Chris In this video, Andre and I discussed the uncertain future of social media, why YouTube may be uniquely positioned and how to take control of your own social media use. But first one of the things we'd wanted to talk about was social media and kind of platform control. And this is something that is somewhat near and dear to our hearts, because of our experience in the tech industry. You know, we've The cats out of the bag, right? So we don't have to pretend anymore. But D zone was certainly not a, like a social media site, per se, right. But we did have, we did publish content, and there was a lot of moderation and kind of policing of that content, as well as comments, which gets very much into the realm of that kind of social media stuff. And so yeah, I just, you know, it's interesting, because I know, with the way that the laws and everything are set up right now that social media sites, they're allowed to basically remove whatever content they see fit. But it also doesn't seem like they're ultimately required or held liable for not removing that content. Yeah. Andre Section 231. I believe it is, is the loophole that online platforms have taken advantage of. With the reinstitution of net neutrality, we'll see how that goes. I personally believe that there should be some accountability on the platforms for the weird stuff I don't think they should hide behind. We're just the broadcaster type thing we're not, we're not a publisher. Big because at the same, although they're private companies at the same time, they try to play the the inverse of that when it comes to their terms and conditions. But if you really look at the terms and conditions, example, Reddit, you can be banned. They're doing the thing they say they're not doing so. Chris Yeah, I mean, is that is it something that you think that? I mean, are we gonna get to a point where social media, like as a platform type, or as like, you know, it's just as a platform, as an app that that becomes regulated, like, more specifically by Congress, because of that sort of thing in terms of like publishing and liability. And, you know, I think that like the transparency in terms of like, why people are banned and stuff like that. Andre I don't think social media is going to be around much longer. So there's that. So Chris so Andre it's a dying industry. And that that picture, it's, um, I see it. It's a dying industry. So I'm not very I'm not concerned about it. When you think about the potential tick tock ban, and now China is suing the United States, tick by dance is suing the United States. I don't think people really understand that. The only reason tick tock is so popular. Well, there's a couple of variables, I believe, one COVID. Two, it was something that people 30 Plus weren't on. So a lot of younger people were there, they, for the most part of migrating to Snapchat, as we, as we're speaking right now. So you'll see the proliferation of Snapchat, you know, Chris seeing Snapchat ads on whatever like free streaming TV service Christy uses sometimes. Andre Okay, so I think pretty soon, Tik Tok won't be the thing. It's no different than MySpace or all the things before, right. Chris Yeah. 30 plus people get there, then nobody else like all the younger viewers. Oh, god. Yeah. So I are on Facebook. I don't want to be on Facebook. Right. So Andre I just don't I don't think I don't think 10 or 15 years from now we're going to be talking about social media to be I think people are going to go back to having their own website, which I'm a strong advocate of writing blog posts, which, you know, which I'm an advocate of putting all your eggs in the basket of a channel is just poor all the way around. And I think social media has become more of a marketing tool than a communication tool, which is what it was intended for, or a way to connect. So I think people are getting tired of that. Chris No, you're right. And it's one of those, you know, like, again, YouTube is not necessarily, I think, viewed in that same realm of social media like Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that. But that's, it's one of the apps that I have found myself spending more time on. And I've discovered it's because of shorts, which is very much like a tick tock rip off obviously. And if there is just something about like, the the ease of like, just flipping up, you know, like the next thing that you're not selecting anything, it's just like, here, you want this here. You want this here, you want this. But I very quickly, I'm like, This is not healthy. This is very bad way to spend several hours if I'm not careful. So yeah, I've had I've had to really like police, my own use of YouTube and shorts and stuff like that. And I tried to be active on YouTube as the channel because I figured like, if I'm out commenting and stuff, as right, Chris Andre shows and maybe we get more eyeballs, but Well, I Andre think that I believe that YouTube's in a unique position because there is so much more. I don't think Tik Tok is I don't think Facebook really is I think