MackCollier.com

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Elon’s Texts to Twitter, Instagram’s NFT Integration, Podcast Listening Dips in 2022

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you are having a great fall as we are now in October!  This is my favorite month of the year!  I love the weather, I love the colors, the falling leaves, and Halloween!  The best time of the year, in my opinion!  Here’s 3 marketing/business/web3 stories I read over the last week that caught my eye:

 

The Twitter account @techemails is absolutely fascinating.  They release text messages that have been made public via the proper filings.  Recently, they shared some text messages that Elon had with both Twitter’s current CEO as well as one an exchange with one of its co-founders, Jack Dorsey.  Dorsey’s comments about regretting that Twitter became a company were very telling. Dorsey said that Twitter should have stayed a protocol. One of the issues that has dogged Twitter throughout its history is its rocky relationship with developers. Often, Twitter would encourage developers to build apps and functionality on top of its platform, then either cut off API access with no warning, or buy an app, then cut off API access to any apps with competing functionality.  For instance, years ago Twitter bought livestreaming app Periscope, integrated it into the platform, then cut off competitor Meerkat (which was arguably more popular at the time) from having API access.  Twitter bought Tweetdeck, cutting off competitors like Twirl, and bought Summize, hurting competitors as well.

Elon seemed very intrigued by Dorsey’s vision of having Twitter as a protocol and wants to pursue moving the platform more toward decentralization. In my opinion that could only happen if Twitter went private. Even then, it would be messy.

 

Meta recently announced that it will allow Instagram and Facebook users to integrate their existing NFTs with the platform.  Why is this important? My guess is Meta would like to eventually develop an NFT marketplace.  Adding a shopping functionality to the sharing of NFTs would give creators another revenue stream, but it would also do the same for Meta, as it would likely want a cut of sales.

 

Podcasting listening is projected by Edison Research to dip slightly in 2022.  This is a bit surprising, but as Edison points out in its findings, the dip for 2022 still puts listening levels at marginally higher than 2020 levels.

 

So that’s it for this week’s edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute.  Apologies for the late arrival of this post, seems there were some issues with my hosting service.  Will have a pretty interesting post up on Weds (again assuming no more site issues), so try to check it out in 2 days.

Hope you have a wonderful week, you deserve it!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Elon Apes Into Twitter, Livestream Purchases, Paid Music Streaming Grows

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you, we have some breaking news and some other stories I enjoyed, so let’s dive right in!

 

This will be the story of the day and possibly the week. Elon Musk just bought a $3B stake in Twitter, and is now the company’s largest shareholder. For reference, his stake is almost 4 times that of Jack Dorsey’s. There will be a lot of commentary about what this move signals, I’m already seeing a lot of chatter about how Elon will stop shadowbanning and ham-fisted censorship, etc.  Let’s take a step back and remember: Elon’s Twitter account is essentially Tesla’s marketing. So this is simply about Elon getting more control over his company’s primary marketing channel.  That’s all this is, a smart business move. Do I think this signals that Elon is coming in on a white horse to save Twitter from itself? I do not.  I think he is going to use his ownership stake to push for changes that make it easier for him to use Twitter as a platform to market himself and his company. That’s it.

 

Facebook and Instagram are the dominant players when it comes to driving purchases via livestreams. This isn’t a huge surprise, but I think we will see a lot of growth in the coming years from YouTube in this area as the platform is seriously trying to up its streaming game.

 

2021 was another strong year for growth in paid music subscription services. As I’ve talked about for the last two years, covid and the ensuing lockdown changed consumer behavior and purchase patterns. Certain industries and products benefited greatly from these changes, and music subscription services are one of them. To be fair, paid music subscription services were already seeing solid growth prior to the pandemic, but that growth was only accelerated by customers spending more time at home, for both work and play.

 

So that’s it for this week’s edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute! I hope you have an amazing and productive week!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks, Massive NIL Deal, Social Media Engagement Rates By Platform

Happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful week as we (hopefully) begin to tip-toe into Spring like weather over the coming weeks! Here’s a few business and marketing stories I read over the last few days that I wanted to share:

 

Yuga Labs, which previously acquired the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club brands, has now acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits. As you can see from the tweet, and article here, Yuga will be granting the same commercial rights to the NFT owners as BAYC and MAYC owners enjoy. I want to do some more digging into this ownership issue, because it almost seems like we have a licensor/licensee arrangement happening here. Which isn’t true ownership, and a bit contrary to the intended web3 ethos. But still very cool move by Yuga Labs, regardless! Either way, it will be interesting to see what develops commercially from this, either with individual NFT owners, or as a collective.

