✅ your copy of The Baer Facts 28

Published: Wed, 07/27/22

The Baer Facts Issue 28: The end of social networks?

Social networks are over.

This week, Meta murdered the Facebook News Feed, the place billions of people go to connect with friends, family, organizations, and companies.

In its place? A new slot machine of short-form videos + disappearing Stories.

The former News Feed (the name is also disappearing because it's as far away from "news" as you can get) is now a gumbo of topics you ostensibly care about, regardless of who created the videos.

This is the end of consumer social networks, leaving LinkedIn is arguably the sole survivor, albeit on a business-focused island.

Friendster, Myspace, and Facebook enabled people to connect to people based on the "social graph" - real-world relationships, and geographic proximity.

Over two decades, this approach yielded enough eyeballs to make the engines of attention hum....until TikTok.

TikTok doesn't care how or whether you as a viewer are connected to the video creator. TikTok is solely a "discovery engine." It methodically determines what you're into, and serves it up with verve.

The algorithm steadily refines what you see, to extract maximum attention, which is why TikTok users spend 26 hours/month on the platform vs. Facebook users' 16 hours/month.

This 10-hour gap is why Facebook threw in the towel, and is shifting from social graph to discovery engine.

What are the implications for the end of consumer social networking?

Curate your Facebook friends, pages, and groups. There's a new tab (away from the main feed) where posts from the people you actually know are stashed. These are sorted chronologically - like the old days - so you'll want to be judicious about your connections to make sure you can find the good stuff from Mom.

Lean into LinkedIn. It is now the easiest/best place to connect with people you actually know.

If you're a business looking to connect with customers, start to investigate Discord.

Also for businesses, start expanding how you use Messenger. Meta is moving fast to turn Messenger into a full-featured super-app like WeChat, and just rolled out recurring notifications (like an email newsletter, but on Messenger).

Facebook was starting to struggle with stickiness, but to just BAIL OUT on their core business model is astonishing. It's like Ford saying "you know what, let's start doing airplanes instead."

Have you seen the new Facebook feed yet? What do you think? I'd love to know. Just reply and let me know - all go directly to me.

Worth Your Time

✅ B2B Influencer Marketing

One of the impacts of Facebook's discovery engine transformation is that they are leaning hard into supporting digital creators. These influencers are the new advertising conduits, even in Business to Business scenarios.

In fact, I was featured in a terrific new guide: The 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.

✅ Let's Talk About Speed

If you've been following The Baer Facts, you know my new research focus is the importance of speed and responsiveness in business. I was a guest on the Marketing Millennials podcast (they even let a Gen X-er like me on!) to talk about the key concepts.

✅ How I Built This

I was also truly honored to join my pal Erin King as one of the first guests on her boffo new show for Success Magazine - On Your Terms. We talked about how I built five, multi-million dollar companies, and my approach to growth, teamwork, and trust.

The Books Report

You're going to love this book.

The universal constant in all of our lives these days is....change.

It's not always easy, but you can use change to your advantage. You just need to have a viable system for success. No Point B is that system.

Written by my pal Caleb Gardner, here's what I wrote for the back cover:

"A vital and engaging recipe for embracing change, instead of fighting against it. Recommended for all business leaders!"

No Point B releases August 9, but if you pre-order you receive some very useful bonus materials to help you conquer change.

Jay's Faves

I'm a little biased on this one, but I am a big fan of Mirage, the streetwear brand created by my son, Ethan.

Each quarter, he creates limited edition tees, hoodies, shorts, socks, etc. All designed by him in-between classes at Indiana University.

I LOVE the swim shorts in this Summer 2022 release, as I was with him on our family trip to Italy when he got inspired to design the pattern. I am, however, furious that he doesn't make them in XXL.

If you're looking for something cool for yourself, a family member, or a colleague, pop on over to Mirage. Thanks!

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