Social media reboot The rise of social 2.0 and the emancipation of the digital native

The 20,000 Foot View: Social media is entering a new phase of innovation. Facebook’s trio of applications, alongside Snapchat, Twitter and other incumbents, still have market dominance. However, the rapid growth of TikTok, Discord and Clubhouse since the coronavirus-prompted lockdowns, alongside a migration to digital-first life, are early indicators of demand for – and adoption of – social platforms that lend themselves to lean-in entertainment behaviours. The result is a decoupling of social from the defining metric of engagement for its own sake.

Key insights

• The success            social media originally hinged on            ability to translate pre-existing human            needs and communication methods into            forms of digital behaviour
• The various            social apps have saturated their            use cases and begun to            in features – and, hence,            now beginning to compete with            another
• As a            the incumbent apps have all            ticking upwards in mainstream adoption,            losing their prominence among younger           
• Innovation has            and the market is ripe            fresh competitors to move in            the opportunity to provide distinct,            communication experiences
• Over lockdown,            digital-first push has upped the            aspects of entertainment media and            a need case for more            features and active participation
• The common            between the new disruptive platforms            a greater focus on becoming            creator tools, enabling users to            their own content, and act            utilities for user creations such            community-centric sharing and public discovery
• An acceleration            digital-first lifestyles and activities heightens            need to bring the important            of ‘in real life’ (IRL)            behaviours into the digital world 
• Social media            now more demarcated by social            (public discovery versus personal catch-up;            versus lean-back) than it is            content type
• As consumers            more creative in their digital            lives, the opportunity for creator            to evolve and become social            themselves centred around a creative            is rapidly increasing
• The attention            is saturated, leaving little room            any insurgent to scale –            it is also at risk            fragmenting, allowing many smaller, standalone            to now each successfully hold            niches

Companies and brands mentioned in this report:            AOL, Clubhouse, Discord, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Fleets, Instagram, Myspace, Reddit, Reels, Signal, Snapchat, Spaces, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube