social media managers are turning 40 😭

A state of the union for people working in social media, who happen to be Millennials and who happen to be approaching (or are in) their forties.

Aug 13, 2024

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Millennials are no longer young and that’s okay. That’s life! We all age. We all “get old.”

But one thing about Millennials that is unique to the generation is their growing up with social media, less in the sense of iPad kids being “raised” by social sites but more in the way that we 1980s-into-1990s kids became adults as social media and the internet became adults too. Whether we feel it to be true or not, the industry was taken seriously as we were taken seriously — and our lives are intertwined as a result. “The Internet isn’t connecting us” is basically the same as “stop buying avocado toasts,” which is to say that both social media and Millennials as concepts have always been tied to volatility, by the market — The world! — putting us down, belittling us while requiring us. It’s hard being that bitch.

Because of this relationship, so many Millennials work in social media, and have been working in social media for years upon years upon years. There are people who have worked in social media for almost two decades now! This is, in many ways, shocking because social media is still very much one of those “So what do you do?” jobs, a world of marketing but also writing but also video producing but also always being online that requires being a multi-tool, multi-hyphenate worker who can roll with whatever the constantly changing social landscape throws at the world. And, despite this time and legitimacy of the industry, workers are still reduced to “the intern” which has repeatedly irked workers, growing chants that the world take social media marketers seriously.

This in mind, I wanted to do something that I’m surprised hasn’t been done before: speak to Millennials working in social media who are nearing or who are in their forties to understand their thoughts on the industry. Social media is historically seen and treated as vitally important but also nothing, evolving to fold in influencers and developing technologies, which constantly causes businesses to weigh if social media marketing “is worth it.” Like any industry, things change and people hold up signs that the end is near. But, unlike other industries, there is no playbook for social media and the internet: we’re all learning as we go, constantly proving our importance and explaining to people how social media and the internet works despite these tools existing for the majority of many workers’ lives. It’s rough out there, but such is the Millennial existence: we’re always deep in something.

So I reached out to a few friends, former colleagues, readers, and LinkedIn connections to develop a state of the union that I’m calling Social Media at 40™. I’m curious about this, as someone who still works in social media (for better or worse) after all these years and who is constantly wondering if this business will even be around by the end of this decade. Let’s meet our experts — and hear what they have to say about the (Internet) world that they helped to build.

Note that the interview has been edited for length. Respondent’s answers reflect desires for privacy and anonymity.

Who are you? Where are you? What’s your title? What’s your “logline” as far as work?

Amanda Brennan, Jersey City, “internet librarian currently doing influencer data projects at an agency for a big tech company”: i went viral in the early 2010s for being the first meme librarian after i built tumblr's fandometrics

Dayna Castillo, Los Angeles, Senior Social Strategist at Calm: Award winning shitposter.

Linda Dianne, Los Angeles, Social Media Strategist/Producer, Freelance: From experimentally weaving social media into my day job to it *becoming* my day job, being an internet lurker has lead to some of the most exhilarating and ridiculous experiences of my life.

Melanie English, Los Angeles, Director of Social Marketing at LinkedIn: I've been trying to get Marketing leaders, finance, and legal to understand the value and role of social media marketing and community building for almost 20 years.

Bryan Grace, Los Angeles, Senior Social Strategist at Lineage Digital: Results-oriented strategist and community manager with nearly a decade of experience driving growth for top-tier entertainment clients.

Danielle Lehman, Kansas City, Founder of Super Crunch Studio: Started my career at Myspace; hanging on by a thread as a marketing consultant who is turning 40 this year.

Melissa Withorn, Atlanta and Lisbon, Self-employed, Creative Director, Content Director (“usually the word director is in my title but I mainly work with agencies in adland”): I shape brand personalities with strategic creative.

Amanda, New York City, Lead Social Strategist at Methods+Mastery: Leading trends across entertainment and tech since 2011.

Define the current state of social media, both as a venue for interaction and a marketing space.

AB: social media IS a marketing space. the brands have taken over. do you want to interact with a brand? that's where you go. and that includes people who are brands, not just brands. and the interaction, the genuine human connection that you used to get is hidden under ad after ad after ad.

