Last year I wrote a blog with my social media predictions for 2016. I recently went back and reread them, and I’m actually feeling really great about my predictions. I think I have a knack for this and could set up shop somewhere, charging $100 an hour to read tea leaves and gaze into a crystal ball. But don’t ask me what celebrities are going to die in 2017, I don’t think you could handle that.

Instead of predicting the social media trends for 2017, I wanted to share my hopes and dreams for social media in the new year.

Linkedin:
I really want to see Linkedin go back to the way it was intended- for business. Every time I log in, I’m seeing pictures of dogs on a nice evening walk, children celebrating birthdays and the new cabinets your friend’s husband had installed. I don’t want to see this on Linkedin, and I don’t think that I am alone. There’s a place for that, and it’s Facebook. Take it back over that way. EVERYONE will thank you.

Instagram:
I want the old, original Instagram back: back to showing you posts in chronological order. It irks me to all get out this “algorithm” they set up, to show you posts they think you want to see first. Don’t pretend like you know me, Instagram. Let me choose what I want to see. This is also hard for brands to show up without paying for posts. Their content seems to get buried between sunset photos, tasty food shots and selfies.
(Also note, pay to play is still huge, and if companies are not paying to boost their content, it will not be seen. One great thing with social media, and Facebook especially, is how specific they have gotten with targeting so you can really pinpoint the demographic and segment of humans you truly want to reach, helping your money go further.)

Facebook:
I want a Facebook filter. And no, not a filter set up by Facebook and not a filter like for editing pictures. I want people who use Facebook to start using their own filter, in their brain, before posting. I’m tired of the fights, the drama and the bullying. We are all entitled to our thoughts and feelings, but it’s not necessary to force those thoughts and feelings on other people as the truth, and the right thing. I might think that the sky is green. That is my opinion. I’m not going to sit here and try and convince you that you are wrong or stupid for thinking that the sky is blue. I want Facebook to go back to a happy place (no, not full of unicorns, rainbows and glitters, although that would be wonderful), but a place for friends to share pictures, stories, touch base with old high school friends and learn. I unfollowed a couple handfuls of friends this year rather than getting mad or frustrated with what they’re sharing. That was me using my own filter.

Snapchat:
I just… I don’t know what to say here. Just keep doing you, Snapchat. Keep bringing out the ridiculous filters and being a weird platform with no real purpose. I appreciate that. If they could, however, make one change, I would appreciate it if they would remove the capability to screenshot Snapchats. Sometimes I just want to send a really ugly picture of me with 4 chins and buckteeth and not worry that my friend is going to take a screenshot and show everyone. (Yes this happened to me, more than once. And those friends have now lost the right to my hideous Snapchats. Their loss.)

My personal social media wish for 2017 (I guess you could call this my resolution) is to make social media a lesser influence on my life. I plan to turn off notifications, occasionally shut off messenger, put down the phone for meals with family and not immediately check Facebook first thing when I wake up. Social media does not, and will not change my life, and I want to take a step back and be more present.

The reality is, no one knows the “right” way to use social media and what each platform is really for. Of course each platform will try and tell you, but people will use them as they wish. What we need to focus on in the New Year is how we personally want to use social media, what impact we want it to have on our lives, and how to best use it to help our business.