My love language is sharing interesting articles with my friends, whether or not they respond to my texts, and it dawned on me the other week that habit is likely a large reason I began this newsletter. That said, welcome to the second edition of pure delusion.
After reading my last newsletter, one of my friends texted me and said, “I haven’t understood that you’re, like, really into social media.” Let me be clear: Yes and no. I do nerd out on media and vernacular that stem from being chronically online (again, despite hating that term), but my interests aren’t just that simple. I love digging into conversations surrounding social media as a liminal space and how it blurs our real and online lives.
Admittedly, I’m still figuring out this newsletter’s clear direction, or if I should bother with direction at all and instead write wherever the wind blows. Aimlessness is tempting but unnerving (the universal post-grad struggle), so for now I’m attempting to blend a bit of tech analysis with human interest stories, as plain social media reporting is too cold and, ultimately, short-lived for me. Even if you don’t care about social media from a critical lens, I want this newsletter to still be a space for you – my wholehearted goal is for you to leave just a little bit more reflective about how you interact with the world and how the world interacts with you.
Before we dive into today’s topic, a quick recap of my past few weeks;
Per my previous newsletter, I fulfilled my Christian Girl Autumn dreams and glimpsed my first orange leaf. My high school friends and I did a weekend trip to Boston and rented a car to drive around the northeast, dropping pins at Cambridge, Salem, Providence, Lincoln and Provincetown. Three Florida girls were made very happy.
I attended my first industry event via “TikTok World,” which was an upfront of sorts showcasing TikTok’s newest advertising products. The event was supposed to be just director levels and above, but due to ~connections~ at work, I was able to weasel my way in. The event space hosted an adult funhouse on the ground level with a presentation room on the upper level, and it was no surprise TikTok knew how to put on a good show. My biggest takeaway? TikTok is positioning itself as an entertainment platform thinly veiled as social media, which is the teaser for today’s discussion.
My Overheard New York submission: “Dad, I like how people decorate themselves,” said a little boy next to me on the subway while tugging his dad’s shirt and pointing at a woman in an eclectic outfit. I’ve never connected much with small children, but I found his observation to be rather astute. I suppose that is what we do every day, wake up and decorate our bare bodies to transform into something more.
The “shift” and “enter” keys on my laptop have practically stopped working, which made writing this newsletter physically difficult. Upon arriving at my Apple Store appointment, I was told my 2017 MacBook Pro, which I received as a high school graduation present, is a vintage model. Yeah, that one hurt.
Today, reader, you are the friend I’m texting my latest favorite article to. I cannot stop thinking about Michael Mignano’s Medium piece “The End of Social Media and the Rise of Recommendation Media.” In summary, Mignano argues that the recommendation media consumption model has pervaded, or will pervade, most social media platforms and is the superior form of online media usage. When I was president of my college’s social media club (yes, this was a real thing), my favorite theoretical question to pose to prospective members was, “Social media is always undergoing rapid, drastic change. What’s next?” Turns out, recommendation media isn’t just on the horizon – it’s blazing high in the sky like noon in the summertime.
In case you’re confused, here’s the breakdown between the two, according to Mignano:
“Social media is content that is distributed primarily through networks of connected people. In social media, creators have the programming power. As a result, social media is effectively a competition based on popularity, not on quality of content… The bigger the following, the bigger the potential for distribution and influence.”
“In recommendation media… the main mechanism for the distribution of content is through opaque, platform-defined algorithms that favor maximum attention and engagement from consumers. It’s ultimately up to the platform to decide what type of content gets recommended… In contrast to social media, recommendation media is not a competition based on popularity; instead, it is a competition based on the absolute best content.”
Ever wondered why your Instagram feed is cluttered with random Reels instead of your friends? Recommendation media is the answer. (Turns out Kylie Jenner’s pleas toward Instagram aren’t working this time). In my last newsletter, I discussed the vlogger community’s shift from YouTube to TikTok and feeling disconnected from the algorithmic creators TikTok serves me, which was evidently a case of social media versus recommendation media. Among other technical arguments made by Mignano (including the prediction that streaming services will adopt this model in time, too), the main experiential advantage of recommendation media is platform control over creator control, which ensures a more efficient consumption pattern. This, then, introduces another important question: How different is “recommendation media,” namely TikTok, from channel flipping on the TV?
According to Drew Austin’s Dirt article “Channel surfing,” the two are nearly identical, with TikTok being the algorithmized younger sibling. He draws comparisons between watching television and the passive nature of TikTok scrolling, how a small cohort of creators makes content for the majority of consumers, and how TikToks have replaced America’s Funniest Home Videos. So much for me claiming I’m not much of a TV person. Further, Austin echoes Mignano’s sentiment that social media is “flawed” because, as Mignano writes, social media is difficult to moderate, creates echo chambers, and is an easy distribution point for bad actors, which I agree with on a large-scale level. On a micro level, though, do we always need to be optimizing for what’s been pre-determined as the “best” content? Sounds exhausting.
“We’re talking about a platform that’s shaping how a whole generation is learning to perceive the world,” writes Drew Harwell in The Washington Post. If TikTok is the new TV brain, that’s a powerful paradigm shift that must be approached with a continuous open dialogue IRL.
