More responsibility required – streaming and video games are increasingly conquering the mainstream
In 2019 it finally became clear that social media has a responsibility in politics, combating fake news and online fraud and cannot simply stand by. However, it has been shown several times that platforms like Facebook are still not doing enough to take control of these issues.
Dealing with influencers, whose influence on their fans is becoming ever greater, has also become a major issue for social media. Other subjects that shaped the media landscape were the triumph of video games and the ever-expanding range of streaming providers. 2019 was also characterized by a large number of failed marketing campaigns that led to shitstorms on the social web.
Facebook lets politicians have their way
Over the past twelve months, social media has had to decide how to respond to increasingly aggressive political discourse. Facebook was heavily criticized because the company largely repealed the guidelines for politicians before the 2020 US elections ( pressetext reported ).
Many see this as irresponsible use of their own platform. Competitor Snapchat does things differently, as it has its own library for political advertising in order to create transparency regarding their authors and financiers ( pressetext reported ).
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China's influence in particular is a growing concern on social media. There is a lot of mistrust towards the popular Chinese video platform TikTok. However, operator ByteDance, unlike Facebook, rejected any political advertising and positioned itself as a “happy place” for young users ( pressetext reported ).
However, the fears that the People's Republic was spying on people on a large scale were confirmed by the example of the “Study the Great Nation” app, which allows the government virtually unlimited access to users' smartphones ( press release reported ).
More and more fraud on the social web
But it wasn't just politics that caused problems for social media. The platforms also became a hub for fraudsters. It turned out that half of the login attempts on social media are carried out by fraudsters who want to steal credit card information and other personal data from users ( pressetext reported ).
These criminal activities are often successful: for example, three quarters of Germans are vulnerable to phishing scams in which the perpetrators pose as representatives of banks ( pressetext reported ).
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Another main topic in social media was influencers. Their enormous influence on their mostly young audience was often viewed critically. There was cause for concern about nutritional tips from influencers, which are often not very helpful ( pressetext reported ).
At the beginning of the school year it also became clear how much influence social media stars have on the wishes of their fans and thus also on the consumer behavior of their parents ( pressetext reported ).
Games and streaming are booming
A massive media trend in 2019 was video games, which are becoming increasingly popular in adults' everyday lives. It has been shown that the average age of gamers in Austria has risen to 35 and 60 percent of the total population already enjoys gaming ( pressetext reported ).
In Germany, e-sports are conquering home screens; one in five people is already a fan ( pressetext reported ).
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Streaming is also becoming increasingly popular. Eight out of ten German internet users view content in this way ( pressetext reported ).
Because of this popularity, more and more providers entered into competition with Netflix. The Disney+ streaming service in particular attracted attention. However, the large number of providers also has its downsides: Many users are frustrated by the oversupply and become online pirates in order to save themselves the monthly fees ( pressetext reported ).
Again and again “terror marketing”
2019 was also marked by aggressive, sometimes tasteless branding campaigns that often backfired. A prime example of this is the US fashion label Bstroy, which sold perforated sweaters with the names of schools where school shootings took place ( pressetext reported ).
The e-commerce giant Amazon also came under fire because third-party sellers wanted to sell Christmas decorations depicting the Nazi death camp Auschwitz on the platform ( pressetext reported ).
In an interview with pressetext, brand strategist Michael Brandtner spoke of “terror marketing”.
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Source: press text
Article image: Shutterstock / By fizkes
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )