For anyone starting out today, building a significant online presence feels like an uphill battle. Back in the day, sharing your work online could actually get you noticed. Remember when a simple tweet could connect you with a community? I used to advise people that to grow online, you just needed to create valuable content and share it generously, especially highlighting the work of others. This approach helped me build a trusted network and become a go-to source in my field. People followed me on platforms like Twitter because they valued my recommendations and insights. In a world drowning in information, trust was influence.
You could even call me an influencer, though perhaps the academic, non-Botox version. While online fame didn’t make me rich, it did help my career, leading to great job opportunities and even a professorship. For years, I taught academics how to use social media to their advantage. It was a proven strategy – sharing your research online could boost citations and broaden your impact.
But the landscape has drastically changed. Telling someone starting their career that they can achieve success by simply using today’s social media platforms is like telling them they can afford a house by skipping a daily latte. It’s a misleading oversimplification because, frankly, social media has become a terrible place to share your work and build a genuine audience.
And it’s not just a little bad; it’s significantly worse.
Social media has fully embraced what’s known as the “Enshittification cycle.” This concept, thoroughly explained in Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin’s book, Chokepoint Capitalism, boils down to this: platforms initially benefit users, then exploit users to favor business clients, and finally, exploit business clients to extract maximum value for themselves, ultimately leading to their decline.
Think about it: on social media, you’re both a user and a potential business owner trying to promote your work or services. It’s no longer true that consistently creating good content and sharing it will organically build you a substantial audience. Today, you can post about your expertise all you want, but hardly anyone will see it unless you pay, thanks to the ever-powerful algorithms.
I’ve seen this firsthand. Facebook has been practically useless for promoting my work for years. I’m lucky if a tiny fraction of my followers see a post unless I pay for advertising. The ethics of this “pay-to-play” system are questionable, and realistically, most of us don’t have an advertising budget anyway.
The decline of social media has been gradual, but the agonizingly slow demise of Twitter has made it glaringly obvious. After the takeover, I even deleted the Twitter app and ventured into the fragmented social media world. Now, my phone is cluttered with multiple Twitter-like platforms – Mastodon, BlueSky, Threads – alongside Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. “Promoting your work” on social media has become a tedious game of endless copy-pasting, leaving little time for actual engagement.
Once your content is out there, its visibility is a gamble, with Mastodon being a possible exception. Mastodon and the fediverse concept, where platforms are community-run rather than corporate-controlled, are promising. But the reality is, algorithms are addictive. They make platforms engaging, but they also dictate what you see and do.
Alternative text: Frustrated coder rubbing face, highlighting the challenges of online platforms for early career professionals.
There are always ways to try and “game the algorithms,” but is it worth it? As soon as people figure out a workaround, the platforms just shift the rules again. This constant chase feels futile.
This situation has made me rethink my approach to teaching social media, especially considering how universities are now pushing social media engagement as a measure of research impact. As Dr. Mark Carrigan, a social media expert, eloquently puts it:
“The content of this encouragement tends to repeat motifs such as “get your work out there”, “publicise your research” and “make an impact”, which are becoming increasingly misleading with each passing year. These ambitions are not in any way impossible but achieving them in a sustainable way is becoming more demanding, with greater risks that are yet to be adequately handled within universities. It feels the professional normalisation of social media has reached its crescendo at precisely the point where the risk/return ratio no longer makes sense for many academics.”
(If you haven’t read Mark’s book ‘social media for academics’, it’s a valuable resource).
Mark’s insights led me to put my social media course on hold and reconsider the best path forward. The rapid rise of new platforms like Threads further solidified these concerns. The online landscape is constantly shifting, demanding continuous adaptation. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new platform, thinking it might be the “next big thing.”
But we have to ask ourselves: where does this cycle end?
Sure, you can learn to optimize your presence on the latest platform, but how many platforms are too many? Constantly feeding content into multiple platforms and trying to maintain an active presence is simply unsustainable for most professionals.
In the spirit of Joshua from Wargames: “The only winning move is not to play.” Or at least, to play smarter.
Alternative text: Man overwhelmed by coding, reflecting the fast-paced changes in online platforms, relevant to discussions around events like the Twitter Early Career Coding Challenge 2021.
So, what should individuals and organizations do about social media, especially those focused on supporting early career professionals in fields like automotive repair or coding?
Here’s my advice, keeping in mind the changing dynamics of online platforms:
-
Social media is now largely ineffective as a primary communication tool. It might be okay for broad brand awareness, but for targeted communication, especially within specific professional communities, it’s losing its edge. Relying on platforms like Facebook to reach younger audiences, for example, can be ineffective. Direct communication channels are becoming increasingly important.
-
Reconsider incorporating social media use into training or educational programs. Forcing participation on specific platforms, especially those with known issues, raises ethical concerns. Focus on teaching broader digital communication skills rather than platform-specific tactics. Think about the skills needed to navigate the online world, regardless of the platform of the moment. Perhaps analyzing past events like the Twitter Early Career Coding Challenge 2021 can offer insights into effective online engagement strategies that are less platform-dependent.
-
When it comes to social media, do what feels right for you. Share your work if you choose, or not. If you do share, don’t obsess over metrics like clicks and views, as you have limited control over who sees your content organically. Paid promotion is an option, but it’s a personal choice.
-
Social media can still be… social. It’s perfectly fine to use these platforms for informal networking and community building. Connecting with peers, sharing experiences, and finding collaborators are valuable aspects of online interaction. As someone on Threads put it, it’s about finding your “squad,” sharing practices, and connecting with like-minded people.
-
Use platforms to share, but prioritize owning your content. Those who built their online presence solely on platform-specific content formats, like Twitter threads, are now facing limitations. Always have a central, owned space – like a website or blog – where people can easily find your work, regardless of platform trends. Perhaps blogs will even make a comeback!
-
If you’re investing time in building online reach, consider starting a mailing list. Email remains a powerful, algorithm-free communication tool. It allows for direct engagement with your audience and gives you control over your distribution. Building an email list to share car repair tips or coding insights, for example, could be far more effective than relying solely on social media.
-
Pace yourself and be strategic about your online presence. Choose where and when to engage based on your available time and energy. You don’t need to be everywhere, all the time. Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is log off and focus on your core work.
This might sound like a critical perspective, but it’s a necessary one. And finally, a word to decision-makers and leaders:
Please reconsider encouraging professionals to rely heavily on social media for impact and engagement.
Metrics like likes and followers on platforms like Twitter and Facebook are increasingly misleading due to algorithmic changes. They don’t accurately reflect genuine engagement or impact. Focus on supporting more sustainable and effective communication strategies. Recognize the opportunity costs of excessive social media engagement and empower individuals to focus on their core expertise and contributions.
Let’s find better ways to connect and share knowledge in this evolving digital world.
In solidarity,
A Concerned Professional
Related Resources:
- This is Not Just a Post About Instagram – Explores broader platform dependency issues.
- How to Win at Professional Conversations – Focuses on effective communication strategies beyond fleeting online interactions.
Further Exploration:
Consider exploring resources and communities focused on specific professional fields, like automotive repair forums or coding communities, which may offer more targeted and engaged audiences than general social media platforms. Reflect on how past online events, such as the Twitter Early Career Coding Challenge 2021, fostered community and knowledge sharing, and identify lessons that can be applied to future online engagement strategies in a platform-agnostic way.
