Let’s travel back 10 years ago to the year 2014. Your family has a single shared desktop computer, instagram is in it’s heyday as an app to share photos with your friends (still only in a 1:1 aspect ratio), and TikTok is known only for its use in nursery rhymes. Now open your eyes.
We are living in an age of algorithmically curated hubs and AI garbage. Blogs are obscure and drowning under SEO articles and ads; brands and creators bend to the will of trending sounds and short form content to reach anyone; and small businesses pray for an influencer to review them to gain customers.
In the past, blogs were pure and uncorrupted places to share knowledge and passions. Interesting and useful insights would pop up through a search result. If the searcher liked your stuff, they might even subscribe to your RSS feed or newsletter.
And that was the key: users searched for what they wanted.
Today, algorithms rule digital engagement. No need to search when Mark Zuckerberg can tell you what is important. Even worse, if you decide to google something, your results will be polluted with ads, SEO listicles, and soon to be implemented AI summary. The internet is seen as a profit generating machine, controlled by the wealthiest people on the planet; another victim of techno-feudalism.
Algorithm Hell
Because this algorithm driven curation is so easy, we stopped searching. In turn, forums died and blogs like this one continue to limp along out of a love of blogging or corrupted themselves in efforts to rank higher in the SEO results. Google has become impossible to navigate through the sludge of ads, widgets, and SEO articles that are not helpful. Users often resort to appending reddit to the end of queries in efforts to connect with someone real and knowledgable.
And hey, I’m just as guilty of searching “things to do in Toronto” on TikTok! But only because my google search revealed TripAdvisor and other travel ad type listicles. Maybe if I like a few more videos, my feed will be full of Toronto activities. No longer do I rely on the travel blogger, but more so the travel influencer.
And thus the death of the blogger allowed social media giants to replace the need for a website at all. I’ve seen countless restaurants, online shops, podcasts, artists, you name it, completely dependent on social media accounts instead of websites. To me, an avid blogger, artist, and podcaster, I would be so lost without my blog. It is the corner of the internet that is completely mine. No one can take it away from me; no ads will run without my consent; and no algorithm will determine which piece of my work is most important.
LinkTree as a Bandaid
With brands spread so thin across platforms and the website further diminishing in its role, how do you connect everything? It seems that LinkTree (or similar products) to list your top links in a mobile friendly view has been the solution. This way all social media accounts, storefronts, and websites are under one link for the “link in bio.” This underscores that website architecture is not addressing modern needs.
The link in bio originated from a time when the website was the main way to interact with a brand or creative. Now the roles have reversed and discoverability is confined to social media while websites are left to wither in the second and third pages of google search results. Thus a brand cannot waste the precious attention that have in a user who clicks the link in bio. That is their one click shot to get a user to leave the app they have been scrolling on mindlessly for hours. Thus the action oriented nature of a LinkTree capitalizes on the shortened attention span.
In fact there is a common UX rule of limiting a user journey to 3 clicks to reach important information. This has since been debunked but that is also assuming the user has the attention and motivation to reach the end goal. If your target user relies on impulse buying to convert a click to a sale, the user journey must be as short as possible. With the LinkTree model we can have as little as 3 clicks:
Link in bio > button related to post/ item > add to cart
Putting a full website as the link in bio diffuses that burst of impulsivity by showing the user too much.
Sometimes the System Works!
There is a reason we continue to grasp onto this model. I have found new cool products and even restaurants that made it out of the DMS.
For example – Egg Flip! A new Korean inspired egg sandwich concept in the skyways. Yes I heard about it through word of mouth and it is near my office but it wasn’t until videos of the mouth watering sandwiches came across my feed that I decided it was time to try it out for myself.
But this cannot be the only way. Social media has created a tunnel and it is destroying all other ways to getting to the end goal.
@yumyum_adventures Minnesota places you should try next part 40 📍EGGFLIP 601 S Marquette Ave # 208 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402 What I ordered: 1) BEEF BULGOGI $12 2) The FLIP $12 3) LOCO MOCO bowl $10 4) SAUSAGE TURKEY $10 5) EGGS & HAM burrito $10 6) Fountain beverage $3 Only open on Monday thru Friday from 7AM-2PM. Located on the second floor. Street parking or paid parking is available. Part 39: @yumyum_adventures Part 38: @yumyum_adventures Part 37: @yumyum_adventures #minnesota #onlyinminnesota #localeats #foodie #placestoeat #koreanized #koreantoast #sandwich #asianfoods #asianfusion ♬ Magnetic – ILLIT
How to Save the Website with IA
Not typo, IA is information architecture. How can websites mimic the CTA provided by LinkTrees while also preserving the depth of information they provide? How can they connect everything and possibly liberate creators from the demanding and burnout inducing cycle that is posting to various platforms?
- Websites as curated feeds
- Connection over profits
- Bring back the newsletter
Website Feeds
This is more of a prediction, but if websites can emulate that feeling of personal curation that social media algorithms are so good at, they might increase curiosity (and attention span) of site visitors. Between emerging AI technology (which can be good when used in the right way) and powerful site tracking cookies, how far off is a dynamic personal home page experience?
Connection Over Profits
I see it time and time again, authenticity is key. What is more authentic than blogging? In the confines of social media, artists and creators cannot fully express themselves. Videos on social media are confined to a vertical format! It is time that creatives disconnect from social media as their main form of self expression. For me, even the confines of a WordPress post cannot contain me! I have coded several sub-sites for this website where anything I can imagine goes!
Taylor Swift Lyric Search Tool: https://angelageorge.com/ts-generator
A Zine Portfolio: https://angelageorge.com/zine-land
My UI/UX Portfolio: https://angelageorge.com/ui-portfolio
Bring Back the Newsletter
Users need to sever their reliance on social media to show them the brands and creators they love. Subscribe to a newsletter, bookmark a site, learn to use RSS feeds again! Support by following these sites outside of social media.
So if you believe in any of this rant, please subscribe! <3
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