Social media has become a freak show
6 hours ago
- #Media Business Models
- #Platform Algorithms
- #Social Media Critique
- Author announces a Substack Live session on Trump/Iran policy and opens questions for SBSQ #31.
- Recalls FiveThirtyEight's launch under Disney/ESPN in 2014, a time when quality content was undervalued due to the focus on maximizing reach via Facebook.
- Critiques Facebook's algorithm for rewarding emotional headlines and notes that FiveThirtyEight's analytical style didn't align, making viral traffic low-quality.
- Describes Twitter in the mid-2010s as better for FiveThirtyEight, rewarding expertise and nerdy argumentativeness, but later became more partisan and woke.
- Notes social media's declining relevance for media strategy, with Silver Bulletin's external social traffic at 0.7%, yet overall views increased significantly.
- Highlights that current Twitter engagement is dominated by low-quality, partisan accounts like Catturd and Elon Musk, with even liberal accounts being combative.
- Compares social media ecosystems to ecology, where algorithms shape content survival, and notes current platforms like X and Bluesky are unhealthy or siloed.
- Mentions the 'island effect' in ecology to explain Twitter's strange, low-quality influencers thriving in an isolated, non-competitive environment.
- Concludes by affirming Silver Bulletin as an 'island of sanity' and plans to return to topics like Trump and Iran.