Are Social Media Platforms Losing 2020?
Let me tell you about 2020 in two words, it sucks. Most people in the United States are losing their normal way of life. Businesses are struggling to find new ways of adapting to this COVID-19 world by constructing contactless orders, investing in e-commerce, and many other ways that go against the norms of traditional business. However, due to the influx of screen time usage across the board social media platforms now, more than ever, have the opportunity to capitalize. Yet, there is tons of uproar about how many of these platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter have been adapting to these recent times.
The Shadow Ban
Many influencers have taken to web to share a very serious allegation against the platforms that they are posting to. These content creators that the platforms are “shadow banning them”. According to Wikipedia, “Shadow banning is is the act of blocking or partially blocking a user or their content from an online community so that it will not be readily apparent to the user that they have been banned.” Initially, users of social media platforms thought this a good tool. It would be used for the good as it blocks spammers and trolls that may incite bad behavior. However, now YouTube as well as Instagram are now being cited shadow banning various content creators. Users no longer see people that they are subscribed to popping up on their feeds. These platforms are now screwing what content is deemed “for you” instead of the dictator being the user. This is bad, very bad. It promotes that artificial growth of communities rather than organic. Content that is great may not be able to grow now because the platforms don’t want to promote them. This can be due to a number of reasons such as the content they are producing is hard to market to advertisers or the message the community sends isn’t on par with the companies agenda. Shadow banning is now hurting content creators and infringing upon free speech.
Twitter and the 2020 Election
Twitter implemented a new feature right around the time of the election. It now has a new feature wherein if an important figure has a tweet, it now may come with a disclaimer stating, “This claim […] may be disputed.” This can be seen below:
Twitter should understand, its for tweeting and joking, not deciding the fate of our country. This feature also is somewhat left leaning in some investigation. As we can see here with this tweet:
With this tweet, why isn’t there a exclamation about election fraud? Twitter is using their platform to promote ideals just like YouTube.
Why it Matters
People hopped on these platforms to get an escape, to be entertained, to escape to a space that’s for you. The more these platforms try to conform ideals the worse it will be for entertainment. These platforms were the greatest ally of content creators two or so years ago. They are now competing with Hollywood to be able to entertain a giant market. Instead of trying to push ideals or thoughts onto people, let the community be organic. They are becoming what more and more like their greatest competition, large networks.