Facebook is a one trick pony. Their global audience has continued to increase while their US audience is dying. not dying, but they they're not getting the the monthly active users they once did their positioning. What's what with WhatsApp? I mean, they positioned themselves to where they by consuming their competitors, to figure out how to stay viable. how long that lasts. Who knows? Chris I mean, even like, GE, right, right, like, who thought that GE would eventually crumble the way that it has and just be basically sold off for parts. And they weren't in the same boat where it was just like, Oh, we're just buying up ship that we have no idea what this business is. Right. And that was the whole basis for the show. 30 rock was GE and bought NBC and sure we've got to run it like we run our microwave division. Why wouldn't we right Gary? Jack Donaghy Gary's dead. I'm Jack Donaghy, new VP of development for NBC Universal Kmart. With three kinds of heat, you can cook a turkey in 22 minutes. That is impressive. The people upstairs think so. That's why they promoted me. That's why they sent me here to retool your show. Andre I never watched that show. But I mean, when you think, gee, you think of a company ubiquitous with everything, you know, you think of a strong brand. Now it's kind of like, oh, there there are around in parts. And here's a good example into it. Quicken, they sold it to a a private equity group. But people most people don't know that Quicken is not owned by Intuit anymore. Chris I had no idea. Andre So there's a there's a size a company can get to if there's no longer innovation, where they die. And that is just a fact. GE is an example. into it is an example. Adobe is an example. Facebook, or Meetup is an example when you have to buy your competitors. That means that you're probably on a lifeline of some time. Chris You're not You're not creating anything yourself, right. And like you're saying there's only so much time that you can go around acquire because what you're basically doing is you're taking these successful businesses, acquiring them, and then running them the same way you're running the rest of your business, which is not innovating. Andre Tesla. So there's that. So I mean, I'm just That's my observation. Hit us up in the comments, if you agree, love to know what you think. But I'm not even being pessimistic. I'm just saying that, you know, there's a lot of heat on Tik Tok. Right. And social media in general. Right. I do see that the the inherent mental health impact that social media has. I'm not denying that. But I also believe that a lot of it is a lot of the issues that we have with social media are really just media hype. It's not all that it's meant to be stopped looking. Stop opening the app. Chris That's the key, right? Like the thing that I think gets lost in so many things today is the personal responsibility. Right? Like, yeah, that stuff's addictive. If you have zero willpower to either delete the apps from your phone, or to stop opening them, you know, like, it's your phone even has, like we talked about with parenting and like, you know, parental controls your Phone has controls to keep you from spending too much time on those apps. If you want to write, that's the thing I started doing with YouTube, where I have the snooze like it's time. Hey, it's bedtime, Chris 1130 like you need to go to bed stop being on YouTube. Andre So what does that say about how people structure their days? Right now I actually use YouTube for several things like one just white noise in the background. There's a few channels I follow. But when I look at my, what I've got to get done for the day, I know I need to cut off and just like focus on the thing I'm doing right. Now I can I often you know, there are times I struggle with that. But for the most part, I'm not just completely sucked in, you know, there's a point where my brain goes, Yeah, or stop playing around. I think that people not having some are building some structure into your day as part of the problem. Like you're not working on anything important. So it's even like downtime going to bed. Like my wife and I were watching. We started watching Modern Family from the very beginning. But we only watch a couple episodes and we go to sleep, you know, because we have to get up and exercise in the morning. But I say that to say like, Aren't there other things you can be doing besides just absorbing? Like, you know, all that crap in your head? Yep. Chris Yeah, that's exactly what it boils down to. Right is that it's the same thing with games on my phone, right? Nothing else. But yeah, exactly. And then it's like, what am I doing? Like? This is literally now like taking up time that I could be spending doing things I actually enjoy. And I'm like, frustrated playing this stupid Match Game. Like, I can't get this stupid. I spent Andre 100 bucks, at least on Clash of Clans. At least 100 bucks now, and I spent like probably maybe 75 on there's another one where you build a city because I really liked Sim City, when that