What Hath Social Media Wrought?

Here are a dozen pointers on how to optimize your social media marketing strategies

- Raju Chellam

What hath GenAI on social media wrought?

It spews out fake news, divisive thoughts.

It makes us addicted to "likes" and "shares", It exploits our data and privacy scares.

Is it a monster we created that can't be taught?

If that limerick made you worry, these statistics should make you wary: The amount of money spent on advertising on social media is set to cross US$255.8 billion by 2028, up from US$219.8 billion in 2024, according to the latest report from Statista Research. The bulk of this spending will happen, as expected, in the US, with up to US$76.4 billion being spent in 2024 alone.

Statista defines social media advertising as a form of online digital marketing to promote brands, products, solutions and services to boost purchase decisions. "Key players in this market include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Weibo, Naver, and Kakao," the firm notes. "Up to US$255.8 billion of total ad spend will be done through mobile in 2028."

Why discuss social media now? First, because of its length. It is exactly 20 years since The Facebook was founded - on February 4, 2004-before its name was changed to Facebook in August 2005. Second, because of its breadth. According to estimates, there are currently between 5.1 and 5.4 billion users on all social media platforms worldwide, which is roughly 65% of the world's population. And finally, because of the explosion of Generative AI (GenAI) and its impact on social media.

Facebook was not the pioneer; Six Degrees, a website set up in 1997 was. Users could create their own personalized profiles on Six Degrees and "add" another person's profile to their own as a friend. The name was indirectly derived from the theory of "six degrees of separation" that postulates that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other.

THE DILEMMA