How Social Media Apps Transformed the Digital Landscape

There are now 4.65 billion social media users; an incredible statistic considering there are roughly 8 billion people alive today. The fact that the majority of the world’s population logs on to social media is a testament to how the mega corporations that develop them have not only transformed the digital landscape but fundamentally changed how people live their lives. 

Social media is defined as any form of computer-based technology that empowers users to share content with other people via virtual networks. The first social media sites were launched way back in 1997. While the names Bolt and Six Degrees are largely unknown, they paved the way for the real social media revolution in the 2000s. 

The launch of Facebook in February 2004 is arguably the beginning of social media as we know it. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and four close friends, Facebook quickly evolved from a directory for students at Harvard to a fully-fledged social media network. The “gamifying” of social relationships was the core of the experience, one that has been copied and iterated on during the two decades since – so much so that terms such as “like”, “comment” and “share” are now part of the common lexicon.

Most social media apps now have a gamifying element to them. They are designed in a way to maximize user engagement. Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, designs features to encourage people to log on to social media platforms regularly, and engage with them multiple times a day. In 2024, the average daily usage stands at two hours and 24 minutes, according to data from Smart Insights.

Building on gaming experiences

Social media apps were inspired by the graphics and visual design used in classic video games and slots. The influence is clear when visiting modern websites too; developers aim to capture a target audience’s interest and attention while helping them navigate to the place they want to be. Casino sites such as https://www.casinochan.com/ offer fast, intuitive user experiences for this reason, making it easy for players to access refined online baccarat across multiple devices on desktop and mobile. 

Social media apps ushered in the era of multichannel digital experiences, too. A social media site without either an app or a website limits its reach; users expect to be able to load up an app and post content on an app while also accessing similar levels of functionality on a web browser. Social media has had a profound influence on mobile applications for this reason, as it highlighted the value of apps for brands across all sectors.

Establishing real-time connections

Social media apps have also transformed digital communications. Being able to converse with potentially billions of people was an impossible task 20 years ago, outside of brands with vast advertising budgets. Now it’s possible for a single person to reach a whole network of users with an informative insight, entertaining video or timely update about a breaking news story. Users no longer rely on calls and text messages – they open social media apps to send friends and family direct messages instead. Socials have democratized digital comms and made it easier and cheaper for everyone to connect and stay in touch. 

Upending content delivery

Another area where social media has upended traditional systems is content delivery. Again, going back to the early 2000s, it was incredibly difficult for anyone to publish content that would be seen by the masses. The launch of MySpace proved to be transformative for the music industry. Rather than relying on labels to publish music, artists cut out the middle man and started releasing songs and albums on social media to get noticed and engage directly with new fans. 

This is a trend that spread to other industries. Creatives realized they could use social media as a digital soap box, and tap into a growing user base to cross-post articles and other forms of content. It is now common for news publishers to use X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Threads to post snippets of articles, with links to the full piece. Social media apps have changed the digital landscape by providing publishers with a means to vastly expanding their reach and referral traffic to websites, which increases clicks and revenue.

Social media will continue to alter the digital landscape; Meta has already outlined ambitious plans for the metaverse and the launch of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences. The industry is still very much in its infancy, but with billions of people logging on to respective apps each day, social platforms have the power to transform the digital experience once again.