Why social media platforms must be the ones to police their own space

To say that we are only now waking up to the problems with social media would be wrong, but it feels as though the biggest platforms are under more scrutiny now than they have been at any other point since their arrival in the mainstream.

From the pernicious use of Facebook data by outside companies to the general abusive tone that is fostered on Twitter, people are starting to ask if it’s all really worth it.

The fact is, though, that social media is now an important part of our lives and it won’t be going anywhere. That makes a rethink and a change of environment vitally important.

This week, Fulham and Republic of Ireland defender Cyrus Christie spoke out about some of the disgusting racist abuse he’s been receiving on Twitter. I’m sure everyone who regularly uses the platform will know how bad things can get, but even so, some of the abuse detailed by the footballer is genuinely shocking, even in the context of Twitter.

Unsurprisingly, he – supported by anti-racism in football campaign group Kick it Out – feels as though the social media companies themselves should be doing more to combat online abuse.

Hardly a day goes by that there isn’t someone on a platform who is left shocked that an anonymous user who has sent some form of abusive message was not deemed to have contravened the site’s rules, and no one should be subjected to anything like that sort of abuse in any case or in any location – pysical or online.

The problem here is the obvious one of policing your space, but there is a long-term effect to think about, too. This week, we looked at the fact that social media has only evolved slowly over the last few years and is no longer the novelty that it once was.

And if you couple that with the fact that social media sites can often be depressing places to spend some time, you get a situation where you start to wonder just why people would use them at all.

Clearly social media is a hugely important tool for brands and, in the context of sport, for teams, athletes and publishers. But surely the onus is on the platforms themselves to make the space a positive one. If not, is that really the environment where brands want to showcase their companies, where teams want to engage with their fans or even just where people generally want to spend their time?

Before we think about the next steps in the social media landscape, the platforms should really be thinking about how to make their spaces fun again.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

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