Written by Terri Reddout
Like Godzilla, there’s no way we can stop social media growth
As a child, I used to spend my Saturday afternoons watching Godzilla movies. Nothing could stop this monster. Not tanks. Not machine guns. Not weird green gas. Nothing. As I recall, the people of Earth never defeated Godzilla. He’d just get tired of all the destruction and mayhem and would quietly sink back into the ocean.
While pulling information for this blog I was overwhelmed with the growth of social media and how it’s infiltrated all aspects of our lives. It made me think of those old Godzilla movies. Like Godzilla, there’s nothing out there that can stop the growth of social media.
As a broadcaster, I immediately became aware of how social media democratized the spread of information. Now anybody can spread information about anything they want. Like in this video, Science of Godzilla, a young man expounds on the scientific flaws with the 2014 movie version of Godzilla.
I’m on Facebook… Like a billion others
According to Statista, over 3 BILLION people use Facebook. That’s up from just over 1 BILLION back in 2012.
I’m not sure whether I’m Facebook user #884,592 or #993,395 or whatever number member I might be, but I did join Facebook back in 2008. My students encouraged me to do so. My rep became “cool prof who’s on Facebook.” (Not so cool anymore. Chances are your grandparents are on Facebook now. In fact, over 45% of people over age 65 use some form of social media. That’s up from 8% ten years ago.)
By 2010 I changed jobs. I worked at the WSU Research Center in Prosser and used Facebook to communicate with business colleagues.
Then, I went through Washington State University’s employee orientation. They told me I could get fired for checking my Facebook page! Amazing! They still thought of Facebook as solely personal use. Weird, since one of the things I planned to do is create a Facebook page for my organization in order to better communicate with our clients.
How things have changed. Now, I have two active FB accounts… one for my professional life and the second for my private life.
Today, I manage FB accounts for CentralNewsWatch, and CNW Alums, CNW Internal Communication (both closed groups). Before my sister closed her store, I ran her store Facebook page, Linda’s LaBella Casa.
In many of my classes I use FB as part of my teaching strategy. I don’t very much any more because so many of you don’t have active Facebook pages. Chances are you’re using Instagram or TikTok.
Turns out, I’m NOT the only one using social media. We all are. More and more each day. Think back five years ago. How did you use social media back then? Compare that with how you use social media today. Different, right?
X (formally Twitter) really tweaks me
The one form of social media that I’m having a hard time adopting is Twitter (now known as “X” thanks to Elon Musk). I joined early on and quit after having my phone light up with posts from my local sports guy wondering if it was okay to take a nap on Mother’s Day. I DON’T CARE. I just wanted scores.
Yet, everyone talks about Twitter… I mean X. “We need to start an X account.” “We’ll attract a lot of people with an X page.” “Keep calm and tweet on.”
The truth is, Twitter came out with a bang and quickly hit a plateau. According to Pew Research (see chart above) Twitter is a sad ninth behind YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Linked-In and Snapchat.
In the early days Twitter admits to some problems. Twitter use stalled. After the first tweets people stopped checking back regularly and there wasn’t a significant increase in new tweets. In fact, a 2018 stock market announcement had Twitter admitting they had lost over one million users in United States. Part of the reason for the drop in users can be tracked to Twitter’s efforts to eliminate “fake” Twitter accounts. But, the same PC Magazine article says, teens tend to flock to SnapChat or Instagram rather than Twitter.
In a 2014 New York Times article Nate Elliott, a principal analyst for Forrester Research said, “The lack of growth there comes from Twitter’s relative lack of innovation. The experience on Twitter today is the same experience people have always had on Twitter.”
Elon Musk takes over Twitter (er… I mean… X)
When Musk took over things changed rapidly. First, he laid off about 80 percent of the workforce. He got rid of the blue check mark, and he renamed Twitter “X.” According to Forbes magazine, it represented a rebranding of the company. Musk planned to expand beyond social media, into banking and shopping and much more. While a rebrand seemed appropriate for this big changes in focus, none of these things have happened. Leaving us scratching our heads and always writing X (formally Twitter.)
When you hear people blaming things saying “It’s the algorithms,” it does ring true for Musk’s rule at X (formerly Twitter).
According to Business Insider during the 2024 Super Bowl Musk posted this Tweet cheering on his team.
A few minutes President Biden posted this tweet…
Seems like typical Super Bowl day social media, right? Well, it didn’t turn out that way. While Musk had more mad skills at social media than the octogenarian president, Biden’s tweet ended up with 29 million impressions, Musk’s only got 9.1 million impressions. This made Musk a titch angry.
You see, he’d been working with X engineers to change the algorithms to make his posts more popular. Not posts in general. He wanted his posts to get more attention than others. His numbers ended up being artificially inflated.
BTW- This Business Insider story is fascinating (and a bit complicated). It’s worth a read.
To Tweet or Not to Tweet… that is the question
Karole Honas and I have been friends for longer than most of you have been on this Earth. Karole recently retired after spending 30 years as a news anchor in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Before she retired, part of Karole’s job was to make daily Facebook posts on her television FB page. The consultants said it’s an important channel to connect with viewers. But, if Karole worked on the East Coast, the consultants would have Karole tweet daily.
Why? The consultants say west of the Mississippi River is Facebook country; east of the Mississippi leans toward Twitter.
According to Statista, Twitter usage falls far behind Facebook, YouTube, TicTok and Instagram. Geez, even Pintrest gets more action than Twitter. What is the big deal about X, X, X (formerly known as tweet, tweet, tweets)? (Rant complete.)
Thanks for returning our hat, Pharrell
Arby’s is a company that doesn’t just broadcast messages. Instead, they respond to the messages others send out. And Arby’s has gotten quite good at it.
Arby’s hadn’t planned on making a post during the Grammys a couple of years ago, until musician Pharrell Williams showed up wearing this hat. Social media lit up with posts about how Pharrell’s hat looked like the Arby’s logo. Arby’s responded with this tweet.
In their blog, Arby’s estimates that one tweet equaled $22 million in exposure for the restaurant. And they kept the Pharrell hat social media posts going. Then, when Pharrell auctioned his hat for charity, Arby’s proudly made this post.
