Facebook launched in 2004, but it was limited to students at certain colleges and universities. In 2006, it opened to the public, and it quickly grew in popularity.

I joined Facebook in 2007, and back then, I thought it was great. I was working as a rep at the time, and Facebook allowed me to connect and stay in touch with friends and family back home, plus the people I met overseas.

But Facebook now isn’t what it was then. It’s not a place for staying in touch with friends.

In fact, only 17% of Facebook interactions are people consuming content from their friends. On Instagram, it’s only 7% (source).

So if we’re not using social media to keep up with friends, what are we using it for?

John Burn-Murdoch wrote an article for the Financial Times. It’s behind a paywall, but I was able to find a short excerpt of it here. It included a graph showing how social media usage has changed in the last ten years.

In 2014, people cited five main reasons for using social media, and the split was pretty even:

By 2024, there were only two main reasons being cited: to follow celebrities and to fill spare time.

People aren’t using social media to be socialable. They are using it to consume content.

But that’s not necessarily good news for content creators, because social media platforms don’t need our content - they can make their own with AI.

Companies such as Meta didn’t just build social media platforms and then stop. They went on to develop AI technology. And that means they can generate content faster than we could ever consume it.

They can fill our social media feeds with a never-ending supply of computer-generated content. And it doesn’t even have to be good because they pretty much have it on tap.

They no longer have to rely on users to create or share content. They just need us to consume it.

Most of us are guilty of mindlessly scrolling from time to time - it’s no secret that social media is addictive. But with more and more crap being churned out, we need to be more aware of how we spend our time there.

Scrolling your feed without any intention is like eating junk food - something that’s ok to indulge in now and then, but not something you should make a habit of.

So be more intentional. Use the search feature to search for topics that are interesting to you. Seek out people who share useful or interesting content. Subscribe to their emails, blogs, or YouTube channels. Engage with stuff that is genuinely useful so that you get shown more stuff like that. Join groups where people talk about stuff that will be beneficial to you.

And set a limit on how long you spend scrolling. Set a timer or use an app blocker if you have to.

If I were starting a business from scratch, social media would not be my top priority. However, I do think there is still a place for it if we recognise that it has changed and we adapt our strategy.

My current social media strategy involves two key things:

With so much content being churned out, it’s too easy for our posts to get lost and ignored. That’s why I try to move conversations away from the main feed.

If you don’t have an email list, I highly recommend starting one. People who subscribe to your emails are people who are interested in hearing what you have to say, rather than people who might occasionally notice a post from you on their social media feed.

And if you need help deciding what platform to use, what type of content to create, or how to attract the right audience, book 90 minutes with me.

If you’d like to receive my weekly email updates and monthly results, hit subscribe, and I’ll be in your inbox every Friday.

P.S. I also have a free 14-day email course to help you improve your sales copy and marketing content. You can find out more and sign up here.