LD:

As a venue for interaction and a marketing space – we're at a fork in the road, both similar in many ways. For interaction, we're at an all time high for connection and discovery thanks to the likes of TikTok but the world at large wasn't necessarily ready or braced for that level of honesty, grit, and life without filters.
Similarly, for marketing, many brands are dealing with the pendulum swing of the general reaction to brands like Wendy's and Duolingo. "Real talk" brands had their moment but most everyone else either swung and missed or have reverted to limiting experimentation in favor of consistent, positive reception.
I'd be interested to see how the conservative reaction to freedom across social media for both interaction and marketing changes over the next couple of years and Gen Alpha's electric eyeballs become more entrenched across platforms.

ME: With so many platforms for interaction, I think the current state of social media is not a monolith. People find safe online spaces and marketing professionals find a way to insert themselves for profit .

BG: As a venue for interaction I view the current social landscape as an online version of WWE. A lot of what I see (maybe it’s my algorithm) are people playing characters that are extensions of their true self, triumphs and tragedies serve as storylines in this never ending soap opera. These characters lend themselves directly to the marketing space of social as the two are ultimately going to converge in a way that changes online interactions. As a marketing space social and gone from a complimentary piece to a core component of brand strategy becoming a complex ecosystem with seemingly endless potential.

DL: Anyone who remembers Myspace and Tumblr understands that social media started as a space for personal expression. With the rise in popularity of Facebook and Twitter, we were all put in a box (a limit on characters, no more glitter graphics). There were acceptable norms of how brands should use social media and it became just another platform for advertising. I don't know who officially started the trend of moving away from 'advertising on social media', but I think of brands like Wendy's who threw all of the rules out the window and started roasting people on Twitter. Now social media is the wild west, a big pendulum swing well past the HTML customizations of Myspace. No one wants to be advertised to on social media - we want to be entertained. And what is considered entertainment is getting weirder and weirder every day. "Interns" editing videos without any of the important marketing language, car salesmen slamming their bodies against new cars, social media managers for the paralympics making fun of athletes' disabilities... I mean where is the line? Is there one? Will we just cycle back to our boxes at some point? Hard to say.

MW: Everyone’s depressed about the algorithm and wildly throwing things into the void in hopes it gets reach or at least more eyeballs than the last post. Overall, as a user, the feeds and FYP lack the original sense of discovery so it’s harder to differentiate both as a brand and a creator. The current PROs are a pivot back to organic (and boosting) which I think is inherently more fun as a creative and you can really tell the brands that are leaning in to it. The ones that do it well and leverage creator partnerships in a natural way (thinking Marc Jacbos x Nara Smith) are so world class compared to the many brands just repackaging campaign content and jumping on trends. While I love that social is finally getting some love in the marketing budget, it feels a bit like mom and dad have entered the chat. When the CMO is sharing months-old memes and sponcon is force-fed into my self-care scroll time, it makes me long for the silly, irreverent version of the internet that I swear once existed. I fear that social media is doomed to follow the same path as TV advertising, being ‘hot-taked’ to death, round and round in the echo chamber comments section while the actual humans ignore us entirely. Or maybe that’s just my cynicism showing. I do think it’s exciting seeing how social has become an origination point for the birth of niche communities, reaching a tipping point and then driving people off platform into closed groups and sometimes even IRL (gasp).

A: Slop mess, overwhelming to navigate for the native. Can't imagine how it is for those who aren't deeply entrenched.

How has “social media marketing,” “social media producing,” and generally working in social media changed since this space started in the aughts and early 2010s?

AB: i used to have fun here - okay that was curt and i kind of do still have fun, but overall i used to feel more free and not as worried about how to Appease an Algorithm for fun AND profit. there's also a different ownership and relationship of people to social - the pandemic really was an eternal september where offline people HAD to be more online and the amount of people who were various degrees of "being online" just shot up immensely at once on top of a mind-melting unprecedented event that (at least in america) also splintered people out into people who .... basically people who believed in science and people who believed in ... whatever else is out there. there's no more monoculture - and that's something that had been percolating for a long time prior to 2020, but the splits are SO severe sometimes that it feels like people are living in difference universes (see: The Boys for the best satire of US culture in media right now)

LD:

