13th of April, 2023
Since I read a Stratechery article that highlighted a Tweet by Sam Lessin, a former Facebook executive, who traced the evolution of media from the paper days to what is next, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what the future of social media could look like.
The coming fall of the Kardashians in context of how entertainment is evolving... (aka why they are so pissed about tiktok) pic.twitter.com/wtYrvxbS35
— sam lessin 🏴☠️ (@lessin) July 26, 2022
Lessin’s Tweet, “The Digital Media ‘Attention’ Food Chain in Progress,” had five stages:
On the fifth stage, Meta are putting significant resources at work researching and creating generative AI models and tools. Although this aligns with their broader metaverse goals, it also doesn’t take much imagination to see how this technology could be used to create pure-AI content that is extremely personalised.
Through this evolution, social media is being bifurcated into entertainment media and connection media.[1]
I’m classing entertainment media as platforms that primarily focus on delivering engaging, enjoyable, and immersive experiences to users. These platforms often utilise advanced algorithms, AI, and user behaviour data to personalise content, keeping users entertained for extended periods. Connection media, on the other hand, refers to platforms or content that primarily aim to facilitate genuine, meaningful interactions and communication between individuals. These platforms prioritise fostering interpersonal connections and nurturing relationships among friends, family, and acquaintances. Connection media encourages users to authentically share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and personal updates with others.
Both entertainment and connection media are sub-categories of social networks, each containing features that facilitate communication and sharing. Within connection media, you could make a distinction between public connection media (where either it is publicly accessible, or a large enough group of people can access it such that anyone in the poster’s social circle could easily find out about it) and private connection media, where only a select few can see what is being shared, think using a Close Friends lists for Instagram Stories, family and friend group chats, and Facebook groups.
The major social media platforms have shifted their focus from being social networks to becoming entertainment powerhouses, delivering personalised content that keeps users engaged and immersed for hours on end. Entertainment has always been an essential aspect of the human experience. It provides a means of escapism and relaxation, emotional catharsis and social connection through shared experiences.
While these platforms have become more focused on delivering personalised, AI-driven content to keep users engaged and entertained, they have inadvertently started to overshadow the initial purpose of social media: fostering connections and building relationships. Despite this shift, people will still desire connection media from friends and family because the emotional investment we have in them is significantly higher than in influencers, viral posters, and pure-AI content. Posts from people we care about evoke stronger senses of happiness, pride, empathy, or concern. In response to this shift, new platforms and tools specifically designed for fostering genuine connections will become increasingly important in the digital landscape.
If these hold true, we may see the emergence of connection media platforms designed for fostering genuine connections. These will be characterised by:
Connection media will need to strike the perfect balance between maintaining the social aspect of online interactions and offering an engaging experience for users. As AI-driven entertainment content continues to dominate the market, connection media platforms must focus on facilitating authentic and meaningful conversations between users. This balance can be struck by emphasising community-building features that promote genuine sharing and interaction, and limiting AI-curated content within these spaces.
This shouldn’t be viewed as trying to bring back the ‘good old days’ and try to operate in denial of advancements in artificial intelligence. Quite the opposite, it is recognition that artificial intelligence may move current social media platforms up the ‘entertainment stack’ and is already changing the way we consume entertainment. It’s quite possible (and in my opinion highly likely) that connection media makes heavy use of machine learning, by surfacing related content from friends, maybe VR world building, intelligent mindfulness and reflection, and other applications.
There are already efforts underway to create connection media platforms. Over the last 6 or so months, two talented friends of mine have been creating Memento, which offers a unique way to stay in touch with friends and family around the world. Using it has been a fantastic experience. The way I interact with it through what I post and comment, and the feelings Memento evokes are vastly different than the experience I have with Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter (which I would categorise as a public connection media platform).
There are certainly big questions around how these platforms would monetise themselves. If the primary form of revenue comes from existing forms of digital advertising, there would be a strong incentive to maximise time on platform (in addition to click-through rates). Furthermore, a strong case could be built that targeted advertising would erode user trust in the platform that would likely be essential for connection media platforms. (I defer to Ben Thompson’s excellent discussions on Twitter and subscription models for an evaluation of their merits.)
New monetisation and advertising structures may need to be created. Exploring new approaches to this is indeed a key focus of Thomas Walker and Samuel Drown, who are building Memento. I won't share their ideas but I can promise that they are exciting. There are also important questions about how these companies will stay aligned to their mission and not be tempted down the entertainment path. B Corp certification or a capped-profit structure that is a hybrid of a for-profit and nonprofit company, much like OpenAI’s, ensuring companies can raise capital and attract early employees with stock incentives.
Of course it is possible that entertainment and connection could coexist on the same platform (as they do currently), but I am confident in one thing: as social media continues to evolve and AI-driven (both surfaced and generated) content becomes more prevalent, the need for platforms to support authentic and meaningful interactions between individuals will only continue to grow.
[1]Since posting this, other analysts have classed these as ‘social media’ and ‘user generated content media’ platforms. ↩