 

So last Summer, I wrote a post on NIL laws going into affect in multiple states. When it happened, I immediately knew this was the story of the year, because of the huge impact it would have on the business, sports, and branding worlds in the future. Well now the future has arrived. As my friend Kristi writes, there is an offer on the table to an unnamed Class of 2023 football recruit that would pay him $8 Million for the exclusive rights to his Name, Image and Likeness for 4 years.

Read those numbers again: A high school junior football player is being offered $8 Million dollars over 4 years.  Not to play football, but to post on social media, make public appearances, etc. Kristi talked to the NCAA about this deal and it would likely be a violation of its rules on pay to play. Still, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before similar deals become commonplace, and if that happens, the worlds of collegiate and amateur athletics will effectively be over.

 

Marketing Charts has a very interesting analysis of engagement rates for content posted to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Before reading, which platform do you think has the highest engagement rates?  Instagram, and it’s not even close. Visual content drives engagement, it’s just a fact of digital life. But what industry on Instagram drives the most engagement? Would you believe Higher Education? I found that very surprising. The 3 percent engagement rate for content about higher ed was almost double the engagement for the 2nd place industry: Sports teams.

 

So that’s all I have for this week, hope all of you have a wonderful and productive week, and I will see you here next Monday!

 

SPONSORED: If you’ve noticed, the content here over the past several months has moved more to covering the emerging web3 space and technologies. A big reason why is the emerging opportunities these technologies will create for content creators to build engagement and monetization opportunities around their content. My friend Joe Pulizzi has been one of the content marketing and creation leaders for well over a decade. He’s teamed up with Brian Clark (of CopyBlogger fame) to create an event just for content creators, CEX. CEX is the Creator Economy Expo. If you are a content creator who is looking to build engagement, a larger platform and maybe even an INCOME from your content, then CEX is your tribe. The event will be held in May in Phoenix, and features a who’s-who list of content speakers, including Joe and Brian, along with Ann Handley, Dan Pink, Jeremiah Oywang, Pam Slim and many more!

If you want to build a business around your content, CEX is where you need to be! You can register here, and when you do, use code Collier to get a $200 discount! And please note that the Early Bird rate ends on April 1st. Hope to see you there!

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5 Common Mistakes Businesses Make on Instagram (And How to Fix Them!)

In the early days of social media (2006-2010), most businesses created content for three channels; Their blog, Facebook and Twitter.

All that changed in 2010 with the introduction of an app called Instagram. What made Instagram stand out from the social media crowd was its focus on visual content. Today, Instagram boasts over a billion users, and it has revolutionized social media, forcing all competing platforms and apps to adopt more visual content options in order to compete.

Yet as businesses are rushing to use Instagram, they are still making many mistakes.

5 Common Mistakes Businesses Make on Instagram (And How to Fix Them!)

 

1 – You business uses Instagram the same way it uses every other social media channel. Instagram is about visual content. The focus of your content should be images and videos, obviously. You can’t just post the same image that you did on Facebook and Twitter and expect the same results.

More than anything, Instagram is a wonderful platform for visual storytelling. If you are reading this post and want to know how to get better at using visual content, I would suggest reading The Power of Visual Storytelling, by my friends Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio.

Want to see an amazing example of using Instagram for visual storytelling? Check out what Whole Foods did to its Instagram feed.

2 – Your business focuses too much on itself, and not enough on your customers. Keep in mind that social media is best used as a way to build awareness. Who do you want to build awareness with? Your customers! So why not have your customers create your content for you?

For instance, the Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association has partnered with ambassadors throughout North Alabama to photograph the sights of the area. This partnership gives AMLTA access to much more content, and the photographers have a vested interest in promoting that content to their friends and followers. (Disclaimer: I advised AMLTA on their ambassador program as it was being created and launched)

By focusing on your customers, either in creating content about them, or letting them create the content directly, you are giving other customers a reason to engage with your content.

Instagram AMLTA

3 – Your business isn’t using Instagram Stories. If no one sees your content, then they can’t engage with your content. One problem that businesses face when they first join Instagram is building a following. Building a following in necessary to get more visibility and engagement. But there’s another way you can improve both: By using Instagram Stories.

