Meta Forgets What Social Media Is

AI curated feeds are not social

Meta seems to have lost the plot lately. In their rush for (impossible) eternal growth and infinite profits, they have forgotten what it was that made them great in the first place.

Last week, Meta announced and then almost immediately walked back changes to “the algorithm” — an opaque bit of coding that nobody really understands, but determines what you see and when you see it in your feeds. This time, they were going to make more than 30% of your feed on Instagram AI-recommended posts.

You can bet that those AI-recommended posts were going to heavily feature advertisers — not necessarily ads, but those who spend money on promoting posts. The more people who see posts from people who promote them, the more likely people are to increase their ad spending and therefore increase Meta’s profits.

Less than a day later, partially spurred on by a campaign that began (ironically enough) with an “influencer”, Meta was quickly walking back its changes.

Profits Over People

In end-stage capitalism (which we are most definitely in), the relentless pursuit of profit means that companies will do anything and everything to chase a quick buck — including destroying their own customer base. Certainly the oil companies haven’t figured out what they’re doing as they rake in record profits while high oil and gasoline prices steadily erode their customer base.

Meta seems to be doing the same thing — putting profits ahead of people. This is a massive problem at a time when people are dying to be connected, and where the relentless pursuit of profit has taken the humanity out of most things in the world.

Meta seems to have forgotten that its business is not ads — it is connecting people. They were founded on their ability to connect people across vast geographic areas, and for them to be able to share their lives remotely. I use their products (primarily Facebook and Instagram) to connect with family and friends around the world.

I love it!

It’s easy for me to catch up and see what other people are doing, and to share in their adventures as they explore places close to home and much farther away. I’m able to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, marriages, and all of life’s other activities in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to do even twenty years ago.

This happens way too often — companies forget what their actual business, chase supposedly infinite profits, and then completely lose the plot of what they should be doing. Kodak forgot they were in the photography business, Blockbuster forgot they were in the entertainment business, and Blackberry forgot they were in the communications business.

When companies lose track of what their actual business is, they end up losing their customers and sometimes losing their whole business.

When you consider what Meta has from most people, that could be a very significant loss.

I have no problem with Meta advertising or otherwise monetizing their product — but not at the expense of their primary product. Social media should be social, not dictated by an obscure algorithm that nobody understands.