was hoping there was a game similar to that one I had on my phone. But what am I doing? I don't have any games on my phone now. Like, I don't have time for that. Chris I have three of them left. And they're all for the kid. Andre Sure they're Chris not I don't play him anymore, because I'm just but I still like yeah, I catch myself still spending too much time on social media and stuff like that. But I've I've gotten better about it. It ebbs and flows, though, when I would say I kind of Andre I kind of got to thing with with, with rent. And so on my home feed, it's just the things that I developers, for whatever reason, continue to use Reddit as a platform. Every now and then I pick it popular. And then I'm like, this is all garbage. It is I can't scroll like without, I don't know, 10 things. And this is milk. Like I don't, why is this here? So I'm tempted to look at what everybody else is looking at. But I also know that a lot of that stuff, even the comments, they're just bots, it's there's no way a human being is saying the things that people care or even there is a it's not that you're beholden to the algorithm. The algorithm is designed to you design algorithms like that, based on what you shown a keen interest in, it's on a computer reading your mind. It's a reflection of what you're doing on that in that application. So that should tell you enough about yourself. Are you really do you really want to look at that. I mean, that's the question I've asked people. Chris That's the whole thing, right? It's like that all that negative stuff is what grabs attention, Andre right? are just really weird and obscure. Chris Weird, obscure, but I so for me, like on Reddit, I rarely go to anything other than my homepage. Occasionally I'll switch to latest, but usually I'm just on the homepage. Andre Do you have recommendations? Chris On Yeah, I do. I did. And then I turned it off recently. Because I got really tired of that. Because it was like, every day I'm like 50 things like no, I don't want to see. So because I interact in the Wilmington subreddit. And it'd be like, all these random cities across America. And it's like, because you've acted, you know, interacted with a similar community. And I'm like, you dumb motherfuckers the only reason participating in the Wilmington wasn't because I live here. I don't live in any of these other places. I don't want any I don't need to know what's going on Peoria like Andre we as a society, we have a we don't know how to use technology, but we blame technology for our lack of understanding of technology. And that's really what are to me Chris when like so, you know, what I was saying is like with me for the homepage, what I've noticed is, like every subreddit that I'm part of, or that I follow, it's just negative crap all the time. You know, it's just like people bitching and complaining about stuff. It's all the, you know, Am I The Asshole? best of Reddit updates where you know, all these fucking couples finding out that they're cheating on each other. And, you know, like, yeah, all this stuff. I'm just like, why is this What 90% But then you're right, like, obviously, Reddit looks at it as like, Well, Chris, this is what you're spending your time looking at. So this is what we're gonna show you more of, but that's like, I don't really want to I just kind of get sucked into that, you know, without really thinking about it. And I get Andre my dose of that by there's a couple of youtubers that will go into the weird parts of Reddit for me or they are tick tock. And I watched her videos, and I laugh at the people. And that's kind of trashy that I'm laughing at them laughing or doing their commentary, but it's like yeah, it's just weird that people actually put this stuff out there. Like, why would you do that? You know, because Chris some people don't care, right? Like no publicity is bad publicity kind of thing where it's like, whatever it takes to get engagement to get followers to get clicks. And that because for some people, that's what they base like their self esteem. Yeah, that's fair. Andre I just want to say thank you. For all the people that subscribe and listen to the Chris Snyder show. We're very glad and grateful that you listen and you've subscribed. We're gonna get on a regular cadence. Please go to the Chris Andre show. Chris Andre show.com. Subscribe to our audio podcast. We are on fireside.fm, Spotify, Google podcasts, YouTube. Obviously, wherever you're listening to podcasts, you can probably find the audio version. And yeah, we really appreciate it. I'm very grateful and humbled, to be honest with you that people actually enjoy the podcast and if you like what you hear, hit the like button. Leave comments. If you have suggestions. Always like just let us know. We'll be glad to answer that we do involve engaging the comments even the weird ones so yeah. Chris is just saying that you're still like, Chris you just like I'm gonna do this thing. It didn't tell me what you're gonna say. So, yeah, what he said Transcribed by https://otter.ai