 

Look at the top of that picture.  The bubbles for Amber, NickMercs, Donna and Stephanie are Instagram Stories. The big benefit to using Instagram Stories is that the Stories are moved to the top of the IG feed of your followers. That means better exposure and visibility. If you are simply posting to Instagram, then your updates are going to the regular feeds of your followers. With Instagram Stories, your content stands out and is more likely to be seen.

4 – Your photos are poor quality. Instagram is a visual medium. Your content is competing against businesses that are investing in creating top-notch visual content, both photos and videos. If you want your images to stand out, they must be top quality. If you don’t have a photographer on staff, or access to high quality images, you should make an effort to acquire them.

instagram

5 – Your posting is erratic. Success in building awareness and engagement with social media content is rooted in consistency. You need to create a schedule for when you post content on Instagram, and stick to it! Keeping a consistent schedule ‘trains’ your followers to know when your new content will be posted, so they know when to look for it.

 

So there’s 5 common mistakes that businesses make on Instagram, and how to fix them. If you want to learn more about using Instagram for your business, check out all the posts I’ve written on how businesses are using Instagram.

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Research Study: Here’s the Types of Content We Want (and Trust) From Influencers

influencer shopper Influencer marketing continues to thrive as brands look to align themselves with social media darlings who have cultivated the audiences that brands covet. A new study from SlickText has some wonderful insights not only into the type of content we want from influencers, but how those views change across different age groups.

Before we get into the study’s findings, what IS an influencer? An influencer is someone who can produce a change in behavior for other people, via the content they create. So in general terms, any content creator is also an influencer. The influencers who are the most coveted then, are the ones that can product the change in behavior that a brand desires.

Here’s some examples:

  • If 7 Eleven wants to connect with millennials to help drive sales of a new flavor of Slurpee, then the brand might partner with popular streamers on Twitch
  • If Ford wants to connect with married adults to promote its new SUV, it might partner with YouTube content creators who do video reviews of automobiles
  • If the state of Missouri wanted to draw attention to its bicentennial celebrations happening this summer, the state might partner with travel bloggers to create images and videos of landmarks in Missouri for Instagram

 

With that overview of influencers in mind, let’s take a closer look at the study’s key findings:

Reviews from influencers are considered the most helpful and desired content

38% of respondents listed reviews as the content they preferred from influencers.  Additionally, almost 35% of respondents said that unbiased product reviews is the content that makes influencers feel more authentic. This type of content also helps develop trust with the influencers’ audience. This is why you are seeing many influencers shift toward product reviews and unboxings as their main source of content. If the content is tightly focused on a particular product grouping, space or line, it can quickly establish the expertise of the influencer and help them develop a niche following that’s highly desired by brands.

Now, I mentioned that the study found that 38% of respondents listed reviews as the content they most preferred from influencers. Reviews are the most preferred form of content from influencers, and that held for all groups and genders except for Gen Z women. Females in this group prefer how-to content. Additionally, Gen Z women said that the best way for influencers to win their trust is to interact with them. This ties into what I’ve written here before about how streamers on Twitch use the platform to engage with their followers as individuals.  This makes their ability to influence the behavior of a large group scale more effectively than it can on other social platforms.

 

Too much sponsored content erodes influencer trust.

All age groups agreed that too many sponsored posts made respondents less likely to trust the influencer. This creates a problem because for many influencers, sponsored content is their main or only source of income.

For influencers trying to walk that line when it comes to sponsored content and maintaining trust, it helps to be completely open with how sponsored content is required to help support you. I’ve noticed on Twitch that streamers are extremely upfront about their sponsored content, and why they need it and how it helps support them. I was watching one streamer and someone donated $100 as he was playing a game. The streamer thanked the person profusely for the donation, and then explained to his audience that he had taken his car to have a tire replaced earlier that day and that it was an expense he wasn’t counting on, and that donation would cover the expense. This level of transparency with your audience helps establish trust and I think it even makes the audience (at least on Twitch) more likely to donate more since it helps them understand how the streamer will use and need their donations.

As always, honestly and transparency leads to trust.  In all areas of life.  There’s many more interesting takeaways if you want to check out the study for yourself.

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Clubhouse and Facebook’s New Social Audio Apps, IG Hides Likes, Which Countries Use Social Media the Most

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you’re ready for a great and productive week. Here’a few marketing and digital stories that caught my eye…

 

Clubhouse is inching closer to launching an Android version of its social audio app. This news comes as Facebook began beta testing its own social audio app called Hotline. I think social audio makes more sense as an additional functionality added to current platforms versus a standalone app.  I’m really excited to see what this functionality could look like integrated into LinkedIn, for example. I also think Clubhouse’s ability to build and retain loyalty with its top creators will be a huge factor in its long-term viability.

