Perfectly Imperfect

If I were to create another “label” for myself (although I am not very fond of labels to begin with), I would call myself a conscious creative.

Recently, I’ve developed a deeper awareness of how technology is so pervasive in our everyday lives. I’ve come to a conscious awareness that most of our day-to-day conversations and tasks aren’t even “real.” I don’t mean real in the sense that they don’t actually exist, but they don’t exist in the “physical” world – whatever that is.

Rather, they’re just numbers and pixels on a screen. Our text conversations aren’t actual conversations, but just lines that exist on our phone. When I’m making a presentation on a computer, those graphics I make only exist within the realm of the screen, and once that screen turns off or goes to show another thing, my creation goes “poof” and is virtually nonexistent until it is revived once again. Here’s a fun one: moving money around in your bank account? You aren’t holding any actual money (though you technically could) and are just moving numbers on a screen.

So when discussing the topic of social media stickiness – or how to make your content more engaging to the point where people stay longer on a social media application – I have some very deep concerns. Right off the bat, the idea of “sticking” to something implies being stuck. When gum sticks to the bottom of your shoe, it is stuck there until you remove it. 

In discussing stickiness as it pertains to YouTube (in their article, literally titled, “YouTube Stickiness”), Hsiu-Sen Chiang and Kuo-Lun Hsaio writes that “Proactive stickiness to YouTube is defined as the user’s willingness to return to and prolong his or her visits to YouTube.” To be sticky, the user must spend a long time on YouTube and keep coming back to YouTube.

It’s as if an aim of social media is to drive a user’s mild addiction. It’s no wonder people, especially those in younger generations, are addicted to social media. It also promotes a sense of mild selfishness. As Chiang and Hsaio write:

Although few posted videos garner much attention or response, most respondents believed that sharing videos could bring them fame and status. Sharers gain intangible benefits, such as appreciation and praise, when viewers “like” their submission or post comments. These findings imply that the need to build one’s reputation prompts sharers to share videos more frequently and spend more time on YouTube.

I’d argue that this isn’t limited to YouTube, but is a component in every social media platform. It’s why people find themselves heavily comparing themselves to other people. Stickiness requires some level of concern for the self.

Overall, social media stickiness just seems horrible. It requires a level of being stuck and mandates a mild selfishness. Are we therefore evil for trying to get human beings to engage with content?

Admittedly, we each play a small part in this problem, as both an inducer and the induced. I’m a content creator. I’ve had a podcast and recently started a newsletter. I’ve created content for other businesses. This blog post itself is a piece of content. And even if you don’t create content professionally, if you have a personal account and post life updates on it, you are also creating content for others to see.

And the whole basis of success for any piece of content at a mere base level is its ability to be engaging – to get people to spend time with it, and then return to spend time with even more of your stuff. We ourselves are stuck to the system, and in our stickiness, other people get stuck as well.

What can be done about this seemingly hopeless situation? 

Counter it: make it hopeful.

First, I encourage all of my fellow designers, communications, creative, etc. to recognize this problem. Acknowledge it. Then, be conscious of how the choices you make in your content could actually affect the attention and actions of the people who interact with that content – making them more “stuck” then they already are.

Second, if you are going to create content, it should be for the good, or for some impactful social benefit. The world is not going to get better with “brainrot” content, but society can be changed for the better with content made for the good of society.

According to a blog post by Neil Patel, “your content needs to be impactful in some meaningful way to be considered truly engaging.” So in my opinion, if you’re going to make engaging or sticky content, at least try to be impactful enough that the person on the other end does something positive, or thinks in a more positive way. You have to aim to create some sort of impact already in the first place – you might as well land with a good one.

I titled this blog article the way I did because I believe there is a delicate balance when it comes to social media. You can create sticky content that is detrimental, or sticky content that is positive. Users need to be aware of whether or not they are sticking too much to social media and adjust their use of it. Both parties have a responsibility to be responsible, both to themselves and to each other.

So if you’re going to create sticky content, make sure it’s good, or does good. Don’t make engaging content that just adds more fuel to the fire. We don’t need more “noise” content, or content for content’s sake

To create is to have a responsibility – and you must use it wisely for the good of those around you.