Dive Brief:
- A perceived decay in the quality of social media platforms will lead 50% of consumers to abandon or significantly limit their interactions with social media by next year, according to findings by Gartner.
- The top reasons for a perceived decline in social media platforms include the spread of misinformation, toxic users and the prevalence of bots, per the report.
- Seventy-percent of consumers state that greater integration of generative AI into social media will harm the user experience, according to a Gartner survey of over 260 consumers conducted last summer.
Dive Insight:
While many marketers see social media as a solid return on investment, consumers’ interactions with the technology may be in the midst of a significant change.
“Social media remains the top investment channel for digital marketing, but consumers are actively trying to limit their use,” Emily Weiss, senior principal researcher in the Gartner Marketing Practice, said in a statement. “A significant slice says that, compared to a few years ago, they are sharing less of their own lives and content.”
Fifty-three percent of consumers said the current state of social media has decayed compared to the prior year or to five years ago, per the report.
A separate Gartner survey last year found that 72% of consumers believe that AI-based content generators could spread false or misleading information.
“Mistrust and lack of confidence in AI’s abilities will drive some consumers to seek out AI-free brands and interactions,” Weiss said. “A subsection of brands will shun AI and prioritize more human positioning. This ‘acoustic’ concept will be leveraged to distance brands from perceptions of AI-powered businesses as impersonal and homogeneous.”
Most marketers and communications professionals have used or experimented with artificial intelligence, according to a survey last year by The Conference Board in collaboration with Ragan Communications. Common applications of AI for marketers include summarizing content, personalizing customer and user content and improving customer service, per their findings.
As social media experiences change, marketing executives need to adapt, according to Weiss. “CMOs must refocus their customer acquisition and loyalty retention strategies,” Weiss said.
