Mark Zuckerberg said something in the Stratechery interview last week that paints a clearer picture of what the future of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads is going to look like. Meta is leaning into the TikTok-ification of all their social platforms. I think it’s going to be quite dismal.
We already knew that Meta was planning to put AI-generated content in your feed. Last year I suggested that this is where algorithmic timelines eventually lead, as ad-based platforms have an insatiable appetite for new content. More content, more human time refreshing the feed, more ads served:
Good interview with Mark on Decoder but can’t disagree more strongly with Mark’s vision of AI-generated content showing up in your feed. This is the terrible end-game of algorithmic timelines.
Mark now envisions Meta’s social apps as “discovery engines” — constantly churning out content that you might find engaging. Then, when you discover something you like (or hate), you’ll share it with your friends, whether that’s in a public feed or privately in DMs and WhatsApp group chats.
Nick Heer blogged yesterday along the same lines, framing Meta’s platforms as television channel surfing with infinite content:
Then TikTok came around and did away with two expectations: that you should have to work to figure out what you want to be entertained by, and that your best source of entertainment is your friend group. Meta is taking it a step further: what if the best source of entertainment is generated entirely for them? I find that thought revolting. The magic of art and entertainment is in the humanity of it.
The counter to Meta’s strategy couldn’t be more clear. We should be building blog-based platforms around real content, timelines with a finite list of your friends' recent posts, discovery that doesn’t incentivize outrage, and no ads or algorithms that could undercut the principles of an authentic, human-centered network.
