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Society Actually Likes Social Media
It may seem odd to write an article that people, broader societies, like social media at a time when there’s so much seeming disappointment with it, anger, frustration and increasing disillusionment. When lawsuits are flying and governments reacting. But we do like social media.
It’s not the technology itself, although the technology often gets the blame. No technology is neutral, all are a double-edged sword and all have unintended consequences. These are a result of how a technology is designed, the intended purpose and the purpose to which it is actually put.
The aspects of social media that we don’t like are those that are the result of the way the humans operating them are and have acted. The platforms and tools that have sought to better understand their communities, their customers, and have adapted accordingly, have performed better and remain more enjoyable.
Platforms like Pinterest, Medium, Substack, Snap, Reddit, LinkedIn, remain popular and more enjoyable. They’re not perfect and some have suffered their share of missteps and mistakes. This is to be expected.
When a technology enters into the broader stream of society is when we truly begin to understand it. I wrote previously on this process of awareness, evaluation and adaptation.
