The
other day I was scrolling along on a social media site—no need
to mention it by name—and something kind of crazy happened. Honestly,
the newsfeed has been garbage for quite some time, tossing all
sorts of stuff in random order.
Most
of it is likely based on some wacky algorithm I’ll never understand
since it isn’t created for anything that matters to me, regardless
of what I do to influence the results. Plus, since I’m not invited
to the meetings where things are discussed like new features and
designs that improve ad revenue regardless of what users are used
to or experience, many inconsistencies and issues are going to
have reasons I simply can’t prove. But this time, it was a bit
different.
It
was a handful of days into November. Halloween wasn’t simply in
the rearview mirror, almost all of the candy was gone and it had
been forgotten. But there they were, readily visible during a
scroll, two posts about Halloween events. One for the weekend
before, one for the day of, posted for me to see for the first
time days after the events had been held.
Please
don’t begin sending me solutions like telling my friends to set
up events or invite lists. I don’t want to hear about subscribing
and more. This isn’t something presented to gather future actions.
Instead, just consider the issue itself: The organization of newsfeeds—at
least, for my newsfeed—was being arranged so that things had no
appropriatness applied to things like original date and post time.
(This
is where I should make a joke like: “Advancing AI, my ass.” But
I won’t.)
Social
media options and use are supposed to be for us, of course. We
all know that. And, we all know that isn’t true.
How
do we know? Because even the simplest of settings aren’t offered.
This site won’t allow edits. That site only works for posts it
you’re on your phone using the app, and will not allow posts from
a computer. Another site randomly gives you a first look at items
days after the event you would have gone to see was held.
And
it sucks.
A
few days ago, I posted an essay that tried to make a bit of fun
focusing on Twitter, based on things like recent changes and the
new name. You’ll notice how seriously I take the platform now
based on my use of the old name.
But
the thing is, Twitter isn’t alone. I’d like to say it is what
it is, but in many ways the recent changes are evidence that many
issues are because it’s not what it was. (Did you follow that?
Ok…) There’s an old cliché about things that are old being
new again. That doesn’t work with social media. In those cases,
old is outdated. Or, in a more precise thought, by the time something
technology based becomes known by the general masses it’s already
past its prime.
Part
of my poking fun at Twitter came from the news that a fee was
now being applied to new accounts for users to get started with
many of its features. That was being reported from a few different
countries. Kind of a test project before mass rollout. I built
on that, and the name change, to basically say that Twitter was
done.
The
best thing a business can do is, first and foremost, understand
what it does. Toying with what made you popular by changing it,
or extending too many resources into areas that you don’t do as
well, generally creates problems. Doesn’t mean you can’t evolve.
Doesn’t mean expanding the business isn’t a smart thing to do.
Just means do your homework before playing around with what everyone
recognizes you as doing.
If
you run a free social media site, then switch it to require paid
membership, turn off the social aspects, and design ninety-eight-percent
of its new business model on the sale of socks woven out of burlap
and poison ivy… well, duh, yeah… there’s going to be some news
arriving with the next batch of quarterly productivity numbers.
Facebook,
according to reports, recently began charging a fee in some international
markets. In this situation, however, it appears to be based on
switching users to an ad-free concept. Which would be interesting,
you know, if it weren’t for two things: (1) The brutally awful
changes around the site. (2) Facebook is past its prime.
Look…
Apple… Nintendo… two big companies that seemed to be on the edge
of the relevance cliff and ready to drop. Along comes the iPod/iPad/iPhone
revolution and the Wii release, and suddenly both companies are
actively back in the conversation.
A
past its prime designation, in the world of business (and technology),
does not mean you are prohibited from creating the next big thing
and surging back into the mainstream. The problem is… back to
my comments about the best ting a business can do is understand
what it does… the strong, vast majority of companies have zero
clue about understanding what they do and how to pivot if the
need or desire to pivot arises.
You
might be able to make sweeping changes, charge a fee, and revolutionize
the way the next five to ten years will play out in your corner
of the sandbox. But you cannot blindly expect that everyone is
going to join you for the ride. There are options out there, and
people will move to what they like and the next big thing when
they get tire of or frustrated by you.
If
your newsfeed is disheveled and crazy without order, posting items
three days or more after they were applicable, and you start adding
prices while reducing and restricting services, rough waters await.
Those will get you kicked out of the sandbox and relegated to
the Whatever Happened To columns of People magazine.
(Kids,
People is a magazine that… never mind.)