Social media is now ingrained in our daily lives. Yet social media advertising has become rampant, ruining the experience for many. We dive into why the gold rush may be up in the article below.
What has Shein offered to sell you today? How many times have you seen the same product ad after every two posts by friends and family? That is the state of social media today, where advertising has taken over the need for user experience. Yet the heyday of social media advertising may be up, with criticism abounding from users, businesses, and governments. In this article, we discuss the death of social media advertising.
Criticism leveled at social media ads
Social media advertising has faced a raft of criticism in recent years. This has been down to the ease with which it can be accessed and used to target distinct demographics. This has often let it operate outside the boundaries of normal advertising standards, which has brought it into conflict with several organizations.
Recently, an article in The Sun on Sunday in the United Kingdom reported how junk food firms were using social media to flaunt rules introduced on the advertising of unhealthy foods to children. The plan to combat this was drawn up by the last government and will be continued with the new one. This will see a ban on high salt, fat, and sugar products advertised before 9 pm and in paid-for online ads.
However, many believe social media offers a way around this. Marketing on their own websites and the brand’s organic social content is allowed. Radio and podcasts are also not covered by the ban. The worry is that these TV bans will not apply on platforms like Twitch and YouTube; many believe companies will use social platforms like these to circumvent the laws.
How ads damage user experience
For many users, a ban on ads cannot come soon enough. This is not because of the content, but due to the sheer volume of them that come through social media platforms.
Nearly three out of four users asked by SurveyMonkey regarding social media ads found there were too many. Around 63% of these users believed they simply saw the same things advertised on repeat. Almost half of users, depending on their age, believed the ads had no relevance to their wants or needs.
This has led to many people seeking ad blockers for social media platforms. Instagram, with its billion monthly active users, is one site that has seen a sharp rise in the use of ad-blocking software. You can block ads in Instagram easily by using a browser extension, and this can be done for free. It removes pop-ups and information as well as ads, not just on social media but on a range of sites visited through your browser.
By no means is it only junk food companies leading the charge. The Advertising Standards Authority has released statements saying that it is removing around 100 ads a day from social media that are known to be advertising prescription-only medicines. An article by The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom also found many gambling companies were using social media to target those who were underage. This was in an effort to get them to follow their social media sites so they could be signed up when they finally reached the legal gambling age.
Three stages of social media
This overreliance on ads from social media companies has been put down to a three-stage theory. In this, each social network goes through a series of periods. The last one is a reduction in the quality of its product, due to the constant need to expand and acquire revenue.
Starting this process is a new platform. At the beginning, they are warm and welcoming to their users. They are at the forefront of a business plan, which is an attempt to gain as many users as possible. However, when this reaches a plateau, they turn to attract corporate sponsorships to gain revenue. This is often at the expense of the people using the platform, who find its services now unusable, in this case with a flood of ads. The final stage is where the platforms, with so many ads, begin to provide less value to business customers in an attempt to win back dwindling revenue.
The proof is in the pudding. Take a look at the vast amounts of people moving from X, formerly the bastion of open discussion, to the alternative Blue Sky. This decentralized social network acquired huge numbers of followers in the aftermath of the US election. It only opened to the public in 2024 and had 18.5 million users by the end of the year.
Social media advertising is big business. It creates huge amounts of revenue. However, with more ads and less impact, particularly if people begin leaving the platforms, it does not bode well. This may result in the final stage of a social network’s life, in which it becomes useless and, like MySpace and Tumblr before, a thing of the past.
