Top 5 Social Networks to Watch in 2023
Trainwrecks and triumphs. Turnarounds and tragedies. Trickery and tribulation.
2023 is upon us, and a looming uncertainty is moderated with measured excitement.
In the social media space, it could go either way – upheaval, or just more of the same. But I’m honestly counting on the former, if nothing else, for a bit of entertainment, and let’s face it – the validation dopamine hit the kids are so irreversibly hooked on (if there is upheaval, some of my predictions will be proven right).
For good or for ill, the following social networks are the ones to watch in 2023.
My coach has been saying for years that LinkedIn is a killer platform for sharing video content, mainly because no one else is posting anything that interesting. Like moths to a flame, on LinkedIn, users are drawn to things that are even the slightest bit more interesting than corporate speak and head hunting.
Content marketing speaker, strategist, and entrepreneur Joe Pulizzi is very bullish on LinkedIn, so it seems like, years later, people are finally catching up to where my coach has been for ages.
Blogger / vlogger / digital nomad Tom Kuegler has also been on about the value of LinkedIn for a while, though all signs seem to point to the idea that his confidence in Medium has been restored and he will probably remain a Medium guy for 2023. Then again, he has been known to change his mind ever so often…
Well, if nothing else, Twitter should be fun to watch.
It’s funny how they keep rolling out new features and then do an about face when initiatives don’t pan out…
Revue, for example, seemed like a brilliant acquisition on their part, but now they’re shutting her down (I’m so glad I didn’t go further down that track)…
And I don’t know what the hell they’re trying to do with Twitter Blue. Operation money suck, I think, but it seems like they could be offering something of greater value. Some users, I bet, would pay for the ability to edit their tweets.
Anyway, what’s going to happen to Twitter now that it’s in better hands and those hands have already said they’re not going to prioritize Twitter over Tesla? I think that’s what everyone wants to know.
I don’t have a morbid fascination with Elon Musk as a lot of people in this space seem to, but I am at least slightly leaning towards his ownership being a good thing rather than a bad thing.
There’s a very good chance I will continue to use Twitter heavily throughout 2023.
Discord
If there’s one social network that seems to be doing everything right and will probably continue to experience significant growth in 2023, it’s Discord.
With the Clubhouse hangover wearing off, if you’re still over there listening to NFT “experts” saying “we don’t know how this Web3 thing is going to pan out, but it will be an exciting thing to watch” like it was 2020 again, it’s really time to find something better to do… and move yourself over to Discord, okay?
Spotify is poised to overtake audio content in a significant way, but you know who else could mount a sizable attack? Discord.
TikTok
TikTok will be interesting to watch. Not in a positive sense, but rather in an “oh my god, see that trainwreck, look at that trainwreck, oh my god” kind of way.
I mentioned this in an earlier post too, but if you have no idea what I’m talking about, refer to episode 354 of This Old Marketing. TikTok is being banned in the U.S.
Yes, I recognize I’m kind of the bad guy in relaying this less than lovely news, but as they say, “give away all your money to the messenger.” Wait, that wasn’t it…? 🤔
My prediction, if you remember, though, was that either some party would establish TikTok North America, separate from the original, or some competitor would rise to create a rival app.
So, don’t come crying back to me saying you weren’t warned. Your short video addiction cycle may be broken this year, but likely only temporarily.
(And, hey, you’ve still got Instagram and YouTube Shorts…)
As with TikTok, Facebook isn’t interesting because of the amazing changes that are coming (honestly haven’t heard of any), but rather because the backlash has been significant throughout the pandemic, and the disdain is still palpable.
It seems people aren’t thrilled about “Meta,” or their new direction, and it’s looking like they may be course correcting in short order.
I can’t say I care too much, because Facebook hasn’t made it into the two or three networks I’ll be focusing on in 2023, but I think they’ve made their own bed and now they get to lay in it.
Final Thoughts
If I can suggest something. It’s all fine and dandy to build on rented land, but we live in unpredictable times. You just never know when your favorite platform could take a nosedive into an abyss never to return (just one of many possible negative outcomes).
If you’re tired of the compromise. If you can see the foolishness in single source dependency. Make 2023 the year you set up your own home on the web. SiteGround is the perfect place to start. Let me know the moment you get your first WordPress site erected. It’s way easier than you might think!
