How would you say social media has evolved in the past fourteen years?

Things I miss:

• Chronological newsfeeds
• Twitter parties
• Old Twitter in general

But what I’ve seen time and again over the past 14 years is social media’s power to bring people together, to educate and inspire. 

Q: How would you say social media has evolved in the past fourteen years? What 2010s social media trends are you nostalgic for?

2010 is right around the time I started in social media management, so this is making me extra nostalgic. My very first post for work was about a community blood drive. Back then, I would post on the company’s Facebook every few weeks when our new sales cycle started. 

Trends seemed to move so much slower 14 years ago! But I’m mostly nostalgic for being interested in posting on my personal social media accounts. I used to post regularly on Facebook and Instagram—my friends and I used Facebook notes a lot. Now, I don’t even remember the last time I posted on my personal Facebook.

As for work-related social, I’m nostalgic for the classic IG filters and frames being trendy. When I started up an Instagram account for my employer in 2011-ish, I remember creating a document outlining which filters and frames to use for the different sales departments. 

In the last fourteen years, social media has reflected both technological advancements and social trends at-large. In both cases, it’s for the better and worse.

But I think more about the social implications, both pro and con. Socially, we’ve had greater democratization of news and information than ever before, more connectivity between wide-ranging groups of people, and allowing marginalized groups a platform from which to share their experiences. All good things, all benefits of the growth of social media platforms and communities within them. On the downside, misinformation dissemination, cyberbullying, mental health challenges from the overuse of misuse of social media, especially among the young, are persistent concerns on social media platforms of all kinds. Finding solutions for these problems remain a challenge. 

Social media trends from the 2010’s I’m most nostalgic for? I think, for me,  Twitter (X) and Facebook features were at or near their peak and more fun to engage with. These days, bots and ads have taken over a lot of my feeds, and it feels less community-driven than it used to be. It may also reflect my awareness over time of how data is used on these platforms. 

Road work ahead? Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does." I'm in me mum's car, broom broom. "A potato flew around my room," and I’m like, "What are those?" "Do it for the Vine?" Nah, "My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds. I like to see you wiggle, wiggle, for sure." "Negroni, sbagliato, with prosecco in it," please. "Look at all those chickens!" "Why you always lyin'?" "Ain't nobody got time for that!" "It’s Wednesday, my dudes." "Yeet!" "Ooh, kill 'em!" "Is this real life?" "Damn, Daniel!" "Cash me outside, how 'bout dat?" Social media? "What a time to be alive! 

Love the question!

Social Media has evolved a lot. Mostly as a professional working +15 years in it, I can tell you; my generation of social media managers have 0 formation on it. It was the “get that creative guy that likes to do videos over to run the socials”

And that’s how it was back then: get them to work on “the likes”

I accidentally ran social media for a company by chance, as it was needed, and eventually, professionalized the job.

Things that stayed

• The believe that Social Media is all for free: “get us viral”, “make our brand visible out there”
• Creativity: yes, because is all about authenticity since day 1 - And even if advertisement came over to take the place around the socials, the platforms that heavily abused this, lost their “cool” so at the end, Social 1 - Sales 0 (look at how TikTok bursted in a saturated social media market!)

Things that changed

• “long-form” to “short-form”: YouTube used to be all about getting people entertained with compelling long videos, and it was how “all it started” but now the shorter and to the point, the better. 
• Niche / more tailored platforms: it’s no longer one ring fits (all)
• Engagement and NOT followers: I strongly believe it was always about engagement, but platforms, people, companies, were all crazy about “Followers” as a symbol of “Growth” - now the algorithm is no longer taking that element into consideration, and you need to be more strategic to be relevant (and be relevant, authentic, relatable, to have visibility for free!)
• The “professionalization” and break-down of influencers: no longer we talk about 1 type of influencers. Now there are celebrities that become influencers. influencers that become celebrities, macro-influencers, micro-influencers, nano, now content creators… 

And I could be here hours

All the best to the Arb community!

I miss blogs! When I worked social media for a teen book festival, we would have different teens author blog posts about the books they were reading and the authors they were excited to meet. The posts were authentic and a great way to capture different voices.

I feel like blogs now are more about advertising, rather than authentic content.

Sometimes, it is difficult to understand how much social media has grown since 2010. I think about the first time I had a silly little iPhone and posted a silly photo on this silly app call Instagram. Who knew over 14 years it would become a space to share creativity, silly moments, anniversaries, announcements, and my favorite app of them all. 

Though there are many negatives and conflictions when it comes to social media, I love the fact it has shaped into this new way of marketing, reaching an insane amount of audiences. You just did not see that in 2010. I believe there were so many important topics people weren’t aware of, not because they didn’t want to know, but they had no connection outside their own bubble of where they live.

Social media has show a new type of creativity and art all while connecting people all over the world who are just like one another. I love the special ‘toks’ like booktok, foodtok, traveltok, and the millions of other tok groups out there. It is incredible to see the door it has open for jobs, a way to make money, all while still being able to share your authentic shelf.

What is most nostalgic for me? Using Valencia on every Instagram post from the year 2010-2015.

Thank you all for participating! Loved reading the different perspective and going down memory lane!

🏆 Congratulations to our winners, @tiffany.cooke and @hayley.gilbert! Please fill out the following form to get your prizes shipped to you: https://forms.gle/Cg68hgrctyZ9HiwHA 

"Road work ahead? Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does." Remember the days of "I'm in me mum's car, broom broom"? And who could forget "A potato flew around my room"? When I hear "What are those?" or "Do it for the Vine," it takes me back. But now, it's all about "My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds. I like pentagon detailing to see you wiggle, wiggle, for sure." How about a "Negroni, sbagliato, with prosecco in it," please? "Look at all those chickens!" Why are you "always lyin'"? "Ain't nobody got time for that!" "It’s Wednesday, my dudes." "Yeet!" "Ooh, kill 'em!" Sometimes I wonder, "Is this real life?" "Damn, Daniel!" And of course, "Cash me outside, how 'bout dat?" Social media really makes you think, "What a time to be alive!”

@Toddboehly I literally laughed at these! So many good memories haha