This gradual erasure of likes is opening up a new era on social networks. The social consequences will only be observed gradually
Are 'likes' going out of fashion in the world of social networks?
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Like or dislike? On almost all social networks, the little "Like" has served as fuel for the ego-nomics of the web. Fortunes have been built on thumbs up. Personalities have emerged from this popular, ongoing vote of approval. In the beginning we loved to like. It was a fresh gesture. Imperceptibly we all became media onto ourselves, seeking audiences and seeking approval via Likes. And this quest for approval has both brought out talent and created monsters. Because this systematic judgment of our posts, photos, actions and gestures has become the critic of our lives and the consequences of this have been nothing short of disastrous. Here is the third episode of the After calendar, our 2022 trend book.
An internal study of the Meta group, revealed by a leak last year, showed, among other things, that Instagram was weighing heavily on the mental health of young girls. With the multitude of edited and filtered photos posted on the image-centric social network, young female users have developed new complexes. According to a survey conducted by Edelman for Dove, 71% of girls reported editing or covering up a body part before posting a photo on social media. Nearly three in ten girls (29%) acknowledged feeling less beautiful after looking at photos of their friends online.
YouTube, meanwhile, has enacted almost the same change. If Instagram preferred to enable the possibility to hide "likes," the video platform has chosen to erase the number of "dislikes" visible under each video, an option only available on YouTube. If the platform wants to reduce harassment suffered by creators targeted by hate raids, they can still discover the number of "dislikes" for their videos in YouTube Studio to better adapt their content to their community.
This gradual erasure of likes is opening up a new era on social networks. The social consequences will only be observed gradually.
The After Calendar
After the global shock of covid in 2020, the world was looking ahead to a calmer and more united post-covid reality. But ultimately it's a digital, hybrid existence that has taken the lead, where screens have become essential in all our activities, from education to work, our love lives and what we buy. This accelerated virtualization makes us nostalgic for pre-covid times, for an idealized vision of nature and the world. And this is how the metaverse and newstalgia have come to co-exist in our 2022 predictions. Check out all the incoming trends in our 2022 After Calendar.