myself looking for where the value lies and where I want to āexistā. Facebook, despite a recent slimming down of my friends list, remains a chore. It feels like I have to use it because so many of my friends and family do, whereas most of my internet friends are more active on Twitter.
Even then I find myself dipping in and out of Twitter much less often than I used to, perhaps my interesting is waning there too? Itās hard to tell.
I know the value Iāll get out of these things is largely a result of what I put in and, as I continue to streamline and minimising the things in my life that arenāt all that important (or donāt bring much value) then Iām not expecting any of the above to change.