Blueprint for Social Networks in 2025 overview post

This is a rant derived from my own meandering experience with social networks. Treat it as such.

After the research I'm doing, a real blog post with insight and suggestions will follow. By the way, you can contribute. How? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. And NOPE, I did not bother to correct grammar either. For the Love of God (Steve Vais song), it’s a draft🫨 . Thx!

Over the years, social networks have evolved, devolved, and, in some cases, become parodies of their former selves. As a marketer on the web for over 25 years, I find myself looking at these platforms with a mix of familiarity, skepticism, and, yes, a fair bit of disdain.

Why disdain, you ask? Because, despite the new features, shiny bells and whistles, and the relentless pursuit of engagement, the core mechanics remain unchanged. All social networks require you to engage with content and share native content, not links, to gain something from them (tangible or not). The engagement varies from platform to platform. Some require more likes, some more comments and shares, and some more in-page browsing.

But... it’s still about getting people’s eyeballs, and it’s still about turning them into numbers on a dashboard. The tricks we used to get those numbers keep evolving, and it’s our job, yours and mine, to keep up—or get left behind.

Gone are the days when simply having a Facebook page or tweeting a few times a week was enough to get your business noticed. Today, each platform has become a specific tool for a specific purpose—some are visual scrapbooks, others instant messaging giants. Then there are those who want to be everything, everywhere, and all at once.

For marketers, this diversity of platforms means there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy anymore. Every platform has its quirks, its algorithms, and its audience expectations. The game is about figuring out which combination of networks fits your brand best, where your customers are most likely to hang out—and, crucially, which ones they actually engage with.

What follows are my views on what is out there in the wild🤯
Add yours in the comments.

Facebook. Is anybody using it the way it is meant to be used anymore? Joined it in 2007. Used it in the following years a lot just to move to spectator mode (like in Minecraft or rather Quake 2) ever since. Users aged 25-34 represent Facebook’s largest audience, while teen usage has dropped sharply. News is what they seek the most. Group pages are full of shit and spam. Company pages get low engagement organically. Facebook has an engagement rate of 0.063% across all industries (source). I find it hard for SaaS companies to get something out of business vise. Admittedly, it depends on your business.

Instagram. Even though I created an account in February 2012, I never understood it. I see it as a public board for promoting how I would like others to see my life, not how I live it (hm…aren’t all soc profiles a version of that!?). My feed is full of models and influencers shaking buts and preaching a healthy life (just recently, guitar tutorials have been added to the loop). Not sure how the algo is working, but these are not my main interests in life. I get that brands relying on visual appeal dominate here, but what about the rest? Apart from promoting work culture, I don’t see anything else. Brand awareness … of course, but at what cost? The organic reach rate on Instagram last month was 12% (source). At least that is better than FB.

Threads. If you ask me, an extended hand (text) of Instagram’s selling reality does not deliver. But you can say that for all Twitter-like clones simply because we all know how painfully hard it is to get the audience, and we are reluctant to do it and succeed in doing it again (more on that later).

WhatsApp is just like email spam. I get the point if you have the (phone) numbers and a product on your hands, but for SaaS…nope.

Viber. Same as WhatsApp, just limited to certain countries. It is particularly popular in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia (source).

TikTok is not my cup of tea. A victim of a generation gap, I guess. I don't have the slightest idea why I would use it personally or how to use it professionally. I mean, would someone sign up for an eCommerce platform if they saw it on it? It's highly unlikely.

Snapchat. Same as TikTok. One thing, though. The idea of self-deleting messages is great for all kinds of mischief and shenanigans.

