{"id":616309,"date":"2023-03-10T08:49:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/when-social-media-platforms-start-to-look-alike-the-key-differentiator-is-in-their-roots\/"},"modified":"2023-03-10T08:49:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:48","slug":"when-social-media-platforms-start-to-look-alike-the-key-differentiator-is-in-their-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/when-social-media-platforms-start-to-look-alike-the-key-differentiator-is-in-their-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"When social media platforms start to look alike, the key differentiator is in their roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of an eight-article editorial series that explores the ramifications of a fragmented social marketplace. More from the series \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and arguably nowhere is that truer than in social media.\u00a0Whenever a new feature captures user interest, competing platforms are quick to implement their own versions lest users flee, leaving those platforms relegated to the dustbin of social media history alongside Friendster, MySpace, Google+ and countless others.<\/p>\n

In 2013, for example, a short-form video app named Vine took social media by storm. Four years later, it was dead \u2014 but the style of its brief, succinct videos has since resurrected to become what\u00a0James Creech, svp of strategy at social analytics firm Brandwatch, called \u201cone of the most hotly contested battlegrounds\u201d in social. It includes players like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts.<\/p>\n

\n

That\u2019s to say nothing of photo app newcomer BeReal, which has spurred the likes of TikTok Now and Meta\u2019s Roll Call.\u00a0While the app\u2019s hype period may be waning<\/a>, platforms still move fast to mimic the latest draw, seeing it as a potential threat to lose users and advertisers.<\/p>\n

As a result,\u00a0everything old in social media is eventually new again.<\/p>\n

A battle ignites, over and over<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The root of this phenomenon starts with some good old-fashioned competition \u2014 and maybe a little paranoia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to \u2026 how much [apps] are craving user time and attention to fund their platforms and the fear that if any other platform starts to poke its head out and become popular, they quickly react and try and capitalize on what makes it interesting or relevant to those users,\u201d said Richard Oldfield, vp and executive director of media and connections at ad agency R\/GA.<\/p>\n

And when TikTok became the most-downloaded app of 2020<\/a> with 89 million downloads in the U.S. alone, per Apptopia, you better believe competitors like Instagram (62 million) and Facebook (53 million) were watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when other platforms start noticing and adjusting their services to capture and retain the audience attention,\u201d said\u00a0Claudia Ratterman, a director analyst at research firm Gartner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hence the hotly contested battlegrounds. And even if the copycat feature isn\u2019t as good as the original, it can still help retain users longer \u2014 and appeal to new users \u2014 while also decreasing the likelihood they will try out alternatives. And when users stay, there are more opportunities to advertise to them.<\/p>\n

Move slow and copy things<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But it\u2019s also more difficult for giants to evolve as they grow. After all, Facebook dropped its infamous internal \u201cmove fast and break things\u201d slogan in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sense is the platforms have become so big they don\u2019t have a lot of time to innovate,\u201d Oldfield said. \u201cConsumer tastes are changing quite rapidly, so they don\u2019t have time to necessarily recalibrate and really think about what their product offers and is doing in the same way they might have done 10 or 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because they don\u2019t have time to look too far ahead, they have to \u201cstamp out any competition immediately \u2026 with Reels being the perfect example,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s TikTok\u2019s short-form looping video or BeReal\u2019s dual camera feature, copycat features on entrenched platforms yield stickiness among existing users \u2014 which also means more opportunities to generate revenue through advertising to said users.<\/p>\n

But if every social media platform eventually has some kind of short-form video functionality, there\u2019s risk they\u2019ll all start to look the same. There are, however, several ways apps can stay relevant.<\/p>\n

Core value<\/strong> to audiences<\/h2>\n

For starters, platforms should focus on why consumers were drawn to them in the first place\u00a0and innovate from that point rather than pivoting in an entirely new direction based on what other platforms are doing.<\/p>\n

Gary Nix, chief strategy officer at digital agency the Brandarchist, cautioned against drastically changing what users come to you for \u2014 and to know your purpose and where you fit in the whole ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still have to serve the users that came to you,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, if you try to keep up with other channels, people are going to be like, \u2018OK, so now you are trying to be this other channel and you\u2019re going to take away what I like from yours? Why am I here?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Oldfield pointed to streaming platform Spotify, which has reportedly tested a TikTok-like video feed<\/a>, as an example of this. \u201cYes, there\u2019s a great opportunity when it comes to music and video, but, as TikTok has shown, the minute you start trying to evolve beyond your core benefit, it becomes more and more challenging,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

User experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Copycatting \u2014 or even what Creech called \u201cfeature bloat\u201d \u2014 also comes with risk of degrading the user experience\u00a0as users are subjected to the whims of the algorithm instead of the content they actually want to see. He, too, pointed to Instagram, which updated the navigation bar to more prominently feature Reels and demote shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Meta is] still testing out these features or leaning into those business priorities,\u201d Creech said. \u201cBut they\u2019re also being reactive to what the users want, so hopefully there\u2019s some healthy balance there and that\u2019s allowing us to have a better experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he acknowledged hearing complaints about the platform\u2019s push of Reels onto users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely been public outcry about these apps constantly copying other features and trying to be the complete social platform,\u201d Creech added. \u201cA lot of folks really say, \u2018Well, I\u2019m happy with Instagram being the place for photos and TikTok being the place I get videos and Facebook having news content,\u2019 but that\u2019s not necessarily aligned with the business interests of the platform to attract as big an audience [and] as many advertisers as it can.\u201d<\/p>\n

After all, a platform\u2019s revenue comes from advertisers attracted by users \u2014 and user data \u2014 which is why the former yearn to be everything to everyone.<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To avoid backlash, platforms can implement social listening tools to better understand user behavior. This way, if there is a feature like search that is gaining traction on TikTok, other apps can determine not only whether to enhance their existing functionality, but how to do it better.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstand behavior changes slightly depending on what\u2019s happening in our external environment, so we have to adjust to that and offer them what they\u2019re looking for,\u201d Ratterman said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re telling us what they want. So I think platforms that listen and adjust their platforms to actually serve \u2026 they\u2019re more user-centric versus brand-centric.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, Nix said the goal should be relevance instead of competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see something different and feel like you can enhance what\u2019s already happening here, yeah, find ways to integrate that,\u201d he added. \u201cYou say, \u2018Here\u2019s how I can add to it to make the experience better,\u2019 because you\u2019re doing it for the people there instead of just for the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratterman agreed some platforms struggle because \u201cthey focus on advertising, advertising, advertising\u201d instead of users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere can be a danger if you try and move too fast, if you try and implement new ad models that seem to be working for somebody else,\u201d Oldfield added. \u201cYou increase the ad load, if there is less care and consideration around brand safety \u2026 there\u2019s a question over the environment and ultimately, what\u2019s being created.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Lisa Lacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story is part of an eight-article editorial series that explores the ramifications of a fragmented social marketplace. More from the series \u2192They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and arguably nowhere is that truer than in social media.\u00a0Whenever a new feature captures user interest, competing platforms are quick to implement their own<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":616310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1125,700,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-media","category-social","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}