I recall the exact moment I realized Twitter was a powerful news gathering tool and more than just a novelty where people shared funny videos of cats.
It was just after 4:30 p.m. CST Jan. 15, 2009. I was new to Twitter at the time, figuring out how to use tools like trending topics. A picture popped up showing people standing on the wings of a jet airliner in a river.
This was the “Miracle on the Hudson,” when pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger skillfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in New York’s Hudson River. The plane lost power in both engines when it struck geese shortly after takeoff. All 155 people on board survived.
Within minutes of the crash landing, while passengers awaited rescue, here was a picture showing the situation in real time before any news outlet report.
Twitter offered access to raw, unfiltered images and information as events unfolded. Twitter and other sites played key roles in the revolutionary wave of protests and uprisings known as the Arab Spring beginning in 2010.
During a night of tornado activity, I remember following a storm chaser as he drove around rural Will County and livestreamed his activity on Periscope, a video service Twitter discontinued in 2021.
Social media wielded potential to save lives and change the world. However, while many users were awed by its ability to contribute to the common good, bad actors were plotting ways they could use platforms to create harm.
Interactions began to sour, particularly on Facebook during the 2016 presidential election. Friends argued about politics. What was once a fun place to reconnect with former classmates and make new friends had morphed into a dreadful bog where you had to moderate ugly debates.
People have always been prone to deception when it comes to new media. Adolf Hitler used radio, a novel medium at the time, to build his following. In 1938, Orson Welles sparked panic across America when his “War of the Worlds” radio drama caused many to believe Martians had invaded Earth.
In the case of Facebook and the 2016 election, a whistleblower who formerly worked for Cambridge Analytica exposed how the company harvested personal data from Facebook users. The whistleblower helped raise awareness about privacy concerns and how bad actors could obtain information about users’ location, preferences and other data.
Privacy remains a serious concern regarding social media use. Congress just passed a $1.7 trillion spending plan that includes a provision that bans TikTok from all mobile devices issued to lawmakers and employees of the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. government officials are concerned that TikTok’s Chinese owners are using the popular social media app to spy on Americans.
Because social media is constantly evolving, every so often it’s a good idea to weigh the good and the bad and decide whether to keep using platforms, join new ones or look for something entirely different.
A key benefit of periodically analyzing one’s social media activity is to address why someone is using a particular platform in the first place. I continue to use Facebook, for example, for personal and professional reasons.
I enjoy connecting with family, friends and acquaintances, especially people I don’t often get the chance to see in person. I belong to several groups devoted to tracking newsworthy developments in communities. I use Facebook Messenger to communicate with some sources.
Social media can be addictive and can affect self esteem, especially among younger users. It can be unhealthy to measure one’s sense of worth by how many likes a post receives. If the main reason you post on social media is to be liked, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.
I have little patience for vanity. Experience has taught me to discern when someone’s post is motivated by a desire for attention, as opposed to sharing information that might help or inspire others.
We live in an era that rewards attention-seekers. We elect some of them to public office. We call others influencers and reward them with money and endorsements when they attract a lot of eyeballs and subscribers to their pages.
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That’s fine some of the time. We all have egos. A near-fatal heart attack in 2014 forever changed my worldview. I now try to think more about others and less about myself. Money and material things mean less to me than memorable experiences and treasured relationships with a few close family members and friends.
Apparently, some folks who spend a lot more time thinking about these things than I do have put a lot of work lately into addressing the future of social media. A consensus seems to be forming that social media as we know it is a fad whose day has come and gone.
“Social media is entering its flop era,” a Vice headline declared Dec. 13. The subhead said, “Instagram is dying, Twitter’s imploding and TikTok is for a certain kind of person. Where does that leave us?”
The magazine The Atlantic essentially wrote social media’ s obituary in a November article, “The Age of Social Media is Ending.” Author Ian Bogost wrote that social media over shared itself to death after it evolved from social networking years ago.
“On social media, everyone believes that anyone to whom they have access owes them an audience,” Bogost wrote. “People just aren’t meant to talk to one another this much.”
At the moment there seems to be a lot of debate and angst about what happens next. Many are seeking an alternative to Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. I quit Twitter as soon as Musk closed the deal.
My solution is to not seek an alternative. You can find me on Facebook, where I habitually check in several times a day and post a few times per week. I’m on Instagram and LinkedIn but rarely use them.
For me, less is more. The less time spent wondering what others think about my posts on social media, the more time I have to do the creative pursuits I enjoy. I’ve found I don’t need to broadcast my every move to the world.
To paraphrase an adage, when a tree falls in the forest and no one posts about it on social media, it still makes a sound.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.