The social media industry could face even more disruptions in 2023
Although it is unlikely that anyone would have predicted Elon Musk becoming the owner of Twitter one year ago, they did eventually find someone to take over. It was a great year for social media in 2022. Donald Trump launched Truth Social and there were new calls to ban TikTok. A Twitter alternative wasn’t yet available.
There could be more social media disruptions in 2023. However, it is likely that younger users will still use these platforms.
Wendy Mei from Playsee, Head of Product and Strategy at the social media platform Playsee said that Gen Z would continue to influence the social media landscape. “Their desire to authenticity will drive major transformative changes in the industry,” Wendy Mei stated.
There could be new services
Gen Z users of social media will continue to desire accurate representations and will therefore gravitate toward authentic and less-curated content.
“Old platforms that are so entrenched with unrealistically perfect ideologies will be unable to satisfy this generation; the measurable shift in preferences has and will continue to lead to a significant discontent among some of the major players in the space – creating room for new platforms that promote authenticity,” added Mei. As with every industry, platforms will fail to survive the year. It’s our job to make sure that they don’t.
Mei suggests that users could find ways to incorporate social media in their daily lives, to fulfill their desire to be connected and feel part of their community.
The downward spiral of Twitter will continue
Elon Musk appears to already feel a touch of “buyer’s remorse” about his $44 million acquisition of Twitter. The social media platform’s policies are not likely to benefit it. At least, not for the near term.
Charles King, a technology analyst at Pund-IT said that Twitter’s downward spiral will not stop as long Elon Musk continues to engage with critics and stay in the public eye. It is also possible that Twitter may try to engage a known partner (or partners) in order to improve troubled areas of its business including its advertising agency.
Twitter could be overthrown.
Rob Enderle from the Enderle Group, technology analyst, said that Musk’s mismanagement and the increasing number of more viable competitions should make MySpace a solid category in year-end.
Meta Problems
Twitter is not the only social media platform that wants to overcome the challenges it encountered in 2022. Many at Facebook parent Meta want to get past the problems of last year. However, it is still unclear how that will be achieved.
Enderle observed that “The Metaverse social networking experiment will continue failing until technology meets expectations,” which is likely to be towards the end the decade.
King said that “rumors that Meta will be split into two companies, one on Facebook and one on the metaverse,” was likely true. While this should please large institutional investors and shareholders, it will not help Mark Z’s vision for the commercial metaverse get traction.
Is TikTok going to be banned?
At this point, it is more likely a matter of when – not if – the Chinese-owned TikTok will see a widespread ban in the United States. Already several states have already banned video-sharing apps on their government devices. And just last week the House of Representatives also ban it from its employees’ phones.
The company might still be able to perform well for the short-term.
Lon Safko a tech entrepreneur and author of The TikTok, said “TikTok will continue to see growth in membership.” Social Media Bible. “It’s amazing to me Vine didn’t succeed, but TikTok took off like wildfire. When you consider that the average human attention span is now less than that of a fish, the’short form video’ method of communication has been effective. YouTube has their own TikTok style short-form video.
TikTok may therefore continue to tick.
King stated that the ban on TikTok in U.S. phones, as well as other state-owned devices, is unlikely to reduce its popularity with young people. Their users haven’t been affected by the other known dangers that social media platforms pose, such as false information spreading and providing conduits for extremist speech.
Influence could be lost
2022 may have been the last big year for influencers – even as nearly a quarter of Gen-Z said in a survey last year that their ideal job would be an influencer. It is unlikely that the market will support this, so those who don’t succeed are more likely to be distracted by those who do.
Safko stated that Influencer Marketing has been more challenging in 2022 due to the number of people trying become influencers. “Their desire to promote other products through successful influencers is almost nonexistent.”
In addition, almost all social media platforms are now at saturation. They will need to be supported in order to preserve shareholder value.
Safko stated that all of them are under constant threat from their Board of Director to increase membership while revenue is falling. While social media will be used, it will require a tremendous amount of money and effort to achieve marginal results. Bluebirds will always exist, but people will influence more accidentally than intentionally.
The Old Problems will Remain
It is generally agreed that 2023 will see a lot of changes, even though the nation continues to be divided.
“Platforms will be an easy, somewhat secure political target when we get into the next round of elections. AI will appear more frequently in this sector; unfortunately, most will focus on scamming customers, but some will improve moderation, and increase engagement,” Enderle said.
This doesn’t mean that everything is going to change in the coming year. It is likely that some of the things that worked in the past will continue to work.
Safko stated that “Hookup app popularity continues to rise in activity and popularity.” Popular apps like OkCupid (Hinge), Tinder, Tinder and Grindr are increasing in popularity.”
