Are Closed Social Networks the Future of Social Media?
Closed social tools such as private Facebook groups or private Snapchat groups are emerging in popularity as more and more social media platforms introduce ways to create these private groups. They allow for admins and creators of these closed groups to regulate who is able to join and be a part of the socializing that is happening within the group. They are effective tools to aid in creating tight-knit communities and conversations centered around certain interests, but they also may pose some risks and downsides as well.
One benefit of creating and utilizing closed social networks is the ability to create and join communities centered around specific topics and interests. This ultimately helps society by allowing individuals to meet and converse with others that have similar interests. I am quite interested in bourbon and guns, and I belong to a private Facebook group consisting of 26,000 others who are interested in this pairing of hobbies. This private group allows me to meet and converse with other bourbon and gun enthusiasts, ultimately allowing me to expand my knowledge about my hobbies.
Another benefit to society of creating and utilizing closed social networks is that it allows individuals to have conversations that they would not have on public social platforms as we saw in the article about a Facebook group saving someone’s life. As an example, I personally do not share or talk about anything political on my social media accounts because I do not want to create enemies or arguments. But, if I was interested in joining the political conversation online I would join a private social group with the same political views that I had and engage in conversation there because I would be unlikely to create any enemies.
One negative aspect of closed social networks is that there is a very limited amount of reach due to the fact that the social network is unviewable to the public. This means that great posts and ideas that would otherwise be very influential to the world will go unseen because of the privacy restrictions that regulate them. I guarantee that some of the most influential information is being shared in private groups because people feel more comfortable sharing this information in front of members of their private group instead of in front of the public.
Another negative aspect of closed social networks is that some people think that because the conversation is private, they can disclose information that they would not disclose to the public and that it will remain private. Unfortunately, this is not always the case as users within closed social networks can still screenshot what is being said and posted within these closed social networks and post it on public social networks. In order to reduce this risk, individuals should exercise caution within what they are posting and be aware of the fact that even though it is a closed social network, their posts could be shared publicly.
One final negative aspect of closed social networks is that typically only one viewpoint or opinion is being shared within these closed social networks as those with opposing viewpoints would be unlikely to be invited to join the group. This limits the depth of conversation that can happen and ultimately prevents critical thinking and the changing of opinions on certain topics. As an example, members of an anti-vaccine private social group would be highly unlikely to share any positive information regarding vaccines released by the government, even if the information was true and valuable because they would assume that other members of the group would disagree with them. To reduce the risk of valuable information and opinions going unstated, I believe that administrators and creators of closed social networks should create closed social networks with a broad enough topic to allow for varying opinions instead of making it so tight-knit and specific that varying opinions are unwelcome.
I personally think that closed social networks are an extremely effective tool to employ as a part of one’s social media usage, but I do not believe that they are the future of social media. With every passing day, the lives of modern citizens transition more and more to the digital realm. Social media users are seemingly sharing more information with greater depth than they would have five years ago. Therefore, I do not believe that anytime within the near future we will see people transition from sharing information publicly to only sharing information in private groups.