In many ways so much and not enough has changed. When I started in 2010, social marketing and producing offered open doors for brand messaging with little to no budget, but lots of trust in experimentation. The platforms were forgiving in many ways and the audience was receptive to innovative ways of thinking. In many ways, the internet as a whole was the wild west.
For the most part, while I do still believe that calculated risks do pay off today, there is less desire to experiment or play with conventions. There's more headcount but less trust. In many rooms, the marketers at the top making the hard decisions are not those of us who live/breathe/shitpost online. Oftentimes, the memes get muddied in favor of positive brand positioning.
I'm hopeful that the future finds a happy medium, especially as more of the Gen Z fandom leaders join the workforce and rise amongst the ranks. I can't wait to see what marketing and producing becomes then!

BG: The depths that we go to connect with communities is totally different today. Long gone are the days where brands had a top down approach with their consumers. With the help of social brands and influencers are meeting consumers in their niche communities connecting with people like we’ve never seen before but also opening Pandora’s box of para social relationships

DL: I started my marketing consulting business in 2013, and social media was never a priority for any of the businesses I worked with. Then about 5 years ago, a lot of clients started asking for social media help because they knew they needed to be on it, but nobody wanted to pay for it, and they definitely didn't see the value. For a lot of the companies I've worked with, the goal has been to make them look legitimate on social media, but not use it as a tool to engage with customers. This year, I've seen a split -- half of my clients are asking for more investment into social media (can we do more video? can we create more entertaining content? can we explore other channels?) and the other half are replacing my services with their nephew who has never worked a day in marketing.

MW: It’s like night and day. Not that long ago you had to fight to even be a legit consideration in the marketing budget. Social was such an afterthought. You’d go to set to shoot a big commercial and you’d snap a few low fi (but not in a cool way) BTS shots on a sad side set and you were practically invisible. There was no plan or strategy involved and it all felt very loosey goosey, winging-it vibes. Now, social leads the entire brand strategy. Even if it’s a TVC, social listening is a huge factor and oftentimes an entire campaign is built around a single tweet or comment. As I mentioned above, I think there are pros and cons that come with this new world we are living in. I don’t think more eyeballs on the work necessarily leads to better content. In fact, I think the opposite can be true when you’re in an ad agency setting and your older male likely white CCO (yes, this is still the case at most places in 2024) is pushing a Hollywood-style reboot of National Lampoon’s vacation on Tiktok instead of, ya know, anything actually relevant in culture. The places that do it well know how to check their own egos at the door and let their team take the lead on what’s current and how to leverage it for the brand.

A: New platforms, more video (but not in the 2015 way), edits and audio trends, Twitter's instability rocking the industry

How different is your job in social media now from what you were doing ten, fifteen, twenty, etc. years ago?

AB:

20 years (give or take) - i was booking shows and posting on livejournal, i found out about stuff from forums and bbs, i felt like i was part of multiple online communities and felt connected to people when i was trying to share info about the shows i was booking!
15 years - i spent a lot of time on oh no they didn't and encyclopedia dramatica wishing someone would take this culture seriously in the grand scheme of things
10 years - i felt like i could take on the world. everything felt new. by this time, i had the experience of working at know your meme - of feeling like i was doing something good for the world by explaining internet culture and seeing how i could help people make connections, find deeper meaning and understanding in things. roflcon still felt magical. i felt like i really could move a needle for people - i remember one time early at tumblr i found someone who made a balloon sculpture every day so i put it in a marketing email and a week or two later they were on their local news. i saw the effects of who i could editorially put in the tumblr radar, i could dig through content and find a gem and do something for someone. in a way, that was a time where i felt the most powerful, like my desire to dig through content could change people's lives. and i miss that. i don't think that's possible anymore.

DC:

The space is so much more crowded—not just with people creating content but with brands and businesses attempting to stake claims on their real estate within the social media landscape. What used to be a fun arena to connect with actual people with similar interests and values has become a wasteland of influencers and brands attempting to push products in disingenuous ways. It's much more difficult to work as a brand or organization in social media spaces and cut through the noise.
Until recently, "upper management" discounted social media marketing (the intern running the socials trope), which devalued the skillset of actual professionals in the space. But now that social media has been validated as a way for businesses and brands to drive brand affinity online, higher-ups want to have more opinions about how they think social media should work, despite not having informed opinions or opinions formed based on thought leadership that contradicts the best interests and strategies of tenured social media professionals.

