Let’s not pretend that we don’t know what went wrong. Once they realized that the most valuable asset was attention, and that they could manipulate it, the “new world” was over. I’ve been around since well before MySpace but, I was there at the beginning of Facebook and Twitter. I was a bit late but, still early to Instagram. Social Media, for all intents and purposes, was the digital era Gold Rush.
“Head West. Stake your claim. There’s enough for everyone to strike it rich!” The crazy thing is, it was true! It was a literal world marketplace. I like to picture it as a universal swap meet. You show up, present your wares, and the entire world interacted. There was no algorithm, no ideal post time, no keyword strategy. It was just, being on the internet. It was remarkable, really.
It’s not that anymore, is it? It’s impossible to build a brand without already having an established brand presence. That’s by design. It’s money. It comes down to money. Greed is probably more accurate. Preferential treatment. Maybe even further, preferential dis treatment. “Algorithms to show more of what you want to see.” Pfft! It went from world marketplace to abandoned strip mall incredibly quick. Advertising, lol.
They got greedy. They saw an oasis in the desert. A beautiful stream of water, enough for all of us, then dug it up to maximize profits and wasted it all trying to keep it for themselves.
I’m sure there’s political nonsense in it, too. You remember all of the social uprisings as people around the world were finally able to communicate in real time at a grand scale. The glass door effect. Overnight, every agenda on the planet was exposed to the light of day. The world has never been the same.
So, here we are, pretending that we need advertisers. We don’t need you. We CERTAINLY don’t need you targeting us even more aggressively. If you monopolize the “desire” sector, where does that line between what we want, and what you want us to want, exist? We know your shit don’t work.
No, I don’t want some “bro” to ambush my YouTube videos, mentally abusing me into flipping houses or listen to some poorly written voice bot tell me my body isn’t good enough and there’s a "miracle" to fix it. That will NEVER generate a click, let alone conversion, from me. We. Don’t. Need. You.
So, to my point. As you may have gathered, I’ve explored just about every social media there is. I’m trying to make a living (like they all tell me I can and should do) being a content creator. Not an influencer. Not a meme generator or a glorified pyramid scheme but, a genuine creator, a contributor to society. I have been eternally disappointed.
A few months ago, I found Substack. It seemed incredibly promising. There was positive talk, from founders on the platform, about how it was going to be different. All the same misgivings I had about social media seemed to be addressed. I thought “these guy’s really get it.” I had high hopes and as you imagine, I’m extremely skeptical. Today, though, I received two “notifications” from writers I have NOTHING to do with. I don’t follow them. I’ve never liked, even read, any of their posts. I haven’t even expressed any desire to see their content.
This is how it started, the demise of all social media.
Notifications are direct interactions on content: likes, replies, shares, etc. I get that you want to “share with me the wonderful world of your ecosystem” but, that’s not a notification. You do that and consider my trust violated. If I ask you to recommend “accounts to follow” then, by all means, fire up that algorithm to sift through my activities and connect me to an account that is similar to my interests.
DO NOT try to force feed me stuff that you think will “increase my engagement” on your website application.
I don’t think I’m asking too much.
Sincerely Yours,
Joshua Lucero
www.writerjoshua.com
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