Social Media Is Dead. Welcome to the Swipe Era

Eras used to span millions of years, but today they come and go in a swipe. Amid this culture churn, hot takes about what brands should do go stale almost instantly. There is no time to hypothesize when we’re all too busy trying to catch up on whatever-core. Thanks, relentless scrolling, for eviscerating society’s attention span—your 15 minutes of fame is now 15 seconds. 

But within the swirl, we also see opportunities to surf, moments where brands can benefit from closer connections to their core customers. 

It’s the end of social media as we know it, an era that lasted from “The Facebook” to “The ‘Gram.” An era that changed the world, for better and for worse. But a new era is upon us, and for brands, being ready for what’s next is critical. To better understand where we’re going, let’s run back the clock and replay how we got here. 

From social media to culture media

Over the past decade, as we’ve spent more of our lives gawking at our phones, brands invested more in the platforms that came to define the era: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snap. Brands became convinced that joining in on trending conversations would unlock cultural resonance. Agencies hired tweens to tweet the right combo of emojis and internet slang. The influencer economy boomed as brands bought platform reach and relevance. With the right bump of paid social, campaigns racked up views, and everyone high-fived each other. 

Only nah. Not really. Not anymore. All eras must come to an end—even for brands who say “bae.” Evidence of this era’s demise surrounds us: the death spiral of Meta and Musk; mass layoffs across the tech industry; the surgeon general’s warning in May that social media can be harmful to children. But as well as something ending, it also feels like something is beginning. 

Your first taste of the new era came when a TikTok video popped up in your feed and spoke directly to your core—more than any existing social media platform or TV commercial ever did. That first sweet hit of algorithmic dopamine hits different. Forget your friends—this was about you. A “For You” video feed that gets better the more you’re on it, through machine learning analysis of your data set. It literally knows what u ❤️ before u even ❤️ it.

In this new era, content media has evolved from a network of “friends” into a living database of your own personal identity, tailored to the fluid way you see the world and the communities you see yourself in. The content machines now understand what you’re obsessed with and, even more impressively, what you will likely become obsessed with. Cultural zeitgeist as we know it faces an existential threat—shared monoculture is splintering into a bazillion algorithmically curated subcultures. Identity is no longer confined to where people live or what your IRL circle is talking about at the lunch table. You can now obsess over anything you want, wherever, whenever, however you want.

No clearer is this example illustrated than with the launch of Threads, Meta’s unbridled effort to take down Twitter at its weakest moment. Threads has made a remarkable entrance into the social media landscape, luring in reluctant users from Twitter and Instagram and amassing a staggering 100 million users within its first week. We didn’t know we needed another social platform, even one built as progressively as Threads, and yet we can’t help ourselves when another opportunity is provided to swipe deeper into our interests.

Threads hopes to succeed where Twitter ultimately struggled, orienting its community building around our desire to see more from creators we already follow. Only time will tell if Zuck will finally deliver Twitter’s death knell, but early signs are looking strong, and Musk is not happy—we just may get that cage match after all.

Get obsessive

What it takes to win in this new era is a shared obsession. Ask yourself: What is it that our customers are *really* obsessed with, and how can we share those obsessions in ways that will make our customers feel seen? 

The opportunity for marketers is clear: Speak, create and nurture these new subcultural realities, and you’ll find audiences that want to grow and co-create with you. To communicate effectively in this new era, brands must speak truth to more specific audiences in a language they understand, sharing artifacts and beliefs that create a unified respect of the culture we share. 

In our work, it looks like Nike empowering everyday athletes. For McDonald’s, it’s loving your order. For Visa, it’s ensuring that anyone can make it. For Samsung, it’s technology improving quality of life.

Gone are the days of brands simply tossing out influencer content and seeing significant engagement. You can always pay for views, but it’s much harder to convert those into likes, shares, comments, follows and fandom. There’s too much content that people are actually interested in for them to care about ads. They need to see something that moves them. 

Machine learning media platforms are, ironically, forcing brands to think deeper about human connections and genuine community artifacts over automated platform best practices. Brands who know their audience and share their obsessions can show up and be welcomed in spaces where marketing is usually swiped away on sight. Creating authentic storytelling from those places is an earned opportunity they can capitalize on every day.

The idea is to stop throwing darts at an unfathomable board. Aim instead for the bullseye: your niche communities, the nooks and crannies of your brand’s fandom where you’d be welcomed as a guest, not an intruder. And when you find them, gin up the courage to speak directly and authentically to them with something meaningful and interesting to say. Show them you understand and are working hard to make it better, whatever it is (and hopefully for good, not evil). 

Brands who’ll succeed in this new era are those pursuing marketing approaches that prioritize specialized subcultures and communities over blindly targeting mass audiences. It’s not easy to start thinking about specific markets and micro-influence, especially for brands who’ve been used to measuring success by scale and mass influence. But when it’s done well, the impact can be significant: Nike standing behind Kaepernick. McDonald’s releasing adult Happy Meal toys with Cactus Plant Flea Market. Teyana Taylor celebrating Harlem for Jordan Brand. Delta being styled by Issa Rae. 

By engaging with particular subcultures, and devoting dollars to providing value to them, marketers can build genuine connections, foster brand loyalty, drive valuable relationships that contribute to long-term business objectives and achieve more effective marketing results.