 "Rajiv Dingra")
You might have heard of this before, but reiterating it is imperative. Facebook in India boasts of nearly 150 million active users. As a whole, social media is estimated to be touching 200 million in terms of active users in the country.
But interesting as these numbers seem, the scourge of trolling appears to be taking the sheen off this at the moment. Be it the beef ban or Maggi ban or Aishwariya Rai's lipstick or comedian Tanmay Bhat's video, social media has played a key role in amplifying negative news, views and opinions in recent months. It has also become a primary channel of discussion, at times, to run down people shabbily.
With so much hate flying around, does it come as a surprise, then, that so many people continue to be living, even thriving, on social media? There was an insight I recently read that said people these days do not type "BRB" - short for 'be right back' - as often as they did earlier. This is because most of us have become digital natives and, therefore, hardly break away from the online universe. So "BRB" becomes irrelevant. This was a telling comment on how ingrained platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have become in our lives.
Having said this, is there a case for trolling to make users disconnect from this medium altogether? Will we see a generation of users logging out of social media due to hate-mongers, perverts and pesky commentators? Already, Snapchat is giving users the option for pictures to self-delete within seconds to ensure there is no trail left for anyone to judge you. Even chats are deleted within hours. And, latest global numbers suggest that Snapchat is among the fastest-growing platforms for the youth.
So, what does the future of social media look like in this context? Will it collapse? Much as we may deplore trolling, the truth is that there is a thrill that users derive, comfortable in the fact that social media provides a safe and secure channel of communication.
The way I see it, social media will scale to becoming a highly fragmented place where multiple niche platforms will be used for different purposes. Facebook today is nothing but a perception-building tool that we use to share important events in our lives. Twitter is primarily a means to provide news and creating buzz. While WhatsApp is the default replacement for a phone conversation and Instagram is us being selfobsessed with ourselves. And, finally, Snapchat is a fun feed without any inhibitions as it auto deletes.
As time passes, social media platforms will pivot to address several needs that we humans have for self expression and communication. I see Facebook becoming highly self-customised in the future and allowing users to edit the way it works to such an extent that no two people will have identical experiences. The fact that all of our social media interactions are moving to an app on a smartphone only points to a future that is individualistic in nature.
I don't see people quitting social media. They will take breaks to climb the Himalayas or to go on a road trip. But the need to connect with others and to belong is so inherent in our evolution as human beings that users will move from one platform to another to manage their social interactions. The negative buzz will magnify the shelf life, but that is unavoidable. There will also be those who will exercise their 'Right to be Forgotten' and will erase social content and any mention of themselves from the digital world.
All in all, we are headed towards a future where multiple personalities within the same person might become more of a norm than the exception. Multiple social avenues of self expression and full control of how we showcase our lives will be in our hands.
Rajiv Dingra
Founder and CEO, WATConsult
Founder and CEO, WATConsult
