Is social media in decline?
Social media seemed to rise up to take the internet by storm. It existed for a long time, on the fringes, with online forums and blog sites. But everything changed when Facebook appeared in the early 2000s, spreading across colleges in the United States. Eventually, Facebook was opened up to the general public and you no longer needed a college email to sign up. This helped make it into the most widely used social media site in the world, and many businesses use it to promote their products, connect with their customers, answer questions and much more.
In a very short time, it has begun to feel like social media is an inherent part of society. Like the internet, it’s never going away. And this may be true, but there are those who actually think that it is currently in decline.
Major players are faltering
One reason for this is that some of the biggest social media sites are running into serious complications. Facebook use is declining among young people, the company has lost hundreds of billions of dollars and they recently laid off more than 11,000 workers. Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk, leading to a mass exodus, and now even some news organizations are simply leaving Twitter. That’s a big deal because breaking news was one of the things that Twitter actually did well.
Is it just diversification?
One important question to ask is if social media itself is declining or if the audience is just a bit more diverse than it used to be. After all, before Facebook, there were many options for social media sites. Once Facebook gained steam, many of these other sites either folded – such as Google Plus or Google Buzz – or they simply weren’t used as much anymore, like MySpace. The other options did see some use, but Facebook took over the main market share and became what many people thought of as “social media” in general.
But this could be changing, especially with younger users. They are turning to new platforms, which has led to the rise of Tik Tok, as controversial as it is. But studying the decline of major sites like Twitter and Facebook may be more about a failure from those specific sites, rather than a failure of social media in general. It may just be evolving as the next generation gets older and decides how they want to use the internet.
It’s important for business owners to understand that this is happening and to adjust their approach. Social media can be a great tool for connecting with an audience, but you must know exactly where that audience is. Here at Content Customs,, we can help with social media management and much more, so don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