LD: Answered a little bit above, but one of the biggest changes I've see since '10 is that this is no longer that "one-person-band" social media team that was prevalent in the aughts. Social media, thankfully, has expanded to include niches – if you love producing, you can produce; if you love designing, you can design; etc. It allows for more people with varied timelines and internet histories to join forces to create something great.

ME: The algorithms change and creators/influencers are the priority, but what remains the same is trying to get Marketing leaders, finance, and legal to understand the value and role of social media marketing and community building.

BG: My first social job in came while working in radio where I was given the passwords and told to “have fun with it” which it totally different from the well defined goals and KPI’s that I have today. Tools that assist with reporting and research are absolute lifesavers beyond having to be restricted to the metrics provided by the various platforms.

DL: Twenty years ago, I was working FOR a social media platform, trying to figure out how to salvage it. Now I'm trying to figure out how to best leverage these platforms from a brand perspective, and constantly trying to stay ahead of the trends to provide value for my clients.

MW: There’s just more data and more levers to be pulled that make the fine tuning of content so much easier and more seamless. Again, it can’t be overstated too how data has helped legitimize a lot of what we do which leads to bigger budgets to take bigger swings. Being able to leverage a solid strategy with actual KPIs instead of just reporting “likes” is huge compared to where we were a decade ago.

A: More strategy focused (also on the agency side vs brand side)

What do you think the future of social media is? Do you think it will continue, in this form? Will there be a big disruption? Will it…die?

AB: like secondlife it will exist forever but instead of kinksters taking over it will just be angry people and brands talking to each other.

DC: The pendulum is already swinging away from the current state of social media. Audiences are savvy to the fact that they are being marketed to, especially as social media spaces continue to become more oversaturated with brand presences attempting to be relatable. Users will shift toward preferring to move through digital spaces more anonymously, with their social media identities tied to their personal interests and values rather than visual aesthetics. It's effortless for users to pivot their social media behavior, but it will take a long time for brands and advertisers to detect this trend and catch up.

LD: I'm hopeful that the future of social media is a bright one full of further connection and disruption. Much like self-portraits were selfies of the past – social media has always and will always exist. Maybe the platforms that currently exist won't anymore, but there will always be a form of social media to help us find relatable stories and experiences. Here's to being online when the next big shakeup happens!

ME: People trust people, not brands. With the rise of AI influencers, I think Brands will create personas to connect with their target audiences.

BG: On a mainstream level I think we’ll continue to see the rise of marketing led social platforms that prioritize what they want us to see rather than connecting with people online. I think the disruption will come when communities find somewhere else to gather without being fed ads every other swipe. I think we continue to see social platforms shift to entertainment spaces which will open the door for a platform to come and truly make the social experience about connecting with other humans.

DL: It's so hard to say, but if we look at history and the progression of social media, one thing has been constant -- how many likes/comments/followers do I have? When will we stop giving a shit about that? I don't see that dying anytime soon. Also, I have a 7 year old son who doesn't watch TV anymore. His screentime entertainment is almost exclusively YouTube, video games, or looking over my shoulder at TikTok. He wants to be a YouTuber - this seems like a reasonable career path for him (if his career as a professional baseball player doesn't work out). He's been getting 'influencer' deals where he creates videos for free product (his highest paying job was $500 cash). I definitely don't want to be a stage mom, but he loves it, and he's learning how to leverage these platforms to make a living (er, pay for MLB the Show 2024). I just don't see the concept of that going away any time soon, but sure, the platforms will evolve.

MW:

I think every tech has its ‘jump the shark’ moment and in its current state, social feels a bit like the snake eating its own tail— siloed into oblivion and spewing back shades of sameness inside walled echo chambers. AND, at the same time, people are literally getting their breaking news from creators (hello @LiZaOutlives). Both of these things are true. People are producing amazing, engaging, hilarious content, and I don’t think that will ever stop because we are humans and #storytellers (gag). I do believe it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to see this amazing work in-the-wild because socials are peer-to-platform-to peer. It feels collectively we’re growing weary of the tail wagging the dog and miss the original promise of these platforms— connecting with friends.
To me, the juice behind social media is fandom and a well-executed strategy. It’s always been the driving factor and brands centering their fans will always be relevant, it may just be on an entirely new platform or even off the internet. Roblox is something I’m following closely and there are brands like ELF doing really interesting things and getting massive engagement.

