“Why would I want to read old people arguing about Covid vaccinations or some other nutty conspiracy theory,” stated a younger friend to me the other day when I asked if he used Facebook. For the record he wasn’t that young, in his late twenties, but it appears that almost no one under thirty uses Zuckerberg’s creation anymore.

The lines for social media are clearly drawn, they are mainly broken down into generations, but also requirements.

And just last week in the early morning sunshine in the Old City I had the good fortune to sit down for breakfast with one of the leading names in social media management. It was a real eye-opener.

The days of funny cat photos and pictures of what we had for lunch are behind us, and so are the bums and boobs of so called influencers. “It is basically a form of social media prostitution,” smiled the London based expert. “This form of eye candy is passé and it feels like watching an outdated movie from the 70’s full of sexual innuendo,” he added. “And in some way it really hurt the profile of Instagram which is why many people left the platform and moved to Tik Tok,” he sipped his coffee.

A social media science 

Do you ever get the feeling that you are just too old to keep up with the modern trends? I ask because I am in the throes of opening a Tik Tok account, and at first glance it is a blur of colour and movement, enough to give anyone an epileptic fit. However, I need it to get the eyeballs of Generation Z.

As the expert explained (in great detail) every generation has different views. And this Z generation is the first generation to grow up entirely in the digital era and is characterized by its familiarity with technology. You know the generation who have no idea what a cassette tape, video or album looks like. They grew up online and Wi-Fi connected.

“This is like a new science, a social media science,” I questioned. “Well, yes. Many universities and educational institutions offer social media management courses as part of their curriculum,” he said.

I’m pretty sure that when Zuckerberg dreamt up an idea which was at the beginnings a form of online college dating website, like a real Beta version of Tinder, he had no clue that 30 years later students would be studying it.

“So if you don’t mind me asking how much do you charge to manage a social media account for y company,” I questioned. “Well, that isn’t really an easy one to answer as there are lots of different packages over all the channels, but to give you an idea our basic package starts at around £2,000 a month,” he answered.

You'll never get a grip of social media 

And bearing in mind that his relatively small company has over 100 companies it is a pretty decent business.

I filled a whole notebook full of ideas as I picked his brains.

And one of the overriding feelings I took away from our meeting was the unbelievable efforts these social media companies go to a) earn money from us and b) collect our data.

“Once you are in you are basically a fly in a spider’s web, the more you move the more you become glued, and you’ll never be able to truly get out,” he said as finishing his breakfast. And yes, only Generation X, really use Facebook. Born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, this generation witnessed societal changes and technological advancements, such as the rise of personal computers and the internet. In other words, Facebook followed them from its birth.

“You’ll never ever truly get a grip on social media, there are over 20 that people use today and every year another half dozen are launched,” he concluded.

After two hours my head was spinning. And I couldn’t help thinking how lucky I was to remember a time before social media, and let’s be honest those times were far more social than today.

"The question I ask myself like almost every day is, 'Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?'" said Mark Zuckerberg. Is the most important thing actually being on social media?   

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to

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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik