Does It Seem Like Social Media Is Dying To You?

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

I was honestly just thinking. Do you feel like social media isn't as engaging as it use to be? I took a break from it for a long time, but I ended up back in it as it seems to be the only way these days to truly market yourself. However, I feel like it's all smoke and mirrors when it comes to truly getting a platform going. For example, you have guitarists on Instagram with over a half a million followers but they play shows to like, 50-100 people. There's like 60 comments on their posts.
When I first got on Instagram, it was thriving. And not just for me, but for everyone else, too. I hardly see my friends getting any engagement on their posts. It's not just IG either. Facebook and Twitter seem to be flatlining.
I also wonder if the watered down sponsored content, forced influencer content and endless ads could have been a contribution to it.

A while ago, @Lindsey made a post about "where do you see music going in the future?" And it made me think about this: do you think streaming will be the new social media? Maybe that's why engagement on here has been down over the last two years. Maybe the consumer norm is starting to switch from a text based form of communication to streaming. I think @Mike Creuzer mentioned this in the webinar.

Anyway, it just got me interested in everyone's ideas. I'd love to hear @Jamie London 's thoughts on this for sure!!

Do you think streaming is on the way of replacing social media as we know it?

SynTV was a fantastic idea, that's for sure!

 

[JimmyS]

I think it is flatlining because of all the content in our faces on a daily basis, everyone's attention spans have decreased over the years. I think that streaming could be a valid way in the future, but when that gets oversaturated, what do we do next? I know the covid thing hit the world hard but maybe it will move back to the old days, who knows. Just my 2 cents on this matter, interesting post.

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

I think it is flatlining because of all the content in our faces on a daily basis, everyone's attention spans have decreased over the years. I think that streaming could be a valid way in the future, but when that gets oversaturated, what do we do next? I know the covid thing hit the world hard but maybe it will move back to the old days, who knows. Just my 2 cents on this matter, interesting post.

"Maybe it'll move back to the old days." I would hope so! That would be my personal dream. Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[Lindsey]

Streaming won't be the new social media, but the new way of watching tv. Talkshow like programs at least.

The engagment and algorithm on social media people always talk about is just about business accounts. Social media in the first place still is a photo/video album online you share with a group of people. Numbers shouldn't matter

 

[Rad Synner]

Yeah I agree with Lindsey. I highly doubt live streaming will replace text based. It demands too much effort to open your camera and start talking to people. I think that live streaming is a natural evolution coming from Tv, youtube, etc... not so much directly from facebook, IG, twitter, etc. Doesn't mean that their path can't cross, as they for sure have, but the entire world loves too much the power and low effort of text messages as opposed to livestream or even video.

Though social media have been evolving, it's just that the scope of social medias have changed. Don't forget that each of those social media you mention have algorithms that push certain type of contents that fits a certain agenda. But there can also be the harsh reality that people aren't interested in a certain type of content anymore. More than ever, trends evolve and change so fast. So truth is, maybe guitar and music in general isn't as popular and interesting to newcomers as it once was. Maybe it's time for this universe to evolve too!

Ah but then again, what do I know. It's just my thoughts!

 

[Ed Seith]

As a promotional medium, yeah. It's gone from "the exciting new thing" to "everybody who wants anything needs to have an active SM presence," and in that regard it's turned into TV commercials.

I think after a lot of things got heated in the last few years on SM, a lot more people are more interested in it being much more about just reconnecting personally with people they know around the country and world, and that's kinda how it ought to be, IMO. Of course, it's anything each person wants it to be, but I don't think it's "exciting and new" for new artists.

The kids are doing the tik-ing and the tok-ing now, and that's the new "influencer" SM site.

I don't know that streaming in general will take its place, but I do think it's part of a broader trend of bigger artists being expected to interact more directly with fans. It will be interesting to see where it all goes, and if my aging ass can still understand it.

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

@Radu-Cristian Perde and @Lindsey you both made such excellent points! I like how you, Radu, mentioned the "crossover" aspect of both. Maybe that's what I was truly noticing. It just seems like streamers are getting more traction that social media stars, so that's why I asked. Really loved the perception you both posted!

 

[TheRedMageGuitarist]

As a promotional medium, yeah. It's gone from "the exciting new thing" to "everybody who wants anything needs to have an active SM presence," and in that regard it's turned into TV commercials.

I think after a lot of things got heated in the last few years on SM, a lot more people are more interested in it being much more about just reconnecting personally with people they know around the country and world, and that's kinda how it ought to be, IMO. Of course, it's anything each person wants it to be, but I don't think it's "exciting and new" for new artists.

The kids are doing the tik-ing and the tok-ing now, and that's the new "influencer" SM site.

I don't know that streaming in general will take its place, but I do think it's part of a broader trend of bigger artists being expected to interact more directly with fans. It will be interesting to see where it all goes, and if my aging ass can still understand it.

I really loved your intake on this. I also really loved your point of how you said that more people are seeming to just reuse it back to connecting with close friends again as it should be. I agree with you 100% on that!

 

[Chris Johnston]

I'm not sure its dying, but I think its forever evolving and challenging musicians to find new ways to break out and get eyes on their content.

Facebook does a decent job of helping artists do that with Targeted ads. Like if you're on Facebook and you see a sponsored post then it means you fit someone's specific 'target audience' that they think will engage with their ad. It's crazily detailed aswell, like you can target people on Gender, Age, Relationship type, specific genres/bands they like, town, city, country, And even earnings bracket - which is sort of creepy, but it means that every dollar spent is going to the closest 'type' of user that you would expect to engage with you (Like your guitar vid isn't pushed to someone looking for cleaning products etc) The clear downfall though is that if you can't afford it, it's hard work to organise enough people to break the algorithm to push your content out organically.

In a way though, it just forces musicians to be even more innovative with how they market themselves online to create something that has massive share value, so friends & family share it and then friends of friends, friends of those friends etc until it's got loads of eyes on it.

I'm not sure streaming will replace our social media pages completely as its something that requires a lot of time, effort and somewhat decent gear to pull off professionally, but I think it is on the rise massively, with Twitch being so big

This stuff fascinates me to imagine what it'll be like even 10 years from now...makes me think of all the Meta stuff that Mark Zuckerberg is talking about recently

 

[Jamie London]

I think right now it’s very over saturated. Even trying to carve out a niche has become incredibly tough. This is why genuine engagement and a true love for whatever is being pushed or promoted is more vital then ever. If you hire someone to run socials and they treat it as just another job, those socials will be looked and and interacted with the same way. Very blah. When someone truly loves the brand, band, whatever that they are pushing, there’s a different feeling there. Something very genuine that can’t be faked and interactions will reflect that. Unfortunately right now, a lot of pages are run by people who are doing the same thing every day for multiple companies and multiple accounts daily, and you can feel how mechanical it is. Rinse and repeat.

All that said, I think as with everything it’ll continue to evolve. It’s been stagnant as a whole for a bit now and I think with Rona going on, people have been living there more then ever, so I think a lot of people are just feeling SM burn out. I do think streaming will become more and more ingrained in what SM is but I don’t think it’ll ever over take text based posts and interactions either. Just a beautiful fusion of the two. I’m incredibly excited to see how much Web3 will impact SM and truly believe that is the next huge evolutionary leap.

 

[iridecently]

I don't think social media is dying, people (especially kids) are just constantly moving on to new platforms. When I was starting high school MySpace was the site everyone was on, that died because everybody moved to Facebook and now that's seen as a site for boomers. For a while Instagram and Snapchat were the cool thing to have, but that seems to have passed already. TikTok seems to be the thing that all the kids are on, just judging from what I hear working with 8-10 year olds. If you wanna build a platform that now seems the place to be.

With regards to streaming, it's kind of in this weird spot between social media and regular media. There is definitely a social aspect to it, but it happens on a different level compared to Facebook or Twitter. Interaction happens between the streamer and their chat and their chat among themselves. With streaming the whole parasocial relationship thing also comes into play where people feel a certain friendship or closeness to the streamer, whereas the streamer doesn't feel the same way towards that individual (except for maybe small streamers that recognize each person in their chat). So I don't feel it's really a replacement for places like Facebook and I think generally platforms are moving away from that kind of format.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

I think a live stream you feel "safer " because with Instagram and other social media you have the trolls and whatnot. On a live stream like twitch yeah those people can be there but their comments seem more hidden in a group of people so I myself would feel comfortable because of that reason alone to stream.

 

[John Robinson]

in my opinion politics and the pandemic killed social media,you cant post anything without politics or covid being brought up and personaly im sick of it to the point that i have backed off of social media a lot.This site is great about staying on topic.thats my opinion but your milage may vary

 

[Edward John]

I certainly hope that it does.

 

[TennzyAlyn]

Yeah, I also hate this tendency

 

[RubyVaughan]

I totally feel you on this. Social media used to be like a buzzing party. But now, it's like everyone's scattered, and the magic's kinda fading. However, I still like LInkedIn, as I know the best place to buy real linkedin followers. But on IG, The overload of ads and influencer stuff is a mood. Streaming could be a game-changer, just like you said. But you know what? Change is the name of the game. Who knows what the future holds?

 

[augustinev2000]

Just saw your post and wanted to drop in that while streaming is undoubtedly gaining momentum, I believe that social networks won't be replaced entirely. Each platform has its unique tools and advantages that cater to different needs and audiences.

 

[coder353]

Yeah I agree with Lindsey. I highly doubt live streaming will replace text based. It demands too much effort to open your camera and start talking to people. I think that live streaming is a natural evolution coming from Tv, youtube, etc... not so much directly from facebook, IG, twitter, etc. Doesn't mean that their path can't cross, as they for sure have, but the entire world loves too much the power and low effort of text messages as opposed to livestream or even video.

Though social media have been evolving, it's just that the scope of social medias have changed. Don't forget that each of those social media you mention have algorithms that push certain type of contents that fits a certain agenda. But there can also be the harsh reality that people aren't interested in a certain type of content anymore. More than ever, trends evolve and change so fast. So truth is, maybe guitar and music in general isn't as popular and interesting to newcomers as it once was. Maybe it's time for this universe to evolve too and buy services from Bumplikes !

Ah but then again, what do I know. It's just my thoughts!

Agreed, live streaming might not replace text-based content due to its higher effort demand, and social media algorithms influence content trends significantly.