Not following anyone anymore.
A major reset of social networks seems to be increasingly desired by citizens around the world.
Tabula rasa.
Reddit has released a report titled "Trust, recommendations, and the next era of influence 2024"; the conclusion is unequivocal: trust is eroded at all levels in social networks. And starting with trust from a consumption and influencer perspective.
“While 40% of social media users first heard about products/services they purchased through a search engine, a social media influencer, or Amazon, they think these resources and the technology driving them are unsafe, impersonal, and untrustworthy.”
'Unsafe', 'impersonal', 'unreliable': the words have meaning and precisely describe the reason why we love to dislike social media, this overflow of falsehoods, ultimately, after having hoped for better online exchanges.
The new norm of our connected lives follows 3 major stages according to Reddit, which are themselves undergoing transformation:
Discovery of content has partly replaced search: algorithms do part of the work for us, but we gain in ease what we lose in precision and truthfulness.
Consideration: it is the moment when, once we have the information, we begin to weigh the pros and cons.
Final decision: the phase where we decide to take action.
The disenchantment with information sows the seeds of this growing distrust. In the United States, according to the Pew Research Center, Americans follow the news less than in 2016 (38% vs. 51%). To revisit our 3 stages, this means that the phases where people compare, verify, form opinions, are fed by less and less information in the journalistic sense of the term. Not so surprising that Threads announced "deprioritizing" political discussions on its new platform, not only to differentiate itself from X but also because these topics, fueled by information, arguments for or against, based on journalistic sources or, conversely, conspiracy theories, tire citizens.
Threads' breath of fresh air at the time of its launch undoubtedly surprised Meta, the parent company. A gem to protect, by being less of a "media" and returning to the "social" dimension of... social networks.
Objective facts to lay it all out: social networks are anxiety-inducing and dangerous.
The deleterious atmosphere is based on objective facts: the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a report in November 2023 about online content moderation. The conclusions of the analysis are unequivocal: even after passing through moderation tools, a majority of hateful posts are never detected or removed. The effort to clean up social networks and make them healthier requires a considerable, uneven investment compared to those who know how to manipulate them for harmful purposes. Moderation systems are still incomplete.
The year 2023 was also marked by the movement of de-influencing and viral phenomena on TikTok of users mocking hauls or other speeches by content creators. This trend can be read at two contradictory levels: on the one hand, it is a sign of increasing literacy among citizens who organize forms of digital counterpowers against anyone who crosses the line between entertainment and lies; on the other hand, it is a dichotomy and an increasingly violent conflict online between people.
Reset everything: content creators to the rescue
As we are permanently online, a great reset is increasingly desired by citizens.
Maalvika released a TikTok video that caused a stir and describes the current situation:
"We used to say BRB [to our friends when we took a break from texting on the internet], but now we just live here. These little colorful icons are always beckoning, always reachable. The internet is not a place anymore, it’s embedded in all of us."
Maalvika
What Maalvika describes is the impact of this digital liveness and the need to regain control, as it has entered deep into our beings.
In the United States,
, a Portland entrepreneur who creates vintage clothing wrote an unequivocal post: I unfollowed everyone."Now that I don’t follow anyone, when I go to refresh my feed - all I see is my last post. There are no stories for me to skip through. No posts to scroll. The explorer page is tempting and dangerous, but as soon as I open it up - I feel like the wave is going to come crashing down on me. I don’t want to see what others are doing or how they are living. I am over the comparison bingo."
Taylor Randal
In France, Slanelle, who has been blogging since 2002 and shares her many discoveries (notably in Japan) with a faithful community, posted what seems to me to be the most beautiful defiance against competitive injunctions on social networks. In a nutshell: YOLO, just enjoy posting what you feel is worth sharing, don’t be too obsessed with algorithms.
The argument is actually powerful: instead of fighting for imposed and standardized performance indicators, we must return to the true definition of influence. Being able to generate change with one or more people because we are relevant or legitimate in a field.
We must return to the true definition of influence. Being able to generate change with one or more people because we are relevant or legitimate in a field.
Back to reality, in short? You have two hours.
Fact of the week: YouTube Elections
According to Apar Gupta (Internet Freedom Foundation), elections in India will be heavily influenced by YouTube, a platform where 467 million citizens gather to get information.
Amazing links
Magic and technology are intimately linked according to
.MSCHF has managed to capture hearts (and social media feeds). Analysis of the very Warholian brand in The Guardian.
And if artificial intelligence could save oral histories? A good article from Quartz.
Have a great week! And feel free to share this newsletter, like, comment, or continue to send me emails: these notifications bring joy.
Thanks for sharing the magic essay!
This is how blogging was for me when I started out in the noughties. I shared for the joy of sharing rather than seeking people’s approval. Feel more and more this is what I should return to.