Social media is an irreplaceable tool for most of us. We are dependent on it to stay informed about the world. However, regardless of all the good it does for us, we should raise questions about some of the antics used by social media companies to keep us ‘hooked’ on their platforms.
Findings published by Edison Research in 2022 found that the vast majority of Gen-Zs are ‘digital natives’. The smartphone is a primordial part of the lives of many young people. Mark you, this is the first generation that has been born and fully raised in the internet age.
Most young people interact more on digital platforms than with traditional media. Radio and Television are quickly becoming relics of an era gone by, I mean, who still watches the news anymore?
Spotify is the place to get your music. Netflix is the place to get your movies. Social media is the place to get your news.
Instead of breaking news, social media demands attention on ‘what’s trending’. In the eyes of any Gen Z, what’s trending is what they should be paying attention to.
Many of these social media platforms depend on selling ad space to generate revenue. The pay from these ads is dependent on the Click Through Rate (CTR) i.e. the number of times that the ad is clicked on. To generate a high CTR, the ads have to yield a high number of impressions. Basically, the long and short of it is that the more ads the platform shows you, the more it is likely to get you to open one that could be of interest to you.
Now here’s where these social media platforms implement some egregious practices. Whenever you engage with content on these platforms, they will collect as much information about you as possible. What you like. What you don’t like. What interests you. What content you engage with most. In other words, these platforms have information on your entire persona.
The reason for doing so is twofold:
- They use your persona to place targeted ads on your timeline that are of interest to you. Remember, the more they can get you to click on an ad, the more money they are likely to make.
- Many of these platforms have complex algorithms that are used to generate optimized content for your feed. Next time you open that social media app, the algorithm knows what kind of content interests you and it will keep churning it out for you on repeat. This is meant to keep you on the app for longer so that you get more ads that you are most likely to click on.
Instagram has a feed CTR of about 0.25–0.88%. Nonetheless, the platform generated over $50 billion through ad revenue in 2023 which remains its biggest source of income reinforces the need to keep the ads going.
If this was all that happened on these platforms, then there wouldn’t be much of a problem. I mean, these free-to-use platforms are run by people who have got to generate income from their work in some way. However, there’s more than meets the eye.
Firstly, given that these companies have tons of sensitive data on people, selling it to third parties can be a lucrative undertaking. Every business that wants to sell you something wants to know what your interests are so that it can market specifically to you. That is the whole premise behind targeted ads.
Furthermore, the algorithms used by these platforms are also incredibly powerful at picking up on user trends and interests. Say, for example, you are a left-leaning individual on the political spectrum with outspoken beliefs supporting the LGBTQ community.
The algorithm would be quick to notice your beliefs and interests based on how you interact with content about the LGBTQ community. Maybe you like a post. Or comment on one. Or perhaps even share it on your timeline. If that is all you did on social media, the algorithm will continue to serve you up with content that continually reinforces your beliefs, to get you to interact with it more.
These algorithms are way more complicated than this. On a fundamental level, however, this is how they are engineered to work.
Consequently, these social media platforms have helped reinforce the creation of ‘echo chambers’. These echo chambers reinforce the confirmation bias that many of us have.
We all have preconceived notions about how the world and social media is constantly reinforcing these as being true. It’s a mind trap that our minds keep falling for.
Since everyone’s timeline is full of content that reinforces their beliefs, it becomes increasingly hard to accommodate other people’s differing opinions. It goes to add to the polarized nature of our political systems. At the end of the day, everyone who doesn’t believe in what you believe in is wrong and whatever they have to say should be ignored.
The typical human being will apply what the timeline feeds them to reflect the reality of whatever is happening in the world. That’s how social media becomes the new source of news, because everything on it is presented as fact in a way that appeals to the user.
Tapping into people’s belief systems is the easiest way to gain their attention. It is the easiest way to get up from their laurels and react. History is full of examples of this; from the Iranian Revolution of 1979 to the Capitol Hill Insurrection of January 2021. By the time society reaches this breaking point, no one cares whether what they believe is true; only if those around them believe it as well.
Social media definitely does a lot of good for our lives. It makes the world a better place. But it too has an incredibly dark side that we should be aware of so that we may not fall victim to it.
Enjoyed this? Read More: 7 Common Mind Traps and How They Manifest on the Internet
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