 

I am always in favor of hiding vanity metrics from social media sites. This post perfectly explains why. Years ago, a study was done into what determines popularity. Thousands of teens were selected and they listened to dozens of songs by new artists. These were songs that none of the respondents had heard before. The teens were broken into multiple groups. The first group listened to each song, then at the end they were asked to rate the song, and they were given an option to download the song if they liked it.

Another group was asked to listen to the same songs and rate them, but this group had the ratings and number of downloads shown from the first group. What the researchers found was that the songs that were rated the highest with the most downloads, were more popular.  Then for the third group, the ratings and number of downloads were not only shown, but the songs were also ranked according to both rating and number of downloads. Researchers found that when the ratings and download numbers were added, the most popular songs were downloaded at an even higher clip.

What this shows, in my mind, is that we are lazy. We let other people decide what’s interesting or worth our time, rather than judging a piece of content on its own merits. We scan for number of Likes or comments or RTs and use those numbers to quickly judge the value of content. This is why I am in favor of any move to hide such vanity metrics on social media.

 

Think the United States is the top country in the world for time spent on social media?  You would be wrong, the US doesn’t even crack the Top 10!  People in the Philippines spend just over 4 hours (yikes!) a day on social media. The average American spends about half that time on social media.

 

So that’s it for this week’s Monday Marketing Minute! Are you subscribed to my newsletter Backstage Pass? Every Friday, I give you tips and advice on how you can create happy customers that drive real business growth. I also profile how brands are doing just that. Add your email to the banner below and click Subscribe!

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Monday’s Marketing Minute: Clubhouse to Launch Creator Accelerator Program, Facebook to Enter Social Audio Space

Happy Monday! Welcome to the first full week of Spring! I hope you have a busy and prosperous week ahead, here’s some digital and marketing stories I noticed the last few days:

 

So two of the biggest questions everyone is asking about Clubhouse are “Is it going to last?’ and ‘Will it be acquired?” We may have gotten a hint at the answers to both when Clubhouse recently announced it’s Creator Accelerator Program. I absolutely love this idea. What Clubhouse is going to do, is take a select number of its room hosts, and give them the tools and support they need to accelerate the growth of their rooms and clubs. Everything from audio equipment to working with brands to secure sponsorships and speakers, to compensation. Moves like this will absolutely drive loyalty for Clubhouse, and it’s not lost on me that other social media sites could have made similar moves to support its content creators in those early years, and didn’t. This will resonate with users and could signal that Clubhouse is building something that will last, and that the founders want to keep as a standalone platform.

PS: I talked in-depth about the current ‘creator economy’ that we are entering in last Friday’s issue of my Backstage Pass newsletter. If you want to subscribe, click here!

 

After some speculation that Facebook might want to acquire Clubhouse, it now seems that ‘The Social Network’ is planning on building its own social audio functionality into its platform. Now, going back to what we just discussed with Clubhouse’s Creator Accelerator Program, consider that Facebook wants to give you the ability to create a similar Clubhouse-style room, on Facebook. If you are a Clubhouse user who has a room and/or club on Clubhouse, and you are in Clubhouse’s Creator Accelerator Program, will you now be interested in also building a new social audio community on Facebook?  Probably not. You would probably devote your time to building your platform on Clubhouse, especially since Clubhouse would be using its Creator Accelerator Program to support your growth. This is an important point: Facebook and Twitter can copy the social audio functionality. but if Clubhouse is doing a better job of SUPPORTING its creators, guess who will likely win?

 

This really seems like a bad idea waiting to happen.  Facebook is considering a version of Instagram just for kids under 13. Instagram blocks kids under 13 from using its site, but the site also notes that some kids are able to get on the site anyway. So the rationale is, let’s make it easier for them to get on, but only have them interact with other kids their ages, and not adults. Parents and privacy groups will be watching this story very closely, as they should.

 

So that’s this Monday’s Marketing Minute. I hope you have a wonderful week, be sure to check out #ContentCircus tomorrow night on Twitter starting at 7pm Central, and look for Backstage Pass to hit your email this Friday morning (if you are subscribed!). And I’m thinking there will be another post up here either tomorrow or Weds, so keep an eye out for that as well!

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Is Social Audio the Future or Just a Fad?

