It makes sense that social media usage increased dramatically in 2020 and hasn’t seen much of a drop since then. In large part, users are looking for human connection, and performative social media and the commerce-oriented nature of the internet are common hurdles to this problem. How have users and social media platforms from Facebook to BeReal adjusted to the increase in demand for both distraction and connection?
We dive a bit deeper in this week’s edition of The Wolves Den to see how online human connection and the marketing-driven nature of social media collide.
Scroll to the end of the blog for more trending news items from the week!
Why Traditional Social Media Is Not Cutting It Anymore
Among the many frustrations that have come from the pandemic, prolonged social isolation has led to an overwhelming need for connection. This is true for people of pretty much every demographic, but for high school and college students coming of age separated from their peers, the effect is especially palpable.
Unfortunately, it seems like none of the available platforms are suiting the kids’ social needs anymore. In the last decade, Facebook fell from being the number one social media site for young adults (in part due to their parents and grandparents populating the space), and now Instagram is facing a similar exodus because of the influx of brands and influencers (not to mention Meta’s obsession with copying TikTok, making users increasingly frustrated with the number of ads and high-energy videos).
There was at one point a vision that TikTok would become a new haven for teens to connect with each other, but with the emphasis of content creation and consumption, even TikTok can be draining and, in the end, isolating. The overload of content on TikTok has proven to lead to social media fatigue, among other issues.
When it comes to directly interacting with just your friends and real-life connections (as opposed to strangers, brands and hashtags), Snapchat has also been a popular platform in the past. However, the business side of Snap is becoming more and more grim, with massive layoffs and the loss of important ad execs to Netflix, so it’s up in the air whether Snap has the resources to grow and nurture its user base.
A new contender in the race is BeReal, a platform seeking to be the next, filter-free Instagram. But is it really up for the challenge?
Is BeReal an Outlier – Or Is It Just Like the Rest?
BeReal offers social connection in the form of a daily photo challenge, more akin to Wordle than to Instagram as one Polygon writer put it. You can only view other people’s daily posts after submitting your own, and the app only gives you a two-minute window to get the dual-camera visuals exactly how you want it.
Presumably, this means that the posts you see are more authentic and lead to more intimate connection between users. Instead of following a bunch of popular accounts, BeReal users typically only add friends manually to their list or import them from their phone contacts, also contributing to the much smaller content pool.
But the question remains whether Gen Z has grown up too acclimated to performative social media and curated self-presentation to be able to use a platform like this any other way. Is raw, authentic content even possible for this demographic? Opinions on this are mixed.
Despite the app currently prohibiting direct advertising, brands are still using the interface and content style to curate posts on other channels like Twitter and Instagram (which from a marketing perspective, is a very smart thing to do). However, it does seem that users of BeReal are protected from seeing an ambush of DTC promo vids and sponsored posts with every scroll.
Will the hype of BeReal last, or will the platform fall into similar pitfalls as the many other sites before them? We’ll keep you posted.
Other Digital Marketing News:
- Twitter is finally testing an edit button!
- Performance Max ad campaigns are becoming more accessible
- Google’s new SEO guidelines target the “unhelpful content” that clutters search results
- New Walmart data-driven rewards program could give us another e-commerce giant
- New AI tool helps you write viral LinkedIn posts (cringe included)
- More flexibility is coming to Google Sheets
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