In a battle between Facebook and Taylor Swift, Taylor might win
Facebook has been topdog for so long, but PR disasters and clickbait are driving users away, writes Ciara O’Connor
THE inexorable rise of Taylor Swift and fall of Facebook continues. You might think these two things have nothing to do with each other, but last week Swift announced the impending launch of her new social media platform: The Swift Life. When money is no object and Facebook is full of haters and fake news, why not start your own? Look what we made her do.
The app is being described as “a creative, inclusive and community-driven place for users to better connect with each other… and Taylor”.
While it’s tempting to write it off as sheer opportunist narcissism from the human pop-tart we love to hate, Taylor has her finger on the pulse.
If we’ve learned anything, it is surely that Taylor Swift is not to be underestimated. She has an uncanny knack for reading and responding to cultural shifts. If she is starting her own social network, we should all be taking note about what it might mean for the landscape of the internet.
Swift is primarily popular with young girls (though judging by her record sales, there are a few closet Swifties outside this demographic) and young girls are not on Facebook. Only 8pc of Facebook users are aged 13-19; generally they think it’s for old people — not cool.
Her fandom takes to Tumblr or Instagram to share its love, so it makes perfect sense for Taylor to give them a place for that purpose. Niche platforms could be the future of the internet.
When WhatsApp went down a couple of months ago, it was a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. When the same thing happened to Facebook and Instagram a few days ago, Instagram’s loss caused mild panic, but Facebook’s barely a tremor.
Facebook has been struggling to stay relevant for years, but there was no clearer indication of its lack of success than people not caring when they couldn’t use it. Snapchat’s loss for 30 minutes would mean torches and pitchforks.
People are sick of Facebook. We’re spending more time on apps that have a clearer purpose, and contain content that is easy, fun, and visually appealing. Facebook has been picking the best and shiniest bits of Snapchat and Instagram for itself, but no one is fooled.
One person on my Facebook friends list uses the ‘story’ function, which allows users to share pictures and videos from their day for 24 hours. On Instagram it’s ubiquitous. Facebook announced last Friday that it is opening the feature to commercial pages, so companies will have another way to bombard us with advertising. Facebook no longer exists to provide users with a social service, but to provide advertisers with a highly targeted audience. Facebook’s product is now us.
We’re certainly not using it for ‘connecting’ and ‘sharing’. It used to be for people to share what was going on in their lives, but updates are now few and far between. The status option is used to advertise rooms and ask for marathon sponsorship, not to share thoughts and feelings — in fact everyone knows people who use it for the latter are freaks and weirdos. We’re not sure how to deal with posts of a highly personal nature.
Facebook tried to be everything to everyone and it’s becoming clear that’s not what we want — which is specific platforms for specific purposes. Facebook doesn’t really now know what it is.
A couple of weeks ago it seemed to be having a sort of mid-life crisis, asking users a stream of questions that suggest some insecurities in an institution that has always been aggressively cheerful.
They asked: is Facebook good for the world? Does it care about its users? Is it making the world better or worse for people having a tough time in life?
Last week, it was forced to apologise after posting an utterly tone-deaf virtual reality tour of Puerto Rico, with a fun-looking, cartoon Mark Zuckerberg bopping around the devastation, making watchers complicit in uncomfortable disaster tourism. This was the latest in a series of PR nightmares at the social media behemoth. It seems every week there is a new revelation about its privacy policy and invasive tech.
Facebook is the dad who borrows his son’s runners and stalks his Spotify for new tunes. He turns up at the same pub as his 18-yearold, accidentally on purpose, ‘Drinks on me, lads!’. Back in the day he was in a band, he was cool. Now he can see something that looks like pity in their eyes as they titter politely at his off-point jokes.
It’s not just Taylor Swift who has noticed Facebook is now dad-dancing its way into oblivion. New niche platforms are growing steadily.
New platform Medium gives you a curated newsfeed of actual news and views far better than Facebook’s clickbait stream of fake news. When people began to stop using Facebook for socialising, it became a way to stay informed. But the proliferation of fake news and last week’s apology from Sheryl Sandberg for Facebook’s handling of Russian meddling in the US election, it is no longer a desirable news outlet. Platforms like Medium are swooping in.
Small and decentralised social networks are becoming the ethical and safe choice. Privacy, control over your information and over what you see is now bigger than ‘connecting everyone’.
This isn’t just a conversation in Silicon Valley. Last week, Irishman Rob Killeen launched a campaign to crowdfund his dream of a completely user-owned network, Dosome.
Dosome’s niche is democratic humanitarianism; combining the millennial obsessions of social media and do-gooding without the hollow clicktivism of Facebook. The model doesn’t exclude ads, like other social start-ups; he plans for the advertising revenue to go to causes voted by the network. I just bought a pixel for a euro as a tiny ‘F-you’ to Facebook.
It looks like it won’t be long before the world gives a big almighty ‘F-you’ to Facebook, though. It’s a PR disaster that people use out of necessity and through gritted teeth.
The internet is changing, and so are our priorities, and Facebook doesn’t get it. But there are many who do. I’ve signed up for a few and started visiting blogs and news outlets directly again, and I’m feeling better for it: I’d advise you do the same.
‘It won’t be long before the world gives Facebook a big “F-you”’