Variety loses as social converges

LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok are launching similar features. Yawn

When did social media platforms become so same-y?

We’ve already written about LinkedIn’s vertical video hub – an attempt to stave off TikTok and Instagram Reels. It’s a recreation of those platforms or part of them, designed to bolster wide-and-far discovery.

Take a look at LinkedIn’s video page and you’ll find similar content to TikTok or YouTube, minus the more childish stuff. There is no shortage of Daniel Mac ‘what do you do for a living?’-esque content, influencers with lavalier mics asking willing strangers questions. And, of course, heaps of wellness and productivity tips.

At the same time, LinkedIn users – or at least the photogenic ones – are increasingly deciding that the best image to accompany their post is… their own photo.

There’s traffic in both directions. ByteDance is taking on Google and Meta in launching TikTok for Business – either budget-capped paid-for or special packages. TikTok has also taken aim at Spotify and Apple Music with integrated music streaming.

Reels has been a success, but Instagram’s Threads, despite claiming 175 million active users earlier in the year, has had difficulties. After the initial fanfare, Forbes reported traffic had fallen by 70% 20 days after launch. In the wake of X’s new ownership, they saw an in. But it appears to have been too shameless a move, with users complaining it was exactly the same.

Elon Musk wants to turn X into something more akin to WeChat. Tencent and Alibaba have vertical integration at the core of their strategies, creating payment channels and wallets of their own and offering just about any service going. Is the solution to staving off competition putting your eggs in every basket?

This is a big contrast to the single-function, limited approach that defined earlier platforms. Twitter had its 140-character limit, Vine videos could only be six seconds, Instagram didn’t support video until 2013.

So what’s next? Picking up steam is noplace, a social app based on MySpace profile pages with more of an instant Twitter-style feed. It started out wearing its inspiration a little too much on its sleeve, previously being called nospace. It has shot to the top of Apple’s app store and is popular with Gen Z and Alpha.

BeReal is a French competitor to Snapchat that had the novel feature of randomised windows where users needed to take a photo. It proved highly successful – with users trying to reach a daily posting streak.

Can we expect something new to dethrone the social giants? Perhaps not. There are far more budding developers than there were in Facebook’s early days – meaning all start-ups can do is shout the loudest in a sea of rivals.

Social media platforms have always been seen as strong brands, immune to commodification. But competition can erode brand if poorly handled.

Maybe we should all get out more.