Do we have any choice in which media consumption model we opt in to? Further, do we actually want to watch more Reels, or is that just what Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is telling us? Per recommendation media’s growing dominance, the former appears increasingly unlikely. Mignano’s piece, however, pairs interestingly with John Herrman’s Intelligencer article “TikTok Is the New King of Social Media. Now What?” Here, Herman applauds TikTok’s innovativeness but notes that, by design, the platform is relatively impersonal.
“To quit Facebook, however little one uses it, is to sever some sort of contact, and to leave Instagram, however dull it has become, is to know a little less about your friends. A bored or restless TikTok user, however, can simply watch less — only TikTok will notice they’re gone.”
I can’t count the number of times my fellow Gen-Z peers have said “I never use Facebook anymore” (except for Marketplace, of course) or have complained about never seeing their friends on Instagram, but I also can’t count how many of them have actually deleted their accounts, because barely any have. Even if TikTok is the current “It Girl” and Meta engagement is on the decline, TikTok benches people’s core desire to connect with their friends’ lives, whereas Instagram still reigns supreme on the connection throne. BeReal is another example of an ecosystem where social media dominates and recommendation media virtually doesn’t exist. At the end of the day, people aren’t just individualized algorithms – they’re real people with real social needs, and social media plays a crucial role in aiding those needs. Simply, no platform can win it all, and the platforms should stop fighting to achieve this all-fulfilling, god-like influence.
There is a case where recommendation media and social media can – and arguably should – exist in harmony. To reduce the social media consumption model to “flawed” discredits the value online peer-to-peer networks provide in modern society, even if a lot of this content isn’t what’s considered the “best” by the algorithm. Think: We all got through pandemic-induced isolation because of social media, and that’s when TikTok exploded in popularity. I’m not a stubborn traditionalist who wants to resurrect Instagram circa 2015 and make overly-posed pictures the center of my social activities again. Quite the opposite – I’m a passionate advocate for adapting to the evolving media landscape. I just recognize the popular sentiment that people want to see their friends on their feeds, that’s all.
To illustrate the above, I have a vivid, albeit depressing, anecdote from my own life: One of my childhood dogs, Frankie, recently ascended the grand staircase to doggie heaven (this connects to the main subject, I promise). Few things are as heartbreaking as the passing of a pet, but the loss of a childhood pet – especially away from home – uncovers a nostalgic, tender spot that becomes rarer to experience the further into adulthood I go. Because I’m simultaneously a chronic oversharer and chronically online, I tend to display a lot of my life via Instagram stories, and the death of my beloved Frankie was no exception.
I found great solace in posting my favorite photos of Frankie. I was seeking comfort, and I received it in the form of multiple DMs and texts from a variety of friends. I watched my own Instagram story over and over again just to view the succession of photos I compiled of her play out (I know we all do this normally, anyway). Once I emerged from the depths of grief and had my head slightly above water, I then turned to recommendation media via TikTok and Instagram Reels to watch cute videos of dachshund puppies to further cheer me up (which were already all over my algorithm). Both media consumption models played an important role in healing my broken heart by connecting me with friends and showing me a world that keeps on spinning. Sometimes I know what’s best for me, but also I’m open to discovering what might make my day a little brighter. Thus, the media landscape should aim to honor both ends of the spectrum.
As a final, somber and self-indulgent side note: A brief excerpt from the eulogy I wrote and gave to my parents in honor of my late miniature dachshund, Frankie:
…She would always sit in the kitchen and stare at you while you were preparing food until you gave her something to eat (she loved carrots), so my dad nicknamed her “Little Chef,” after Ratatouille. She loved small children and would always try to jump on them in the park while they giggled. She loved going on walks but was never much of a walker, instead opting to stop and smell the flowers along the way.
At 10 years old, I gave her the cheesy middle name “Smiles” for reasons two-fold: The prominent markings on her long back resembled a smile, and she was always seen wearing a huge smile on her face. She had a heart so big her little body couldn’t handle it, as her greatest trait also became the source of her health complications in the end. Frankie was nothing but pure love shaped like a sausage dog.
If you recently experienced or know the pain of losing a pet, my heart goes out to you.
Listening:
Midnights by Taylor Swift, obviously
My favorite song is the title track, “Anti-Hero”
The music video for this song is one of my favorites from Miss Swift, but I don’t claim that scene on the scale
“Never Gonna Be Alone” by Jacob Collier, Lizzie McAlpine and John Mayer
Watching:
Marley and Me (2008), one of the saddest movies in existence
For unfortunately clear emotional processing reasons
Amsterdam (2022)
Boy, do I have a lot of bad things to say here: Stacked casts make me wary, the narrative was difficult to follow, the ending was corny, Taylor Swift is a terrible actress, but Rami Malek is the king of my heart. I give it a 3/10.
Reading:
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol by Andy Warhol
“The Diminishing Returns of Calendar Culture” by Anne Helen Petersen (Substack)
“Introducing the Concept of ‘The Sexy Baby’” (VICE)
Looking for:
Classes to take around NYC! I want to fill my evenings with new creative workshops, so hmu if you have any recs.
Photos of your dogs! Nothing would make me happier.
Thanks for indulging my delusions!
<3 Rowan