Social audio is suddenly the hot topic when it comes to social media. I think it’s great, because for the first time in at least 5 years, it feels like there’s some new to talk about in social media!

Social audio itself isn’t that new. Gamers have been using group chat functionality in apps such as Discord and Line for a few years now. But the idea of loading an app and having an audio chat with others is gaining momentum due to the explosive growth of Clubhouse.

Clubhouse really came along at the right time. So much of business success is due to simply being in the right place at the right time, and Clubhouse has become the app that a quarantined populace didn’t realize it needed, till we got it. What Clubhouse does is let you join chat rooms, where people can actually talk to one another! You join the chat room, and you can HEAR people talking, one at a time (ideally). You can even talk yourself, or create your own room, public or private.

Clubhouse launched in April of 2020. I didn’t start hearing anyone in my network really talking about Clubhouse till around October or so, and by the end of January, it seemed like everyone was on the app.

Clubhouse’s growth is going to have a ripple effect throughout social media. First, it will pull people off other social media apps. I’m noticing a lot of people that are active on Clubhouse saying that they are spending less time as a result on Twitter. Now I do think Instagram is actually benefiting a bit from Clubhouse taking off. Clubhouse doesn’t have a native functionality that lets you send a private message to another user. You can create a private audio room to chat, but you can’t yet private message them. To get around this, Clubhouse users are adding their Instagram and Twitter accounts to their Clubhouse profiles, and encouraging people to DM them on Instagram or Twitter if they want to talk privately. I am seeing more people on Clubhouse pushing DMs via Instagram than Twitter.

Second, the rising popularity of Clubhouse is going to lead to another company potentially buying Clubhouse, or at least trying to create their own version, adding social audio functionality to an existing site. Facebook is reportedly already working on a Clubhouse clone.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not Clubhouse will last. I think what a lot of these pundits are missing is what Clubhouse will look like when everyone has access to it. Right now, the vast majority of Clubhouse’s members are early digital adopters, who have an iOS device. For those of you who are long-time social media users, do you remember what Twitter was like circa 2008 or 2009?  Then do you remember what happened a couple of years later when the media and celebrities all discovered Twitter and took over?  The experience on Twitter completely changed because the user base completely changed. The same thing will happen with Clubhouse. Maybe the change won’t be as drastic, but the experience we have on Clubhouse right now will NOT be the one we will always experience. For better or worse. We need to see what the environment on Clubhouse looks like after this growth spurt ends and when it gets rolled out to everyone to get a better sense of its long-term viability.

 

Now the obligatory ‘Should my business be on Clubhouse?’ portion of the post

This is one of the most common questions that all business owners or marketers want to know, if they should be on Clubhouse and will it help their business. I think the answer is ‘it depends’. First, you have to remember that Clubhouse is currently in a closed beta. That means the only way you can get on Clubhouse, is for a current user to send you an invite. Also, Clubhouse is currently only available if you have an iPhone or iPad. They are working on adding Android access, but that could be months away.

There’s a dirty little secret when it comes to social media hype: Pay more attention to what actual users of the social media platform say, and less to what marketers say. Marketers love to overhype any new social media site or app, and Clubhouse is no different. They go there, build a following, then proclaim it is the next big deal, so they look like a big deal for being a part of the next big deal. What’s different about Clubhouse is, a lot of users have been there for months, and some have already built massive followings.

So you’re seeing a lot of people with big followings on Twitter go to Clubhouse and host rooms with 30 people in them. While the guy that has 500 followers on Twitter has gone to Clubhouse and built a following of 100k, and they are hosting rooms with a thousand people. It’s actually one of the things I like about Clubhouse, that different voices and perspectives are being highlighted. You’re not just seeing the same guys with big Twitter or Facebook followings going to Clubhouse and getting the same traction. The influence on other platforms isn’t easily translating to Clubhouse, you have to work on it to build a following.

Having said all that, I do think there is an opportunity for certain business owners to make hay on Clubhouse. I’m seeing a lot of business coaches, PR agencies and a lot of influencers making moves on Clubhouse. On the other hand, if you are the CMO for a fast-moving consumer goods company, I don’t think you have a lot of opportunities to sell directly on Clubhouse. I think the way to approach Clubhouse is as a channel to meet new people and learn from industry experts. I’m having a lot of fun doing both, if you are on Clubhouse, please follow me, my name is @mackcollier, same name and avatar as on Twitter.

What is the future of social audio?

