If you want to know what’s been going on and what you should be doing right now with your marketing in this very weird world we are in.
Below is part of my Janruary email newsletter about this topic which serves as good notes for this video:
The Future Is Decentralized
I look back fondly at 2008 when maintaining social media meant Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts.
The interfaces and algorithms were updated regularly but seemed manageable. The content was posted three times a week; more felt ‘too much.’ Video was infrequent, and graphic design was basic. I didn’t even own a cell phone.
Everything has changed.
In a recent meeting, someone asked, “So what website are we supposed to be on now, Nicole?” Before I could answer this impossible question, someone said, “There isn’t ever going to be one website again.”
And he is 100% right. Even in 2008, there wasn’t one website.
There have only been more websites, more content produced, and more to do as marketers and business owners.
A combination of recent events (check out the YouTube channel for more detailed videos) showed that platforms could not only shut off communication with our audiences but suppress information.
We the people are NOT in control of ‘our’ social media; billionaires, tech companies, and the government are.
These centralized platforms (owned by one private company) can do whatever they want. We always knew that, but in the last few weeks, we’ve been explicitly shown. The good news is that we can also do whatever we want.
It was the wake-up call many needed. I can name at least a dozen friends who’ve deleted their Meta accounts. (I could only deactivate my account because it owns my business accounts.) Many I know, myself included, deleted their X accounts months ago. (Many websites are entirely banning links from X.)
For business owners and non-profit executives, here’s a concise marketing strategy (contact me if you want a marketing strategy that is more specific to your situation)
- Join at least one decentralized platform. Centralized platforms like Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) are beholden to shareholders and can control content visibility and distribution. Decentralized platforms, such as Bluesky and Pixelfed, offer more security and user control.
If there is a social media experience you love, there probably exists a decentralized equivalent (ex: Signal in place of Messenger – Did you know that Messenger collects data from financial purchases you’ve made outside Facebook and Instagram among MANY other things?)
If you’re looking for the most bang for your buck, I’d get on Bluesky, a decentralized app built in Authentic Transfer (AT) Protocol. AT Protocol is an open standard for decentralized social networking. It allows users to move their accounts between social media platforms while keeping their data and connections intact, creating a unified online identity across various services. For example, one company is building an app called “Skylight,” which will function like TikTok but work using AT Protocol, meaning the video content you are posting to Bluesky will be visible on that platform (and others in development) if you as the creator so choose. Mark Cuban is willing to fund a TikTok alternative built in AT Protocol.
NERDY BONUS SECTION YOU CAN IGNORE IF YOU AREN’T FEELING NERDY: We can argue that decentralized platforms still have some of the problems of centralized networks, like single points of failure, but distributed networks are not something people are jumping to just yet because of the steeper learning curve and the mental shift to use/understand them. I have made an account on Nostr, which is the only social media platform that is distributed. I’ll keep you posted on what I learn! - Have at least one ‘owned’ platform. This could be a website, an email list you control, or a platform like Substack that ensures authors have content ownership. If you’ve been using Facebook as your company website, it’s time to create an accessible website.
- Stand up for your beliefs. If you’ve wondered what you’d do during pivotal historical moments, it is whatever you are doing now. Do your best to spread factual information, use social media to help citizens, and prioritize being an ethical company and person now more than ever.
Things have changed, and so will we. And while I might look back fondly at my early years in social media marketing, I’m ready to do the work of not only continuing to help our clients be successful online but actively be using the internet to make things better. I hope you’ll join me.