No one probably would have guessed a year ago that Elon Musk would buy Twitter and then look for someone else to manage the company. Even though 2022 was a big year for social media, there was still no viable alternative to Twitter and Donald Trump eventually released Truth Social.
Alterations to the social media landscape are possible in 2023. But one thing that is fairly guaranteed is that young people will keep using the platforms.
Playset’s head of product and strategy, Wendy Mei, predicts that “Gen Z will continue to substantially affect the social media environment,” and that the generation’s need for genuine content would result in “significant change” to the sector.
New Service Models May Emerge
Users of social media platforms belonging to Generation Z will most certainly continue to favor genuine, less filtered material in their pursuit of realistic portrayals of themselves and their peers.
“Old platforms that are so entrenched with unrealistically flawless ideas will be difficult to please this generation,” said Mei. “The demonstrable shift in preferences has and will continue to lead to a big discontent among some of the main participants in the area,” she continued. It is up to us to generate the kind of staying power and desire for long-term use that will ensure our platform survives the year, just as it is true of any industry: “There will inevitably be some platforms that don’t make it through the year.”
Mei argued that people may develop novel methods to use social media in their daily lives to fulfil their needs for social connection and community membership.
The Spiral of Twitter’s Success Will Proceed Downward
After spending $44 billion for Twitter, Elon Musk may be experiencing some “buyer’s remorse.” There’s little chance that his social media platform rules will improve things for users in the near future.
Tech expert Charles King of Pund-IT predicted that Twitter will continue its downhill spiral as long as Elon Musk remained in the spotlight and engaged with critics like a third grade playground bully. It’s also possible that Twitter may strive to improve its advertising structure by teaming up with a well-known partner or partners.
“The expanding number of increasingly credible competitors, Musk’s mismanagement, and employee lawsuits should put it securely in the MySpace category by year’s end,” said Rob Enderle, technology analyst at the Enderle Group.
Existential crises?
In 2022, Twitter won’t be the only social media platform trying to forget about the difficulties of the previous year. Many employees at Facebook’s parent company, Meta, probably want to forget about 2016. However, it is unclear how that will occur.
Enderle predicted that the Metaverse social network wouldn’t succeed until the end of the decade, when technology would finally be able to live up to expectations.
According to King, “it is likely that Meta will split into two companies, one focused on Facebook and the other on the metaverse.” Although this will likely be well received by the company’s major investors, it won’t accomplish much to further Mark Z’s vision of the commercial metaverse.
When Exactly Will TikTok Be Banned?
It’s probably not a matter of if, but when, the Chinese-owned app TikTok will be banned across the board in the United States. Multiple states have already taken action to prevent employees from using the video-sharing software on government-issued smartphones, and just last week, the House of Representatives took a same stance.
It’s still possible the business may have further success in the near future.
Tech entrepreneur and author of “The Social Media Bible” Lon Safko predicted that “TikTok is the one platform that will continue to enjoy increase in membership.” “The fact that TikTok became so popular quickly while Vine fizzled out baffles me. When you consider that the average person now has an attention span lower than that of a goldfish, it’s easy to see why the’short-form video’ has always been such an efficient means of communication. YouTube now has its own version of TikTok-like short films as evidence of the success of this mode of communication.”
A Decline in Impact Is Possible
Even though over a quarter of Gen-Z claimed in a study last year that their dream profession would be an influencer, 2022 may have been the final big year for influencers. There isn’t enough demand, and those who fall short aren’t going to cheer for those who make it.
Safko explains that “the flood of people attempting to become that next influencer” makes “influencer marketing” more challenging in 2022. The effective influencers’ “desire in recommending other companies has dropped to near nothing,” the study found.
And by 2023, practically all social media sites will have achieved membership saturation and will require outside assistance to preserve shareholder value.
Safko remarked, “They’re all under continual stress from their Board of Directors to consistently boost income as membership engagement is dropping.” “While we want to continue utilizing social media, doing so will require an excessive amount of time and resources for just minimal returns. Some people will become influential more by chance than by intent, but bluebirds will still occur.”