Breaking Away from Big Social Media
It feels SO GOOD to move away from big social media sites. You know the ones. During the first few years when Facebook and Twitter were first getting started (like back around 2007 ish), I followed the herd and jumped on board. Started posting stuff. Added the little social buttons on all of my websites. Even wrote some tutorials about Twitter and other social media. I was into it. Big time. These days though, not so much. More and more, I find myself breaking away from the big social sites. I still post things on social media. But it’s mostly just work-related web-dev stuff, along with the occasional hilarious meme :)
Social media used to be fun
Again, I still use social media to share news about my tutorials and projects. After publishing a new post or launching a new WordPress plugin, I’ll jump on the social medias, share a link and I’m out of there. I try to avoid playing around all day going back and forth on the latest news, celebrity nonsense, or other trivial concerns. These days it’s strictly business on social media. Life’s just too short.
To give it some perspective, back when social media was first taking off, I spent a LOT more time posting and sharing all sorts of stuff. I would log in to Facebook and spend hours interacting with other users, chatting with friends and family, and you know, just being “social”. Back then it was fun to scroll through endless timelines and check out all the new and interesting things that people were sharing.
Why I spend less time on social media
Why do I spend less time on big social in 2023? Just gonna list these here:
- Not worth the effort, payoff no longer there (cost vs. reward)
- Most of the posts are just spam and/or automated bot nonsense
- Too many idiots and trolls (especially in comments/replies)
- I feel like I’m being tracked and spied on while I’m there
- I don’t like the censorship of people’s ideas and opinions
- I don’t like the idea of big social owning my content
- Posting stuff on my own sites is much more rewarding
- Less time on big social means I sleep better at night ;)
Mostly talking about the BIG social medias here, for example big corporate giants like Facebook and Twitter. And just to be clear, not all social media sites are so nauseating. There are newer, lesser known sites where users share tons of great content, especially in the way of news, videos, and memes (oh, the memes!).
The Web was better before big social
Before social media, anyone posting online owned their own content. People posted information and ideas on their own websites. The variety of design and diversity of content was utterly inspiring. Even the horribly designed websites were awesome.
Back then, Google was still a baby (compared to today). People used search engines but also frequently linked to other useful resources. So you could spend all day surfing the Web without touching a search engine. The Web was much more of an interlinked neighborhood of related websites, working together.
Back then, the World Wide Web brought a genuine sense of opportunity, community, and optimism. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about. It was an incredible time to be online. ’Twas the Wild West. ’Twas the Golden Age.
Breaking away from social media
Lately, it seems more and more people are breaking away from social media.
Even with 500 Facebook friends, it’s hard to find any quality posts or sincere dialogue happening. Yes there are bright spots, but nowhere near what it used to be. People just aren’t posting as much on Facebook these days. Every now and then someone shares something worthwhile, but overall I’m noticing a steady decline in quality human content. It’s all relative though, I understand that.
People are moving to smaller, more focused media channels. Creating their own branded social streams. Owning their content instead of renting. Looking for actual human interaction and uncensored exchange of ideas. Moving beyond big social.
I still ♡ my friends and followers
Don’t get me wrong, I love all of my social-media friends and followers (even the bots lol). And I continue to interact with folks on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al. Honestly I work and chill with some of the finest people on the planet. Seriously, y’all are the best. Just so there’s no confusion as to what I’m saying in this post.
One response to “Breaking Away from Big Social Media”
YES! I agree and I noticed there is fewer posts nowdays, maybe SM have done the greatest period, maybe soon will be replaced with something new? Twitter is nowdays a rich mans playground, sad!