Who’s feeding who?
Many organisations around the world, be they in the public or private sector, feel compelled to be in the social media game to boost their reach.
Social media metrics are one of the things that they are concerned about. In order to ensure they don’t fall behind their peers or rivals, they try to learn the best practices of using the social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and the like. The companies also hold workshops to support adoption and further penetration.
But really, I wonder, what’s the value, depth, and purpose of the interaction? Entertainment? Is anything really substantial conveyed in an Instagram post or a TikTok video? Maybe a company can sell a product through viral video. But how about conveying ideas of substance? That I’m not so sure about…
We can’t all entertain ourselves to a deeper understanding of things. Knowledge doesn’t work that way – despite what the social media giants may have us believe. (Perhaps there might be a case to be made for YouTube…but even then!)
Do companies and governments squeeze themselves into narrative buckets that generate more fodder for the content mill so that platforms can attract more eyeballs? It makes me wonder, do we all exist to feed platforms with content, to generate more views and for platforms?