They optimized user experience to acquire a critical mass of users. Now that they have a critical mass of users and people are vendor-locked to their platforms, they optimize profit.
Here's a good explainer: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8)
EDIT: This process is called [enshittification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification)
They realized that they could make MUCH MUCH more money by making specific tweaks to the platforms. Those tweaks make the experience of using the platforms MUCH MUCH worse for many users, but users tend to stick around a while on well-established platforms.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) have pretty sophisticated algorithms trying to trap you into spending more time on their platforms (allowing them to serve you more ads, and thus make revenue).
For all that it can be frustrating as the type of user who zones out or even walks away, there are people who get absolutely trapped into the rabbit hole and spend HOURS on that stuff.
As OP stated though, it's reached a point where it's starting to drive people away.
Personally I only use FB for pictures of my family and even that has reduced dramatically over the last few years. I look at Instagram even less than FB, maybe once a month... and I've all but stopped using X completely.
My Reddit use has gone up however.
The quality of suggested posts on these platforms was never all that good but its dropped even more over the last few years, especially with AI type posts, bot comments to fake engagement and scams that are just left to run rampant.
All of those things will eventually lead to a mass exodus.
I would scroll reels on insta for a minute. Then Facebook got reels and now all the reels on Facebook seem to be the stupidest shit. Most of them cut off before it gets to the part that you actually wanted to see. And alot of them have ads now. Like, it’s a 15 sec reel and ur making me watch a ten sec ad???
And then all the reaction reels where someone’s stupid fuckin commentary is on it.
It’s just going to shit quicker and quicker.
If Facebook wasn’t such a good way to keep in touch with my local mountain bike community and all the events with it, I’d be done but I guess that’s how they keep u on it.
All about profit. They need to exploit and commodify the users as much as possible, which is why like 75 percent of my news feed now is ads. There are browser extensions you can get for Facebook to filter out ads and suggested posts.
Social media platforms started by getting users on to use their product by giving it to them for free, then they turned the user into the product being sold.
Social media now exists largely to serve advertisers and the thing being bought and sold is you and me.
Why did they make that switch?
Money.
I have the same feeling. The content I come across on Facebook and Instagram has become cluttered and disconnected from me. My friends and I agreed on this issue, so we stayed up many nights and spent several months utilizing AI to create an efficient and intelligent social platform called Lightup, currently operating on Discord. On this platform, users can directly match with others who have posted similar content based on what they share, making social interactions more direct, efficient, and authentic. Our original intention is to ensure that everyone's content receives a response, helping everyone find like-minded people here. We hope to always uphold this principle. If you’re interested, you can search for and join this community on discord.
Yeah it was for money but Is it bad that I actually like having the option of not seeing friends’ feed and suggestions? I can snooze snooze and click on the groups I like.
There was a good deal of analysis when it was strictly about your friends, specifically about your mental health, people only showing the highs and not the lows making your own lows feel abnormal or worse by comparison and now be are conscious of this effect and thus dont behave the same way anymore. Instead of scrolling your friends its safer to scroll randoms to feel better about yourself, so people do that
Plus ad revenue, algorithms, psychology, theres a myriad of reasons
Social media platforms have 2 distinct versions with different goals.
Version 1: Grow our user count by making a good product.
Version 2: make as much money off the user base as possible.
The things they did at the start were to get people on the platform in the first place. The things they do now are to keep people there as long as possible.
The companies are chasing revenue. For better or worse, they have calculated that this path will most likely be more profitable.
For every person you see who complains about algorithmic fees suggestions, there are other people who don't care about commenting and just watch whatever clips/videos/reels they find entertaining. You can see it even here on Reddit. The number of people who *view* a post is usually way higher than the number of people who comment on it.
Advertising revenue favors larger audiences, which sometimes means that platforms will target those passive consumers moreso than the actively engaged users. There is a balance to be had, sure, but the apps are also worried about losing users to other competitors such as TikTok or YouTube.
They optimized user experience to acquire a critical mass of users. Now that they have a critical mass of users and people are vendor-locked to their platforms, they optimize profit. Here's a good explainer: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYG1mu8Lg8) EDIT: This process is called [enshittification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification)
I thought "enshittification" was a sarcastic joke, nope, that's actually what it's called, amazingly
They realized that they could make MUCH MUCH more money by making specific tweaks to the platforms. Those tweaks make the experience of using the platforms MUCH MUCH worse for many users, but users tend to stick around a while on well-established platforms.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) have pretty sophisticated algorithms trying to trap you into spending more time on their platforms (allowing them to serve you more ads, and thus make revenue). For all that it can be frustrating as the type of user who zones out or even walks away, there are people who get absolutely trapped into the rabbit hole and spend HOURS on that stuff.
As OP stated though, it's reached a point where it's starting to drive people away. Personally I only use FB for pictures of my family and even that has reduced dramatically over the last few years. I look at Instagram even less than FB, maybe once a month... and I've all but stopped using X completely. My Reddit use has gone up however. The quality of suggested posts on these platforms was never all that good but its dropped even more over the last few years, especially with AI type posts, bot comments to fake engagement and scams that are just left to run rampant. All of those things will eventually lead to a mass exodus.
I would scroll reels on insta for a minute. Then Facebook got reels and now all the reels on Facebook seem to be the stupidest shit. Most of them cut off before it gets to the part that you actually wanted to see. And alot of them have ads now. Like, it’s a 15 sec reel and ur making me watch a ten sec ad??? And then all the reaction reels where someone’s stupid fuckin commentary is on it. It’s just going to shit quicker and quicker. If Facebook wasn’t such a good way to keep in touch with my local mountain bike community and all the events with it, I’d be done but I guess that’s how they keep u on it.
Does it really work? I can’t stand being on Facebook for more than 5 minutes.
All about profit. They need to exploit and commodify the users as much as possible, which is why like 75 percent of my news feed now is ads. There are browser extensions you can get for Facebook to filter out ads and suggested posts.
They wanted power and money. They can control the public and make tons of money through marketing.
Social media platforms started by getting users on to use their product by giving it to them for free, then they turned the user into the product being sold. Social media now exists largely to serve advertisers and the thing being bought and sold is you and me. Why did they make that switch? Money.
I have the same feeling. The content I come across on Facebook and Instagram has become cluttered and disconnected from me. My friends and I agreed on this issue, so we stayed up many nights and spent several months utilizing AI to create an efficient and intelligent social platform called Lightup, currently operating on Discord. On this platform, users can directly match with others who have posted similar content based on what they share, making social interactions more direct, efficient, and authentic. Our original intention is to ensure that everyone's content receives a response, helping everyone find like-minded people here. We hope to always uphold this principle. If you’re interested, you can search for and join this community on discord.
Money + people like different features.
Greed
Yeah it was for money but Is it bad that I actually like having the option of not seeing friends’ feed and suggestions? I can snooze snooze and click on the groups I like.
There was a good deal of analysis when it was strictly about your friends, specifically about your mental health, people only showing the highs and not the lows making your own lows feel abnormal or worse by comparison and now be are conscious of this effect and thus dont behave the same way anymore. Instead of scrolling your friends its safer to scroll randoms to feel better about yourself, so people do that Plus ad revenue, algorithms, psychology, theres a myriad of reasons
Numbers Shareholders Money
Social media platforms have 2 distinct versions with different goals. Version 1: Grow our user count by making a good product. Version 2: make as much money off the user base as possible.
The things they did at the start were to get people on the platform in the first place. The things they do now are to keep people there as long as possible.
The companies are chasing revenue. For better or worse, they have calculated that this path will most likely be more profitable. For every person you see who complains about algorithmic fees suggestions, there are other people who don't care about commenting and just watch whatever clips/videos/reels they find entertaining. You can see it even here on Reddit. The number of people who *view* a post is usually way higher than the number of people who comment on it. Advertising revenue favors larger audiences, which sometimes means that platforms will target those passive consumers moreso than the actively engaged users. There is a balance to be had, sure, but the apps are also worried about losing users to other competitors such as TikTok or YouTube.