4 ways social media will change in 2022
Social media is one of the fastest changing landscapes in the world of technology today. 2022 saw so many good and bad changes to our favorite platforms that it can be hard to remember.
Here’s a look at a few ways various social media giants are changing in 2022.
Meta initially announced its corporate name change from Facebook in 2021, but 2022 saw a strong platform push for the metaverse. According to CNN, in 2022, several advertisers joined the metaverse and developed and launched high-tech VR headsets for Meta users.
This interest has not yet translated into popular usage. Most Facebook users aren’t in the metaverse yet or don’t even own VR headsets. According to Forbes, Mark Zuckerberg’s improved metaverse avatar introduced in 2022 was also quite unpopular. However, one social media prediction for 2023 is that as Meta continues to promote the metaverse, consumers may eventually participate.
2. Elon Musk took over Twitter
Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, and since then Twitter has been in chaos. From the discontinuation of Twitter Blue to its re-pricing and relaunch, the social media platform’s financial future has never been more uncertain.
Musk also changed the way Twitter was run, laying off more than half of the company’s workforce and restructuring the company. He even hinted that video-sharing app Vine would return in 2022, although no evidence of that return has yet been seen.
Potential changes to Twitter’s community rules and policies have also been a topic of debate in 2022, with Musk favoring “free speech” on the platform.
3. Wrappers, Wrappers, Wrappers
In 2022, Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing app to an all-encompassing social media app. The main goal of the program was to promote Instagram Reels and support creators who create and publish Reels by showing their content to more people in the algorithmic home feed.
Reels is Instagram’s answer to the growing popularity of TikTok. TikTok isn’t the only social media that Instagram is copying in 2022. Instagram also tested Candid Stories in 2022. what you are doing at that moment.
4. The rise of BeReal
Speaking of BeReal, the French social media app reached over 10 million downloads in 2022 and has grown from a small new platform to a concept copied by both Instagram and TikTok. Instagram created candid stories, while TikTok launched TikTok Now. BeReal’s longevity remains to be seen, but the fun and original platform has definitely made its mark in 2022.
BeReal didn’t just popularize one photo a day. The app has proven that viewers want more authentic content and less than the perfectly photoshopped impactful content that other platforms are known for. Even if BeReal itself doesn’t last, the impact on the type of content we see everywhere on social media will likely continue beyond 2022.
2022 has been a defining year for social media worldwide. Many of the observed changes are probably not just trends; these are transformations of our favorite platforms that will continue to evolve as we use social media differently.
Were the changes we saw in 2022 for the better or for the worse? Many of them were controversial or unpopular, but others will help make 2022 a positive year to remember. It will be interesting to see how these changes shape the future of the social media world.
