“If you see me walking down the street and I start to cry each time we meet
Scroll on by, scroll on by”
My apologies to Dionne Warwick as well as songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David for taking license with their song “Walk On By” but there’s a similarity in the emotions conveyed in that song and today’s topic of discussion. Plus, it makes a nice play on words for the title of this post so scroll on by if you’re not feeling it.
Likely by no coincidence, three significant events are taking place presently. Along with the annual honoring of the contributions to the civil rights movement made by Martin Luther King Jr, today marks not only the start/restart of a new presidential administration but the same for social media as we know it. Whether it’s the evolving dynamics around fact-checking or the rise in popularity of the short-form content featured on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, the nature of social media is being driven by shifts in technology, user behavior, and societal trends beyond our control.
The current kerfuffle over TikTok and its temporary/ pending permanent shutdown in the US revolves around a host of concerns including national security concerns, data privacy, censorship, and geopolitical tensions. I have no expertise by which to speak on any of those issues but I can talk about the user experience because I’ve been scrolling a lot recently.
But not yesterday. With TikTok unavailable for most of the day, I stayed away from all of my social media accounts. My own private protest because I don’t think that it’s just the concerns listed above that are behind the ban. Competition between TikTok and other platforms is an often unspoken part of the story, as its explosive growth has forced rivals to adapt and innovate to keep up. TT’s algorithm superiority with its “For You Page” (FYP) is widely regarded as one of the most advanced recommendation engines in social media. Other platforms have struggled to replicate that level of algorithmic precision and fear the loss of market share, influence, and of course, revenue.
“Make believe that you don’t see the tears, just let me grieve
In private, cause each time I see you, I break down and cry…
Scroll on by … scroll on by … scroll on by…”
As social media has become central to daily life, “scrolling” has become a commonly used term in advertisements, articles, and pop culture. Before the computer age, scrolling referred to the act of physically unrolling scrolls to read text. From the rise of digital interfaces in the 80s and 90s to the explosion of social media and the use of smartphones in the last two decades, web browsing and touchscreens have made scrolling a tactile, natural motion, further embedding the term in popular usage. Alternatively, the term “doomscrolling” (a.k.a. compulsively scrolling through negative news or social media) has been added to common vernacular, reflecting societal concerns about the impact of excessive screen time on mental health and our general well-being.
Some readers of this blog (at least 29 of them) may recall Social Media: Marvel Or Mayhem? from April 2023 and the survey they were asked to complete. In the interim since, I may have neglected to post the results of that survey. I will rectify that omission now.
An initial question asked about the age range that the participant falls into that roughly corresponds to GenX/Millennials, GenZ, and Boomers. The age range breakdown of the respondents in those generations was 2, 14, and 13 respectively. There were 7 questions about the use of social media. With a larger sample size, I might have drilled down to see if there were any significant generational differences but I did not do that with these results.
From a list of the 11 most popular social media platforms, 28 respondents reported having a Facebook account and 27 said they use Instagram. Pinterest came in third with 24. Next were LinkedIn, YouTube, and X(Twitter) with 18, 16, and 15 respectively. Among the group, only 9 had a TikTok account.
When asked what they use social media for, respondents were offered 7 answers from which they could select all that apply. The top responses for this question at 21 were “to stay in touch with family/friends” and “to connect to a community/ support group”. A not surprising result was that 17 (nearly 2/3) of the respondents said they use social media for “marketing/promotion of blog or other business”; however, 19 selected “entertainment” and 16 selected “self-expression”. 10 respondents said they use it to follow the news and current events.
Running neck and neck again for the highest response counts on questions related to content sharing and visit/read/scroll were Facebook and Instagram. This seems reasonable since at the time of this survey, statistics showed that Facebook and Instagram were (and still are) the top social media choices with 63.7% and 63.9% respectively of the US population using those platforms. Despite TikTok’s use by about half of the US population, only 1/3 (9) of the survey respondents were using it in the Spring of 2023.
Again Instagram and Facebook got the highest results with counts of 13 and 7 respectively when asked to identify the platform they use/visit more than any other. Ranging in counts of 1 to 3 were Pinterest, X(Twitter), WhatsApp, YouTube, and NextDoor. TikTok did not appear as an answer among the respondents. Asked if they’d ever taken a break from social media, it was nearly a 2-to-1 split with 19 respondents saying yes and 10 saying no.
Most relatable to the current conversations about social media was a question on the topic of data collection and privacy. Asked about their level of concern, the majority seemed to think the associated risks were more or less acceptable. 10 said their concern was “moderate so they customize their privacy settings” and 8 placed their concern as “somewhat but that’s life in the 21st century”. “A little bit but not enough to keep me away” was the answer 5 other respondents selected to best describe their level of concern and another 4 said they had no concerns at all. Only 1 respondent expressed extreme concern which is their reason for not using it.
While TikTok has been available in the US since mid-2018, my first venture onto the platform wasn’t until Fall 2022. Most of the accounts I follow are related to fitness, sourdough baking, and fashion along with smatterings of other human-interest themed accounts. Somehow a lot of farming accounts pop up on my FYP (real farms, not tradwife stuff) and I follow a few of those too. Considering how much I don’t like Reels in IG, I find TikTok quite engaging. Maybe too much so.
My profile on TikTok mimics the one I have for my blog-related Instagram account but I’ve yet to post any content. I haven’t been posting much to social media at all lately although my intent had been to change that. Now, I’m not so sure.
Besides the issues of data privacy, censorship, and algorithms, investing time in social media platforms leaves the content creator at the mercy of others. On the other hand, a self-hosted blog provides significant benefits in terms of control, longevity, and independence. I own the platform, content, and domain. I control how it looks and feels, how it functions and operates, including any monetization and branding. My content stays accessible indefinitely unless I remove it and posts are indexed by search engines, giving them evergreen visibility.
I have no concern about changes to algorithms, platform policies, or sudden account suspensions. Readers can access my blog anytime without relying on platform recommendations. And best of all, visitors to my blog can focus solely on my content without distractions from other posts, ads, or notifications.
There’s an irony in all of this and what’s going on with TikTok et al that hasn’t escaped my notice. As I write this post, the connections from this blog to my related social media accounts are currently not working and I haven’t yet figured out why. That’s a problem for tomorrow. For now, I’m curious about your thoughts related to scrolling on by.
“I just can’t get over losing you, and so if I seem, broken and blue…
Scroll on by
Scroll on by … foolish pride
That’s all that I have left, so let me hide
The tears and the sadness you gave me, when you said goodbye…
Oh scroll on by … Oh scroll on by … Oh scroll on by …”
Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
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Photo credit: MMPerez
Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.
Now, onto the Fine-Whatever link-up. Since the last link-up was back in October, I’m skipping on selecting a featured post. Whose will be chosen for next week?
