The future of social media is not (just) connection. It's curation.

Social media has been all about connecting people (e.g., Facebook’s mission statement is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”). That’s no longer enough. We want and need more from social media, and research has begun to show us how to get there - let me explain.

As we have seen over the years, merely connecting people via social media can have subtle and dangerous consequences, including promoting misinformation, hate, and negative mental health effects (although it is important to note that this kind of research is hard to do without the help of social media companies, so we should be careful about drawing any definitive conclusions, yet - help us, social media companies!).

There is growing evidence that many people can do a pretty good job discerning true from false information online, and that interventions to help those who struggle with this are effective. A wonderful new study by Arechar et al, spanning 16 countries on 6 continents with over 34,000 participants, has provided evidence the basic psychology of misinformation is consistent (and malleable!) and that prompts and digital literacy interventions can help.

On the other hand, negativity grinds down users. Social media algorithms that prioritize angry responses over helpful engagement may have initial success, but are doomed to failure (hello, Twitter!). People want and need high-quality engagement and helpful information.

Given the current research, it’s getting harder and harder for me to believe that social media companies can’t or don’t know how to productively help people identify and stop the spread of misinformation online. We’ve got the tools and they are relatively straightforward to implement. And doing so would improve users’ experience. Less dunking, more debunking!

So, the future of social media isn’t merely connection - it’s curation. The social media platforms that survive will be those that not only connect people, but also help them identify, share, and learn from high-quality source of information. Let’s get started.