X / Twitter. On and off since 2009. Right now, I am bombarded with right-wing ideas, fight videos, boobs, and hoes in my feed from people I do not follow and people I follow and my followers don’t follow. I get to see every damn message from Elon, which I am not interested in. I had to make a list with stuff I would like to see from people I follow. The engagement rate has fallen significantly on my personal and business shares/tweets. The average organic X engagement rate is 1.66% for the entertainment and media industry (source). I get two different feeds on mobile and laptop, and X as a whole is not my idea of free speech, but… it is so damn hard to build an audience on others with even poorer engagement results that I don't have the luxury of leaving it. I know more than a handful of well-known figures that left Twitter when Musk bought it, only to return when they realized they still have an audience on X because building a new one again is so damn hard.

Mastodon. When the first exodus from Twitter happened (when Musk bought Twitter), I had high hopes for it. Eventually, it suffered from the same things all Twitter clones do (which I already mentioned). The feed is better, I give ’em that, but the number of people I follow is so damn low (or that follow me) mainly because it is so hard to find handlers/profile URLs due to its decentralized nature. Returns? Don’t ask.

Bluesky. Like a new Twitter, but not new!? Except maybe tech underneath it…which makes me wonder what its appeal is besides not being Twitter and having Elon in your feed. Not sure, to be honest. But as with any of these mentioned here, I’ll try it because of the pure marketing FOMO I am a victim of.

Linkedin - 2024 turned out to be LinkedIn’s year (for me, at least). While I hate that you have to do the ‘link is in the first comment’ thing to boost engagement, it worked well for business and me personally (the business side of me, at least). Decent people, decent conversations and shares. The average LinkedIn organic reach rate last month was 1.81% (source), which is not bad given that over the years, it was mostly 2% for most social networks.

Substack. As a newsletter platform, I love it. As a means to communicate with your subscribers, it is cool. As a source for good reads, I love it even more. But as a social network, it sucks mainly because everybody is heavily into promoting their shit, expecting engagement but not giving one.

YouTube. Is it a social network, anyway? It is if you use it like one (Shorts, shares, comments). But, above all, it is a great source of traffic, exposure, and brand awareness if you do it correctly.

Twitch. Not in my scope (but maybe it should be). Still, as an add-on to YouTube efforts, I imagine it can, and it is working great.

Pinterest. How social Pinterest truly is? And for who? I guess whoever can visually profit from it. I love core-core style wallpapers. When you think of it, sharing a cool infographic might be an excellent use case for a SaaS business. But other than that, I don't know.

Reddit. I joined Reddit 11 years ago, and ever since, I considered it the ultimate forum of the internet. I have a love/hate relationship with Reddit (same as everyone, I guess). What helps is being a moderator and not spamming. Yep, I am banned from a couple of channels (in my early years), but who isn't? Nope, I am not using it to manipulate Google, but I do use it to build a narrative around the topics I know about. And it sends (probably) the most decent and focused traffic of all here.

Quora. Since it came under the spotlight for most people, it served as a spam, backlink, and brand-naming place. It's too bad the original idea got lost in malpractice. I still use it sometimes, but I'm not happy about it.

Discord and Slack channels. At times, both seem to be replacements for Facebook and LinkedIn groups filled with spammy people. But then you post a question or phrase your link correctly and you get a great response. The more focused channels are, the better. And both work great if you want to build and grow your community around a tool, a platform, or a topic. It's a must for anyone in SaaS.

BeReal. I’ll be real and say I don’t know anything about it and won't even bother to Google it.

WeChat. Not my market. Different rules matter there. It would be interesting to know/read more about it.

Telegram and Signal. Crypto. Spam. Politics. Secrets. That's how I see them. Used both scarcely for the exact purposes. Not a fan.

I am sure there are even more, but these will do for now.

Navigating this increasingly complex ecosystem is already a challenge for me. The days of relying on a few major platforms to reach most of your audience are over.

Social media is no longer just about broadcasting—it’s about listening, engaging, and building lasting relationships… and I (sort of) tend to use it this way. The platforms may change, and the algorithms may shift, but the core of social media—connection—will always remain.

How do you use social networks in your life and business? Share your thoughts. Let’s discuss this via Notes here at Substack.
Thx.