Earlier this week, Instagram introduced ‘Channels,’ which essentially is a broadcast chat feature.
A user can create a Channel and then broadcast a message publicly to many people at once. For example, Mark Zuckerberg created a Channel where he plans to share any updates about Meta.
My initial reaction to this is that I don’t love it. It feels like social media, and Instagram in particular, are becoming less social. Instead, they are pushing people towards being influencers or content creators rather than encouraging communication with friends.
I think this is largely in part due to the fact that Instagram has lost its identity as a platform. Other social platforms have a dedicated function in a person’s life. Snapchat is for sending quick picture messages to friends. TikTok is for watching short, entertaining videos. Twitter is for the news, funny musings, or keeping up with whatever is happening now.
Yet Instagram and Facebook seem to have lost the plot, so they will just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. They’ve had some massive successes using this strategy (like Stories, for example), so you can’t blame them. They either copy what everyone else is doing, or occasionally, as is the case with Channels, will try something totally new and different. But Channels feels like yet another result of we-don’t-know-who-we-are-so-let’s-just-try-it thinking.
But I think there is a larger question at hand. If Instagram is creating features like Channels that cater to content creators and influencers, then where are the features that cater to regular old Joe Schmo (aka you and me)? Where are the new features that make me feel a connection with real people?
I often wonder what the long-term effects will be of living in a society where there is increasing pressure to be an influencer or content creator. Older generations might not understand this line of thinking, but there are millions (probably billions?) of youths all over the world whose main form of entertainment is watching influencers on YouTube or social media.
People 10 years from now will not want to be Hollywood stars. They will want to be YouTubers with several million followers. Mark my words, this is the new American dream. And frankly, this is not only an American phenomenon. The entire world will operate in this way too.
This is going to split our society into two camps. The generations of tomorrow will either a) obsess about building a following, or b) submit their lives to ongoing, nonstop consumption.
There is a fine line between entertainment, education, and wasting time. This is something I struggle with personally. I can’t tell which of those three categories spending 20 minutes on TikTok falls into because often, it’s all three.
And the truth is that this is nothing new. I’m sure 100 years ago there were people who probably thought that radio shows were a waste of time, while others saw it as pure entertainment.
The difference though is that we went from having mainstream media channels curate content for us to individual people creating content themselves. My bold prediction is that in the future (and very near future at that), nobody will have to create or curate content because artificial intelligence will be creating it for us.
What happens to the creative spirit of mankind then?
I don’t know what the answer is, and for me personally, I don’t know what to do. It’s all a bit overwhelming. Do you lean in and ride the wave? Or do you take a step back and say to yourself, “How do I really want to be spending my time?”
Only you can decide that for yourself. But my first bit of advice is to check the Screen Time app on your phone and computer.
Chances are, you’ll realize that Instagram Channels aren’t going to cause any drastic improvements in your life.
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Earlier this week, Instagram introduced ‘Channels,’ which essentially is a broadcast chat feature.
A user can create a Channel and then broadcast a message publicly to many people at once. For example, Mark Zuckerberg created a Channel where he plans to share any updates about Meta.
My initial reaction to this is that I don’t love it. It feels like social media, and Instagram in particular, are becoming less social. Instead, they are pushing people towards being influencers or content creators rather than encouraging communication with friends.
I think this is largely in part due to the fact that Instagram has lost its identity as a platform. Other social platforms have a dedicated function in a person’s life. Snapchat is for sending quick picture messages to friends. TikTok is for watching short, entertaining videos. Twitter is for the news, funny musings, or keeping up with whatever is happening now.
Yet Instagram and Facebook seem to have lost the plot, so they will just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. They’ve had some massive successes using this strategy (like Stories, for example), so you can’t blame them. They either copy what everyone else is doing, or occasionally, as is the case with Channels, will try something totally new and different. But Channels feels like yet another result of we-don’t-know-who-we-are-so-let’s-just-try-it thinking.
But I think there is a larger question at hand. If Instagram is creating features like Channels that cater to content creators and influencers, then where are the features that cater to regular old Joe Schmo (aka you and me)? Where are the new features that make me feel a connection with real people?
I often wonder what the long-term effects will be of living in a society where there is increasing pressure to be an influencer or content creator. Older generations might not understand this line of thinking, but there are millions (probably billions?) of youths all over the world whose main form of entertainment is watching influencers on YouTube or social media.
People 10 years from now will not want to be Hollywood stars. They will want to be YouTubers with several million followers. Mark my words, this is the new American dream. And frankly, this is not only an American phenomenon. The entire world will operate in this way too.
This is going to split our society into two camps. The generations of tomorrow will either a) obsess about building a following, or b) submit their lives to ongoing, nonstop consumption.
There is a fine line between entertainment, education, and wasting time. This is something I struggle with personally. I can’t tell which of those three categories spending 20 minutes on TikTok falls into because often, it’s all three.
And the truth is that this is nothing new. I’m sure 100 years ago there were people who probably thought that radio shows were a waste of time, while others saw it as pure entertainment.
The difference though is that we went from having mainstream media channels curate content for us to individual people creating content themselves. My bold prediction is that in the future (and very near future at that), nobody will have to create or curate content because artificial intelligence will be creating it for us.
What happens to the creative spirit of mankind then?
I don’t know what the answer is, and for me personally, I don’t know what to do. It’s all a bit overwhelming. Do you lean in and ride the wave? Or do you take a step back and say to yourself, “How do I really want to be spending my time?”
Only you can decide that for yourself. But my first bit of advice is to check the Screen Time app on your phone and computer.
Chances are, you’ll realize that Instagram Channels aren’t going to cause any drastic improvements in your life.
