Colin McKnight
2010’s “The Social Network,” directed by David Fincher and starring Jesse Eisenberg as the now legendary, yet mysterious, American icon Mark Zuckerberg, aimed to shine a light on both the pretty—and not-so-pretty—sides of the gargantuan social media platform and the company behind it. The film depicts the history of Facebook as cloaked in controversy since the beginning, from the original purpose of its creation, to the disputes between the various figures at the company and the true motivations of Zuckerberg himself.
Skip ahead to 2018, and that public image of a generally beneficial platform, save a couple rough spots, that allows users to communicate both casually and professionally with people all over the world, has steadily shifted into one of a potentially dubious device used by various political interest mega-groups in order to gain information on you without your knowing.
Earlier this month, Facebook announced it would start bestowing users a “trustworthiness” rating, known only to company employees, in order gauge the validity of a user’s content and how much spread that content might get. While a great idea on paper, there could be hiccups in execution. Questions arise over censorship on the platform, how Facebook employees would unbiasedly determine “trustworthiness,” and how that would impact the spread of certain messages and ideals over others.
Additionally, there’s a certain irony in Facebook critiquing users’ “trustworthiness,” when their own trustworthiness in the eyes of the public is in very hot water. Multiple events in the past few years have led to a growing distrust in the company, culminating in Zuckerberg’s congressional hearings earlier this year where he was grilled by officials on those previously mentioned privacy leaks.
Considering the stormy waters Facebook currently treads, it’s worth wondering what purpose it has in the current, fast-paced professional world, and in the academic sector preparing the next generation for that world. Companies and universities need to begin considering how much emphasis they’ll need to place on Facebook and its usefulness.
The professional world is always in need of the latest and greatest tools to maintain the cutting-edge, and Facebook’s current situation may scare off companies from putting too much time and effort into it compared to other platforms. Experts in public relations, marketing, media and other communications and business fields are always looking for the best way to spread their messages to the largest possible audience and different types of demographics. Facebook may soon begin to see a drop in certain types of audiences.
Professor Scott Galloway told Forbes that not only has Facebook recently hit some rough patches, but it has failed in properly managing effective PR. Galloway noted, “in the midst of one of the worst handled crises in the history of modern business,” and that the algorithm’s ability to characterize its users had made the platform “dangerous” in the eyes of many.
News outlets are reporting a stall in Facebook’s growth, and it isn’t too hard to imagine that we may see a decline in active monthly users in the near future. Fredessa Denise Hamilton, an advisor and lecturer in the NC State Communication Department, also has doubts over Facebook’s current trajectory.
“I don’t know that the platform is going to continue at the level of popularity as it is right now,” Hamilton said. “[And] I don’t necessarily know that there is a need for academia to immerse itself in Facebook culture.”
With the current age of social media platforms rising just to be dethroned at an astounding rate, students in the fields of communications, marketing and other similar programs should focus more on a general social media competency, rather than on specific platforms. Audiences are now swapping more frequently between different types of social media, so students should be prepared to adapt as well.
I won’t jump to conclusions like other writers and declare that, “Facebook will be dead in a year!” That’s just ridiculous. Despite taking some hard economic hits, the company is still valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Plus, the platform still excels at communication and global networking. But its pedestal has become slippery over recent years, and its status as the king of social media could be swiped away by any worthy contender.