Meet the new social media hierarchy, same as the old one

Why social media feels so much less exciting when it’s established:

Open systems start with no hierarchy, so they look like meritocracies at first, but network effects mean newcomers create a hierarchy, often without even meaning to. We will never return to a Twitter where there’s little difference between newcomers and the old guard.

The form of the piece is an good old fashioned “it’s not fair” – but it captures why the excitement and potential many find in the early days of a new tool often fails to come to fruition, as new hierarchies start to establish themselves.

About Adam Tinworth

Adam is a digital journalism analyst, trainer and consultant. He started his career publishing newspapers for the children on his street in the 1980s, edited student magazines in the 1990s, and then spent a decade as a business journalist. In 2006, he moved full-time into digital journalism development. Since 2012, he's been trading as an independent consultant, and has worked with everything from national and international newspapers, to small local charities.