The announcement that Facebook will undergo major changes and that the experience within the social network will privilege a selection of videos chosen by TikTok-style algorithms seems to confirm what the consumer trend was already threatening: that we are in the final stage of the Era of «social networking». At least, in the “traditional” way that we are used to dealing with since the appearance of Friendster in 2003.
Meta, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg responsible for Facebook, made it known at the end of last week that it will implement changes in what is the largest social network in the world. The most prominent change is a very noticeable and visible one: it will start to look a lot like TikTok.
But why change now? According to a Axios, this change is partly due to the pressure and tightening of rules around social networks so that they take responsibility for what happens in their home. More specifically, the priority in the future will be to improve issues related to privacy and handling of user data — something that undermines its current business model of selling ads and advertising.
https://www.axios.com/2022/07/21/facebook-tiktok-feed-changes
The decision also comes at a time when legislators in the United States have already put on the table a decree-law that aims to force large technology companies to have to give their users the option of choice, namely whether or not they want algorithms to be recommend what appears to them in your feed.
Plus: in February, the social network conveyed to its investors that Apple's privacy-related restrictions would cost $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022.
https://www.axios.com/2022/02/03/facebook-users-drop-metaverse-costs-earnings
What Facebook says about the changes. In a statement, the social network made it known that the changes have a well-defined purpose: to give users more control and power over what they see and discover on the platform.
Note: Facebook will continue to allow friends and families to stay connected. In fact, it will even create a specific tab in which the publications will be sorted chronologically, something that users have long wanted;
However, the reality is that this chronological change is not quite innocent because it will also help Facebook to dodge criticism or possible sanctions from regulatory bodies, namely with what users are seeing in the feed. That is, that its algorithm “chooses” and “prioritizes” what we are seeing.
The summary. Explains to Axios that the main player of social networks is becoming a kind of gigantic social media, which is putting all the chips in the reactions of its users (with a little help from the artificial intelligence of the algorithms), who will dictate the selection of the content we see.
However, there continues to be a loss of connection and interaction. The “social” of social networks is increasingly in the background to the detriment of content decided by likes and algorithms, facing brands and influencers. And the search for "virality" could bring a host of misinformation problems.
Basically, Facebook is now more of an oiled operation that serves more as a legacy than a bet on the future (don't forget the ten-year plan, until 2030, to bet on the Metaverse). Which may not even be a bad thing as it opens up spaces for others to grow, as is the case of Discord, which will try to grab the public of small communities and groups.
Well, that's why Axios emphasizes that Web 2.0, that of social networks and sharing, as we know it, may have come to an end. Raising friends and creating connections online is no longer what it was in the early 2000s — the Internet has evolved and business models, now heavily based on micro-transactions and subscriptions, too. And the biggest player of all, with almost three billion users, has just signaled it to the whole world.
Why on earth is anyone still using Facebook?
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