A: It's so hard to answer this question, but I think AI will do damage to the point that we have to do a full 180 pivot.

What are your hopes for social media?

AB: billionaires stop posting

LD: My hope for social media professionally is to continue to build the road for more and more queer, poc, and generally diverse perspectives in the industry – after all, I helped co-found a non-profit that does just that Diversify Social Media. From a personal sense, I hope social media continues to be a safe haven for folks to be seen and find that they're not alone in this big, floating mass we call earth.

ME: Less ads, more content and genuine connection. The option for a chronological feed. Better social tools for brands and influencers.

BG: This is hard for me because I would love to see social media going back to being about human connection instead of being about marketing and ending in financial gain. Buuuuuuuut that would also mean that I may not have a job anymore. Ultimately I would hope for a happy medium where the people you actually follow is all you see in your timeline with the occasional ad.

DL: I hope the algorithms can get a little smarter. There are some really talented content creators out there, but it's really difficult to cut through the clutter to reach a niche audience in my opinion. We get too stuck in the cycles of content we consume vs. discovering new content that I might really enjoy. I also hope the algorithm can learn what's good for me. Just because I watched a video once on high protein recipes you can make in 15 minutes doesn't mean I need to be reminded every other video that I'm trying to lose weight.

MW: My hopes for social media mirror my hopes for the internet at large— make it fun again. I don’t know if it’s possible or what future apps may deliver but that’s my reductive hot take. That, and bring back Vine.

A: That we can go back to some of the more pure forms of social entertainment (like old internet). That there's a balance.

What do you want people — audiences, executives, your parents, your friends — to know about the state of social media?

AB: genuine connection and authenticity is happening in places where metrics can't be tracked. making someone feel seen in a wholesome way is worth more than any kpi. building genuine community at a smaller scale is a reasonable desire. every single space will not be for everyone and that's okay!!! not everyone needs to be sold something at all times. serendipity that leads to joy is a practice that we should honor instead of what an algorithm determines a person needs to see.

DC: It's okay to have fun. Also I've accepted that my mom will never understand anything that I do outside of "she works on the computer"

LD: Social media is in a constant state of flux, but don't let that scare you! Join that new platform. Experiment with the new tools and create your own content. There is no age limit for exploration and connectivity.

ME: Saying you're "not on social" doesn't make you cool. You just sound like an out of touch asshole.

BG: Let’s keep an eye on what happens with TikTok, this is going to be a huge deal regardless of what happens. The introduction of politics and government involvement in how these platforms operate is MAJOR

DL:

Audiences: none of this matters. Get out in the world and live your life and make some real connections. Studies show that human interactions IRL and strong relationships are what make us happy.
Executives: Whatever you think you know about social media, it changed already last night. Also, your nephew is not a qualified social media manager if he doesn't understand marketing strategy. PS - my rates are going up next year.
Parents: Yes, this is a real job.
Friends: I do like your dog and baby pics even if I don't heart them every time. It's good to see you.

MW: Don’t forget that social is supposed to be enjoyable. Of course I believe in well-executed creative and original strategy that is rolled out flawlessly (or I’d be out of a job), but I think it’s important to place it within the context of life. Social at its purest form should make people feel seen and keep people entertained. That’s it. That’s the assignment.

A: Be careful about the content you fall for!

Anything else you'd like to share?

AB: this made me wanna cry lol

DC: My biggest complaint, but also one of the greatest opportunities about working in social is that everyone thinks they can do it. I've had moments when my job duties were handed off to a founder's nephew, who ran their channels into the ground. But I've met Discord mods that are 20 years old, have been "working" for 5 years, and entirely undervalue that their role is a transferrable skill that would be beneficial to more structured organizations.

LD: No matter my age, see you on the internet, y'all!

Related stories that might be of interest: an explainer on how to write for social media and an exploration of how Gen A will impact the internet. Want more stories on cultural trends, online and off? Upgrade your subscription to unlock more of The Trend Report™ and to support this publication 🔓