Smaller Media and Shorter Attention Spans
what social media trends say about society
If you’re one of the millions enslaved by the four social media giants (Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Youtube), then there is a very good chance you’ve noticed a trend in user experience lately. Scroll down your Facebook feed and what do you see? The first thirteen posts are either content you couldn’t care less about from people that mean nothing to you or are the result of Facebook pushing its new and forlorn advertising strategy into anything it can. This is becoming increasingly evident every time I visit the site and is in line with the opinions of mostly everyone I’ve asked.
While Facebook’s Myspace moment is transpiring, which social medium is taking advantage of the giant’s wavering ? Thats right, you guessed it, Twitter. All of my friends who were “too lazy to get a Twitter” a year ago have succumbed to the social pressure, and rightfully so. Every time I open Twitter, I am enthralled and excited by the density of great content. After all, Twitter is much more mobile-friendly than Facebook is, and in an age where mobility is the imperative, this trend can’t possibly come as a shock. Twitter is just optimal for busy people who need to relax and let engaging anecodtes and information present themselves in a short fashion, and is gaining largely from the increasing number of those people.
This shift is even more prevalent than with just Facebook. Look at Youtube, who still maintains its charming content, but whose views have been dwindling. Don’t get me wrong, Youtube is absolutely crushing the PC video market, but in a mobile world in which people are on their iPhones twice as much as their PCs, is this the periphery, or is there something more? I’d say the latter, as the unmatched growth of Twitter’s new advent, the super-light Vine, is catching fire. Vine is directly infringing upon Youtube’s mobile views and is definitely enfolding our attention. It’s clips are more pleasing and amusing than Youtube’s as it serves as a window into the funniest six-second segments that the funniest people you know can produce. Ladies and gentlemen, the Vine is growing, and it’s here to stay.
So what does all this mean? We recognize a proportional shift in growth from heavier medias (Facebook & Youtube) to lighter ones (Twitter & Vine). Another pretty widely accepted consensus states that the civilized population, and Millenials in particular, have been stupefied by the recently found simple access to the internet and television. In fact, these two products have taken over the population in the last decade and have left them unexperienced to proper reading and long-term focus.
This, my friends, is a parallel with social media. Facebook users turn from posts and groups to the ease and lax of 140 characters. Youtube channelers veer from vlogs and intimacy to a less fatiguing point-and-shoot six seconds, and this is all for a good reason. Viewers have become lazier, and this inherent quality has driven them towards lighter forms of social media. Producers are simply responding by creating through these lighter mediums. This is undoubtedly the way of the future for the business of connecting people. Those who make use of social media platforms the most nowadays either have a) too short an attention span to prefer Facebook and Youtube over Twitter and Vine or are b) too busy with their own lives to stop and graze Facebook or Youtube.
When analyzing what drives this social media trend, its all makes perfect sense. I really only use Facebook anymore to look down the first fifteen posts on my newsfeed to affirm their irrelevance or to message my friends. To me, Youtube is something that I use for when I want to see a specific video, rather than to browse. Twitter and Vine are the platforms that I wander now, and are habitually used when I have a few minutes to myself. I’m sure I’m not the only one to realize this notion. This shift could have been prescient to any user of the four platforms. People have shorter attention spans and subsequently prefer lighter forms of media. Life today simply doesn’t allow
more weight.
