That simple question revolutionized the way we communicate.
In the late 2000s, Facebook recognized the vast potential of a platform where everyone could share what they were thinking in a largely uncurated way. The free-form feed allowed Facebook to overtake earlier social media companies like Myspace and Friendster.
They would grow into the juggernaut we know today, allowing the world to catch up with friends, share their experiences, and get their news. But the future of this idea looks a lot more uncertain.
For the first time ever, Facebook’s total user base declined in 2021. Facebook’s effort to reinvent itself as a virtual reality platform (Meta) has been met mostly with derision. Its grand unveiling was accompanied by a 37% decline in Meta’s valuation.
The deeper one dives, the worse the future looks. Teenage users have declined by 13% over the last two years and are projected to decline by 45% over the next two. All of these stats point to a problem that has long been understood internally: the platform is getting old, literally.
Rather than connecting the world, the unstructured Facebook feed often reminds users of why they lost touch in the first place.
According to Facebook’s own studies, young adults are leaving the platform because they perceive [Facebook’s] content as “boring, misleading, and negative,” and “they [users] often have to get past irrelevant content to get to what matters.”
So apparently, many people don’t care all that much about what their casual acquaintances do day-to-day, and fewer still want to hear their friend’s or family’s opposing political views. Rather than connecting the world, the unstructured Facebook feed often reminds users of why they lost touch in the first place.
People want to engage with content related to their interests. Google has become a verb over this fundamental need, and rising social media platforms are developing around that idea. Rather than provide a feed that mixes news, family photos, and friends’ travelogs, platforms like Reddit offer discrete communities where users can discuss specific topics. In 2020, Reddit increased its daily users by 44%.
We designed Mythos not as a social media platform, but instead as a tool to make all of your media more social.
The popular app TikTok became the world’s fastest growing social media platform by predicting what videos their users wanted to see. Relevant content, not friends, seems to be the future of social communications.
Whether you engage with any of these platforms or not, one thing is certain—social media has fundamentally changed the marketing and communications landscape. Some organizations have attempted to leverage the space, promoting their brand on social channels. We think they are missing the larger opportunity here.
Instead of viewing social media as a platform—chasing the latest application to advertise on—we believe the value lies with the content itself. Good stories are what social media has brought to the forefront of communication.
We designed Mythos not as a social media platform, but instead as a tool to make all of your media more social.
Learn more about how we can help you collect and curate stories worth sharing.
Ever since Jack was a kid he has been absorbed in learning everything he can about the world. On family road trips he would constantly pester his parents with questions.
“How far away is it to the moon? How fast is Roger Clemens fastball? What is the oldest town in Connecticut?”
Luckily, for everyone involved, smart phones were invented.
However, Jack’s desire to understand the world never ceased. As he grew older he became especially interested in history. To Jack history is a vast web of billions of stories with endless complexity. His time at Kenyon College solidified what he loves about studying history—finding patterns, omissions, and meaning in this vast web of stories.
Now as a writer for Mythos, Jack finds and share stories about what it means to create communities of belief and bind people together through values and ideas. Each week Jack hopes to learn something new and hopes you do too.
