Actually, no. Why a slow-down in social media traffic means more (and better) social media for us all.
Blake Bowyer
Media Program Analyst
Analysis of recent Compete.com traffic trends threw the social media world for a bit of a loop. Growth rates of below 5% were unheard of in the past two years when talking about Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Even more daunting, MySpace is experiencing a freefall not seen since the Dotcom Bubble burst. Those frightening facts provoke one obvious question: is social media doomed?
Just the opposite, actually. Like most things in this world – especially in this world of hyper-technology – social media go through growth that eventually leads to maturation. It happened with Friendster way back and we’re watching it with our own eyes as MySpace struggles to remain relevant. Though those two examples may spell doom and gloom for the future of the social space, they’re textbook cases of slow adaptation – a trend that Facebook and Twitter have strived to avoid.
MySpace saw its greatest success near the dawn of universal social media. Tom & Co. experienced amazing growth through a new and exciting platform that not only the users were still learning, but the creators as well. Early social networks had no direction, no vision, and little strategic focus. Eyeballs meant advertising opportunities and those meant dollars. MySpace and maturity are rarely found in the same sentence, but a few years ago the uncle of social networks found itself peaking and wondering why.
One panicky user interface overhaul, a huge buyout, and massive corporate overhaul later, MySpace was even shakier when the dust settled. Sadly, MySpace focused too heavily on growth and revenue, not user experience. MySpace was for everyone – including every band, comedian, and movie star – but it was a mess. At social media, the user is at the center, and ironically, the center was so cluttered, ad-heavy, and frustrating that it pushed the user out. Now we’re witnessing a staggering decline of 11.41% in traffic over the past month. Yikes.
At this point, MySpace feels like it was just a placeholder for better, intuitive social networks. MySpace was v1.0 of Web 2.0 and it’s still trying to figure out how to turn that around – possibly by focusing on gaming and entertainment, which seems like a viable focus if it can figure out how to put you and I in the middle of the action.
So, maturity. Some social networks obviously don’t age as gracefully as others. Does the flattening growth of Facebook and Twitter mean they’re on the way to join the ranks of MySpace and Bebo? Most likely not. The biggest difference being that we’re still at the middle. The one thing both of these networks have done poorly is what MySpace excelled at: monetization. However, that’s not a great long-term strategy when you’re counting on satisfying user experience. Truthfully, I think Facebook and Twitter would have more success charging small fees to its users than slapping up more off-base, obnoxious ads.
What does social media maturity mean for us? A better experience, less noise, less spam, and a greater share of a more meaningful conversation. Social networks will get to spend time on improving interfaces, interactivity, and features, not dealing with capacity issues every week. The noise and spam will always go where the chatter is, but a satisfying user experience is like a great pair of eargplugs. Don’t worry; the walls aren’t caving in on the social media world, they’re just getting a fresh coat of paint. And this go-around it’s not covered in glittery graphics and self-pics of shirtless teenagers.
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