I look back fondly at 2008 when maintaining social media meant Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts.

The interfaces and algorithms were updated regularly but seemed manageable. Content was posted three times a week, more felt 'too much'. Video was infrequent and graphic design more basic. I didn't even own a cell phone.

Clearly, everything has changed.

I was in a recent meeting when someone asked, "So what website are we supposed to be on now, Nicole?" Before I could answer this impossible question, someone chimed in, "There isn't ever going to be one website again."

And he is 100% right. Even in 2008, there wasn't one website.

There have only been more websites, more content produced, more to do as marketers and business owners.

A combination of recent events (check out the YouTube channel for more detailed videos) showed that platforms could not only shut off communication with our audiences but suppress information.

We the people are NOT in control of 'our' social media; billionaires, tech companies, and the government are.

These centralized platforms (owned by one private company) can do whatever they want. And we always knew that, but in the last two weeks, we've been explicitly shown. Good news is we can also do whatever we want.

It was the wakeup call many needed. I can name at least a dozen friends who've deleted their Meta accounts. (I could only deactivate my personal account because it owns my business accounts.) Many I know have deleted their X accounts months ago, myself included. (Many websites are banning links from X entirely.)

For business owners and non-profit executives, here's a concise marketing strategy (if you want a more nuanced approach, reply to this email and we can talk about your situation):

1. Join at least one decentralized platform. Centralized platforms like Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) are beholden to shareholders and can control content visibility and distribution. Decentralized platforms offer more security and user control. Examples include Bluesky and Pixelfed.If there is a social media experience you love, there probably exists a decentralized equivalent (ex: Signal in place of Messenger - Did you know that Messenger collects data from financial purchases you’ve made outside Facebook and Instagram among MANY other things?)If you’re looking for the most bang for your buck, I’d get on Bluesky, which is a decentralized app being built in Authentic Transfer (AT) Protocol. AT Protocol is an open standard for decentralized social networking, allowing users to move their accounts between different social media platforms while keeping their data and connections intact, essentially creating a unified online identity across various services. For example, one company is building an app called “Skylight” which will function like TikTok but work using AT Protocol, meaning the video content you are posting to Bluesky will be visible on that platform (and others in development) if you as the creator so choose. Mark Cuban is willing to fund a TikTok alternative built in AT Protocol.NERDY BONUS SECTION YOU CAN IGNORE IF YOU AREN’T FEELING NERDY: We can argue that decentralized platforms still have some of the problems of centralized networks like single points of failure but distributed networks are not something people are jumping to just yet because of the steeper learning curve and the mental shift to use/understand them. I have made an account on Nostr which is the only social media that is a distributed platform I have found. I’ll keep you posted what I learn!

2. Have at least one 'owned' platform. This could be a website, an email list you control, or a platform like Substack that ensures that authors have content ownership. If you've been using Facebook as your company website, it's time to create an accessible website.

3. Stand up for your beliefs. If you've wondered what you'd do during pivotal historical moments, it is whatever you are doing right now. Do your best to spread factual information, use social media to help citizens, and prioritize being an ethical company and person now more than ever.

Things have changed, and so will we. And while I might look back fondly at my early years in social media marketing, I’m ready to do the work of not only continuing to help our clients be successful online but actively be using the internet to make things better. I hope you’ll join me.

Nicole

Need some help?

Here’s what we’ve been working on with people:

• Met with a TikToker with almost 100K followers who wants to diversify his platforms in light of the platform’s recent changes.

• Helped a mainly seasonal bicycle company figure out making off season income selling used bikes with his existing POS and social channels.

• Zoomed with an editor to audit her Wix website, figuring out a list of six concrete actions for her to prioritize to increase search traffic to her site.

• Helped a non-profit apply to Google Workspace for Non-Profits, saving them $200/month on email hosting.

• Helped a farmer solicit quotes from designers for unique artwork for his merch.

Whether your goals are to save money, increase efficiency, or just do something cool, we can help if it’s online!

Let’s 🌮-Bout It!

From Trend To Send

As someone who posts regular video content, I was really curious how our channels would be influenced by the trending videos of Trend To Send, in particular on YouTube which is the most used platform at Breaking Even (plus our largest audience).

Here’s analyzing the average views, likes, and comments of our trending videos (created in 15ish minutes using Trend To Send ideas/links) versus traditional videos (minimum one hour to record, edit and post each but more often 3-5 hours) over the last two months:

As you can see, the trending videos got double the views and a similar amount of likes for LESS THAN 1/4 OF THE WORK! In short, as someone with a YouTube audience who updates content regularly there, I wasn’t sure there would be much difference between the two video types but it turns out trending videos work for me too!

Get twice weekly texts to trending video ideas and trending audio for $49/month!

Check Out Trend To Send 📲

Fun Stuff Not About Us About Us On The Internet

This social media manager Spotify playlist cracked me up (just read the titles of each of the songs and you’ll get it): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Fk873FzpbLBKFYHLyxJRh

Related to this, Instagram changed their grid images from 1:1 aspect ratio (AKA square) to 4:5 aspect ratio images, negating the years we’ve spent cropping images just for that grid. Here’s a bit more info about this change and why they probably made it (officially: better mobile display, unofficially in my opinion: matching the thumbnail sizes of TikTok): https://fstoppers.com/news/instagram-kills-square-grid-how-adapt-new-45-layout-and-keep-your-feed-looking-690705

Related to my conspiracy theory, Facebook launched a way to connect to your TikTok account January 18, 2025 AKA the day before the TikTok ban. Also Instagram and Facebook added verified accounts to the TikTok platform post ban. Something is going on…

Want to use ChatGPT but wish you could a) get the best version of it without paying and b) use something that was open source in light of recent events? DeepSeek is here. Something cool: If your computer is powerful enough, you can download it to your device, making it useable offline too.

Like this info? Follow on social media for even more useful/interesting info and content: