How the Engagement Model Made Social Media Antisocial

By Jeffrey Edell

For years, there have been subtle and highly visible changes in the way most major social media platforms operate. Platforms say these changes are in the interests of people and will make the platforms even better. In reality, all these changes are meant to advance an engagement model that promotes ads while making social media platforms less social.

The most antisocial change to social media yet is a pay-to-play "For You" page. Twitter recently launched changes to its "For You" feed. This is the default feed users see when they open the application or go online. This feed will largely show and amplify users who pay for Twitter Blue, Twitter's subscription service that gives you a blue checkmark verification.

This feed has essentially become a commercial space where Twitter can display promoted content and ads, which now dominate the experience.

Twitter, however, is not the first or only platform to adopt antisocial changes. The problem started in 2009 when Facebook introduced an algorithm to predict and rank the posts we should see in our newsfeeds. The introduction of an algorithmically ranked newsfeed was the start of antisocial changes that would promote an engagement business model that kept us glued to our screens and allowed platforms to serve more and more ads.

This model is far from what social media was meant to be.

Social media was supposed to be a digital space to connect with people. It promised the ability to keep in touch with friends, family, old classmates and colleagues, regardless of where they lived. It also offered the ability to find communities and people who shared common interests, fostering new connections.

Our social media feeds were once simply a reflection of the people we wanted to stay in touch with and know more about. They had updates and photos.

At its best, social media was also a democratic marketplace of ideas or the online public square. It fueled democratic movements from the Arab Spring to Ukraine. These digital connections had real-world implications that changed the course of history.

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Over time, this north star has fallen as big social media platforms increasingly prioritize an algorithm that keeps us artificially engaged and promotes paid content. Social media feeds are showing more content from accounts with no connection to a person and fewer posts from their friends, family and community.

It is prioritizing video content over updates and photos because many social media platforms have lost the social element and are now simply media platforms.

I understand the need to make a profit and think there is real promise in subscription-based social media, but Musk continues to get the fundamentals wrong and the continuous manipulation of the system is eroding trust.

A subscription-based social media model can lead to a more democratic and enjoyable experience. Early access to new features, access to exclusive tools and filters, or advanced analytics are just a few examples of the ways a subscription model can work. I see that work at MeWe and other subscription-based services like Reddit and Substack.

A subscription model can help move companies away from the harmful effects of the engagement model, like addiction, rabbit holes and the amplification of divisive content for the sake of driving more advertising dollars.

It can give users a richer social experience by displaying fewer ads and showing more content from people they truly care about.

Most social media companies have taken the wrong approach in pursuing an engagement model that is driven by the goal of serving ads. As more platforms set in to provide the connection and features people want, social media platforms would be smart to change course or risk losing over the long run.