When we look at a view for five minutes we don’t always see change so it’ll always be there, surely?
But storms can erode the cliff facing the sea and the hundred-year-old house can topple into waves below.
When I first came across social media circa 2009, it was generous, kind and filled with the wisdom of wise people. Today, it can be much harder edged.
Those moments of generosity can still be found but for me they’re in Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats and LinkedIn.
Social media has changed by degrees.
But every now and then the picture solidifies, just like it does in this FT graphic.
This captures data presented by Meta when they were trying to convince a court they weren’t a social media platform at all.
Oh, the audacity.
The data shows we are less likely to keep up with friends, share an opinion or meet new people. We are more likely to follow celebrities and fill spare time.
We may feel this but its rare for a company to quantify it.
It’s not just Meta lawyers saying it.
Danah Boyd is a rare thing. An academic whose work is useable. Her book ‘It’s Complicated’ has been on my bookshelf for years. Her research-based observations explains how young people use the social web.
Young people, she concluded, use the social web in the same way as my generation – Gen X – used the landline. If I wanted to speak to my mate David after school in 1985 I’d have to call him on the landline because there were no mobile phones. If my parents came into the hall while we were chatting, I’d change the conversation or take the phone into another room if the extension cable allowed.
In 2026, Danah Boyd in her academic paper ‘Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media’ has observed today’s changes and describes the new era as ‘para-social media’.
What does that mean?
The para-social relationship is a one-sided relationship where person ‘A’ thinks they know person ‘B’ intimately but person ‘B’ isn’t even aware they exist. A bit like my Aunt and George Harrison. She loved him and had his poster on the wall. But the quiet Beatle didn’t know she existed.
She said:
“Today’s social media platforms are no longer centered around sociable activities. Instead, most platforms offer us a broadcast medium and invite us to learn how to game the algorithm. Scrolling is easier. Sending funny videos to friends via text message feels safer than reposting.
“Because of these shifts, we now live in a world of parasocial media. Parasocial relationships are one-sided connections, where individuals keep tabs on the lives and movements of people – like celebrities – who do not know us and feel no pressure to reciprocate.”
What para-social media means for the public sector
I think Danah Boyd is right.
People want less conversation and connection and they do want to follow celebrities and entertainment.
But for the public sector, the twisted entertainment can be a pile-on to an organisation like the RNLI or a Councillor who has made a comment that others disagree with.
There is very little space for discussion in the comments section of a police Facebook page following an arrest.
The public sector has pulled back from this. Restricting comments is now the norm for high profile cases. Ten years ago this would be unthinkable. Today, it’s a way to stop a bonfire.
The shift to more video on social channels is also inherently para-social. We see the clip and we can react. But we are not expected to take part in a discussion.
But does this mean the public sector needs to pull away from digital channels?
No. It’s where people are. But the public sector does need to adjust how it delivers its communications. I could go through a pile of tactics. But strategically, if social media – or para-social media – is now about filling spare time, entertainment and celebrities what does that look like?
More entertaining content for one.
Content that will actually work on the platform not what a middle manager would like to happen.
Yet again, the communicator as educator for the organisation is uppermost.
And yet again, the data on what works and what doesn’t will be critical in winning this critical argument.
For more, I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape.
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Creative commons credit: Rockfall by By Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0.