The Future of Socials
I’m pretty convinced the impulse-sharing-25-times-a-day strategy is not sustainable.
Let’s talk future of socials, because it’s been on my mind. I’m pretty convinced the impulse-sharing-25-times-a-day strategy is not sustainable. Enter the interest graph era. Slow-drip, personalized content es la futura.
Content filter bubbles: social vs interest graphs
All the major social platforms (besides Linkedin, who is only just now entering its short-form video hot girl era) are drifting away from the show-me-the-world-feed. Where are they moving? Social is migrating user experiences toward topic-based community channels, also called filter bubbles.
Or as Morning Brew founder Alex Lieberman puts it, “a shift from social graphs to interest graphs.” The Redditification of all social media.
As algos smarten up and factors like hashtags become less relevant, consumers are starting to use social platforms like shopping in a grocery store. Want cookies? Go to the cookie aisle. Want cars on Instagram? Go to your specially curated car feed.
The days of aimlessly posting to the masses may be numbered. Content will be flooded and circulated into topic clusters (hint: it already is – but this will just enhance how users consume it). And new people will find your content organically if the algo recommends it.
At best, filter bubbles are a less noisy Internet experience. They can help creators and businesses improve targeting and regain attention in an organized environment.
But we can take it even further: imagine personalized feeds to serve a broader consumer pushback against purely algorithmic content recommendations.
Personalized content feeds
What if you could build your own feed? Like a federated Mastodon server, what if you could unautomate your content?
At Supernova, we’re seeing a broader trend towards “knowing the source of production,” i.e., organic/fair trade for food (flip that label!!), digital product passports for clothing/soft goods, and now topic communities for social media. With so much disinfo and AI-generated content, it’s never been more important to know where your content comes from.
In practice, it will look something like this:
Looking for the latest Fall fashion in NYC? Let me check out the Bushwick fashion channel curated by a local indie fashion blogger. Trying to find a new whiskey brand? Check the whiskey lovers feed.
Sounds familiar, right?? Yeah it’s Reddit. So what’s new and innovative about that? Well, imagine a Reddit experience on Instagram and TikTok with both topic feeds and self-administrated groups.
More than just a “group,” community posting will integrate seamlessly with general feeds and target more specific verticals.
A shift toward signal > noise
My prediction: social media is shifting toward more signal and less noise to combat hyper-competition among brands. Users will have the ability to post and consume specific topics and communities in place of endless feeds.
In the short term, it will provide a better user experience and a higher conversion rate for advertisers. Longer-term brands may miss some opportunity for virality. And consumers may build walled gardens that create echo chambers and instances where two humans are experiencing two totally different realities among their digital selves (isn’t that already happening?).
But the future of socials — more specifically, the next development stage of brand presence on socials — will dampen the weight of vanity metrics (likes + follows) and prioritize direct, personalized engagement with target customers.
Who cares how many likes it has, who liked it? That’s for the brand to see. Show me what I’m looking for and let me join the conversation.
We’re tired of the quick-hit content
It’s clear why this shift is happening – people are exhausted by digital overconsumption and quick-hit advertising. People want live experiences and thoughtful, long-form entertainment. I don’t care what the data says. It’s a feeling.
No one wants to have a short attention span and be phone-addicted. We just are. But if we could change, we would. If we were served higher-quality information – more meaningful movies – 5-star experiences, we’d take it in a heartbeat.
That’s I’m working 24/7 to bring the best in experiential and creative to bridge IRL and URL in a human-positive way at Supernova.
The next edition (reading like an essay) will cover this topic in detail.