So we know that the popularity of Clubhouse is going to drive bigger social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to attempt to copy its social audio format, or buy Clubhouse outright. One of the key issues with Clubhouse is that the conversations in the rooms aren’t recorded. So if you aren’t in the room, you don’t know what’s being said and have no way to review what was said. Perhaps this will lead to Clubhouse offering recordings as a premium service down the road.

The reality is that both Twitter and Facebook are seeing a userbase that’s increasingly frustrated with the platforms, and looking for something new. It’s part of the reason why sites like Clubhouse, Parler and Gab saw such growth in late 2020, because Twitter and Facebook users were looking for other places to spend their time. Both Twitter and Facebook will be focusing on getting users back in 2021, you’re already seeing Twitter buy newsletter site Revue as a play to keep users on the platform. Incorporating social audio functionality will be part of their plan for winning back users and bringing in new ones.

I don’t think your company should be diving headfirst into social audio and apps like Clubhouse, at least not yet. Having said that, you should absolutely check out Clubhouse if you have an iOS device and you should be keeping up with the monetization moves that the bigger social media platforms make this year. 2021 will be a very volatile year for social media, and that will create some opportunities for your business.

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Instagram is Testing a New Feature That Might Save Social Media

So let’s do a social experiment, please leave a comment telling me if you have had this same thing happen to you: Often when I am either scanning my feed on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram or reading a blog, I will come across a piece of content that seems pretty ‘meh’ to me. But just as I am about to move on, I notice it has a huge number of social shares. I often stop, and think “wait, am I missing something here?”, and I will go back and review the content a second time.

Have you done this? I do it all the time, and studies have shown that most of us do as well. We often let number of social shares and popularity metrics such as Likes influence if we will consume and share content.

Well with that in mind, consider that Instagram is experimenting with a pretty revolutionary feature; Hiding the number of Likes its posts get. If this feature rolls out to all users, then Instagram users would have no idea how many (or how few) Likes any content posted on the site receives.  The content creators would still have access to this information, but not the content consumers or users.

I’ve long speculated that behavior by both content creators and content consumers would change drastically if the number of social shares content received wasn’t public. Too many of us consume and share content simply based on number of social shares or Likes.  If this was taken out of the equation, we would likely share less content, but it would be content we were more likely to have personally vetted. So it would, in theory, be of more value to our networks.

If Instagram rolls out the hiding of Likes to everyone, I suspect that will actually lead to MORE comments. I believe users will feel more compelled to explain why the DID share the content, what they liked about it.  If so, this would be invaluable information for the content creator.

What do you think about this idea of Instagram hiding Likes on its posts? Do you like it? Hate it?  Would you like to see more social media sites adopt a position of hiding social shares?

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Instagram’s Threads Messaging App Attempts to Take Social Media ‘Back to the Future’

The rumor is that Instagram plans on launching a new standalone messaging app called Threads. This app would be geared toward letting Instagram users connect with their closest contacts only. The idea of a social media app that focuses on only your closest friends isn’t new (remember Path?), but what’s interesting here is how the app’s functionality is arrived at. Instagram looked at its users and found that they connected differently with their closest contacts. Most Instagram users preferred to communicate with close connections via instant messaging rather than public interactions.  In other words, Instagram found that most users communicate publicly with everyone, and privately with just their close friends.

I’ve written about this before, but I think we will see social media sites and apps begin to move toward helping us foster closer connections with fewer people versus platonic connections with everyone. Social media was originally focused on growing your network organically via simple interactions with friends and family. Everyone had smaller networks, and a much closer connection to the members of their network.

This all began to change when social media sites like Facebook and Twitter began adding ‘vanity metrics’ to a user’s account and activity. Suddenly, everyone could see how many people followed you, or how much engagement every bit of content you created had earned. It also changed how we created and shared content. If a particular piece of content had many Likes or Retweets, it was a sort of ‘social proof’ that other people enjoyed this content, so it must be worth our attention. Or at least worth sharing with others.

I’ve wondered how our behavior on social media today would change if no one knew how many followers someone had, or how much (or little) engagement their content had earned. Would we go back to communicating instead of broadcasting? Would we judge content on its own merits, rather than the number of Likes or Retweets it had gotten?

At the end of the day, I think most of us would like to return to a time when it was more about the ‘social’ and less about the ‘media’.

If you’d like to learn more about the potential of the Threads app and why Instagram could go in this direction, check out this episode of eMarketer’s Behind the Numbers podcast.