Nice article on the boom to bust cycle of social media. It used to be that people were creating content much in the manner of my writing this blog. The material was whatever the producer cared to produce. There was not much thought paid to the consumer. If some folks happened by and liked what they saw, they would stick around or tell others about it. Either way, it did not influence what content creator chose to produce. It was the fun part of social media - the serendipitous connections, chance discovery of interesting, offbeat stuff. People were doing their own thing with the option to share. Over time, the joy of that style of low pressure social sharing went away as this author points out.
"Part of the reason why social media doesn't feel fun is because the communication around it is: 'You're a brand. Everyone is their own brand. Everyone is their own television network. You should be making videos,'" Merritt said. "All this pressure to produce not only content but a high level of content in conjunction with living your actual life."
Those of us who don't want to partake in this avatar of social media have only one choice - sit out of it. In my case, I have found it harder and harder to find unique content that I enjoy reading because the producer is not interested in being found by an audience. Every once in a while I run into a real treasure - a website run by someone deeply passionate about their subject with an small but devoted audience.
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