The Future of Social Media
Snackable Content
What is Snackable Content?
"Snackable content is short form, straightforward, easy to digest content that can be consumed quickly on platforms like social media."(Chow and Noel). It tends to be very visual and entertaining
What is Snackable Content and How to use it?
The Past and the Present
The definition of social media has been hard to define and media scholars have gone back and forth for years on what it truly is. Some scholars in the past have defined it as "any interactive communication channel that allows for two-way interaction and feedback" (Carr and Hayes). However, social media has grown and evolved as technology does. The new definition is "Social media are Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present, either in real-time or asynchronously, with both broad and narrow audiences who derive value from user-generated content and the perception of interaction with others" (Carr and Hayes). The benefit of using social media comes from User-Generated content which is content WE create. Social media connects us to family, friends, and other people who share common interests. Everyone loves social media it is fun, relaxing, an escape from reality, and it helps people get connected and/or grow our brands. However, as social media continues to grow our attention span continues to decline. "In 2018 the average attention span of a person was 5 minutes, in 2008 it was 12 minutes. The average attention span of someone who uses the internet is 8 seconds." (Subramanian). With the depleting attention span of today’s human race I believe the future of social media content will continue to get shorter and more "snackable".
The Future
If we are being completely honest with ourselves nobody really knows where the future of social media will go but we can analyze the past and the present forms of social media to make a logical guess. Using the information we do have I think it is safe to say that snackable content is a good guess. “Media environments have profoundly changed since the proliferation of digital technologies, which facilitates the trend of snack culture” (Nam and Jung). Snackable content can be used to keep viewers engaged, interested, and entertained. “This emerging content is more prominent in the consumption of media among the digital natives, often referred to as millennials or Generation Y, who are characterized by their high digital literacy and multitasking capabilities regarding consumption and production of digital information” (Nam and Jung). Snackable content comes in various forms like tweets, captions, gifs, memes, infographics, and short videos like on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. It is loved by many social media users because it allows us to keep up with our fast-paced lifestyles and our constant preference changes. The Covid-19 pandemic and the evolution of smartphones plays a big role in the consumption of social media. Our shortened attention span has people moving from one piece of content to the next faster. I decided to take a look at some of the videos I have posted on TikTok over the past few years, specifically my longer videos versus my shorter ones. The longest video I posted was in 2022 sitting at 55 seconds with an average view time of 20 seconds. The shortest video was 6 seconds in 2022 with an average view time of 5 seconds. I got more likes and interactions on the 6 second video because it was short and kept people entertained. My longer video although just as entertaining was interacted with less because people lost focus and interest. Teachers and Professors are even looking to create shorter instructional videos to keep students engaged and studies have shown that “Students' high scores from the multiple-choice questions on video content indicate a high level of knowledge retention.” (Tomaszewski). Considering the shortening attention spans of the youth and the increasing need for gratification as the future of social media continues to evolve as we become more tech-savvy, evidence is clear that the demand for short videos will continue to grow both for learning and for entertainment purposes. That being said, the reason I chose Smirnoff’s social ingredients campaign is because they created short, bulleted posts of products that they are creating based on other popular trends like the Squid Games show and popular news. The creation of these drinks based on popular trends attracted users to their brand and the short posts kept them engaged helping to make their campaign so successful.