Mark last week as the end of the social networking era, which began with the rise of ‘Friendster’ in 2003, shaped two decades of internet growth, and now closes with Facebook’s rollout of a sweeping TikTok-like redesign. Now Facebook wants to shape your online life around the algorithmically-sorted preferences of millions of strangers around the globe. That’s how TikTok sorts the videos it shows users, and that’s largely how Facebook will now organize its home screen…
— from ‘The Sunset of Social Media’ by Scott Rosenberg, on Axios.com
I’m sort of ashamed to say it, but I didn’t know exactly what ‘TikTok’ was, when I came across Scott Rosenberg’s essay, “The Sunset of Social Media”.
But I can say that my heart leaped in my chest. Was it possible? Could we be so blessed? The end is at hand?
Most everyone I know is mildly or seriously addicted to social media, and although the government now has lawsuits pending against the pharmaceutical companies and distributors responsible for the opioid epidemic… (48,000 people overdosed in 2020, and 10 million have become addicted)…
…so far, our government hasn’t initiated any lawsuits for social media addiction. Probably because social media doesn’t exactly kill you. It merely destroys your life.
I’m not a big fan of social media, as you can tell.
I had barely heard of ‘TikTok’, but I was more familiar with Facebook, and I knew that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the Anti-Christ.
Okay, that was pretty harsh, calling Mark Zuckerberg the Anti-Christ, even if it’s true. But Mr. Rosenberg’s article got me all excited and worked up about the sunset of social media…
And then let me down.
Turns out, Facebook is not disappearing off the face of the earth after all. It’s merely going to change the way it keeps us addicted, to be similar to the way TikTok keeps us addicted.
Apparently, TikTok is even more addictive than Facebook (which, sadly enough, saw its recent second quarter revenue — mainly from advertising — drop to a mere $28.8 billion, compared to $29.1 billion for last year’s second quarter.) Because TikTok is more addictive, Facebook wants to emulate them, according to Mr. Rosenberg.
I had never visited TikTok, but after reading Mr. Rosenberg’s article, I decided to take a peek. I’d heard the name mentioned, mostly by children under the age of 12. So I visited the website and witnessed an amazing selection of short videos of people and animals doing stupid things.
If this is where Facebook is headed, I can understand Mr. Rosenberg’s choice of title: “The Sunset of Social Media”.
Mr. Rosenberg had nothing at all to say about the social media website Twitter, however. No one wants to emulate Twitter. Apparently, not even Elon Musk, who was supposedly buying the company for $44 billion but is now trying to get out of the deal. I would be trying to get out of the deal, too, if I had $44 billion burning a hole in my pocket. I would buy a big-screen TV, instead, and a new couch.
I actually had a Twitter account for a few months, back in the day when we were limited to 140 characters per posting. I could totally deal with messages that were 140 characters long, even if I didn’t agree with them. Then Twitter added a ‘Like’ button and started allowing videos, and it was downhill from there. Nothing but kittens, food, and politics.
Surely there’s more to life than kittens, food, and politics?
Maybe opioids aren’t such a bad alternative.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.