Isabel Evans is a behavioural analyst at Canvas8. Fascinated by how and why people do things, she has an MSc in cognitive and decision sciences from UCL. You can often find her drinking endless coffees, running around Regent’s Park, or delving into a book.

, 2020 was the year that digital communication platforms morphed into cross-purpose, cross-generational tools used for work, play, and everything in between. According to an analysis conducted by RescueTime, the average screen time among US-based users 

 a day between March and April, with communication apps seeing the biggest increase in usage. As the majority of day-to-day tasks became mediated by screens out of necessity, people’s communications with friends, family, colleagues, and even 

, issues around misinformation have ramped up, further damaging trust between users and platforms, even as their role in people’s lives grows. Before the divisive US election, 

 said they were taking breaks from social media because of tensions surrounding the events of 2020. But that’s not to say they don’t want to take part in digital debates. More than 

 surveyed in June said they’d used social media to show support for a political or social cause by posting an image in the previous month – and they increasingly expect 

 making the issues with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all clearer than ever, people are no longer accepting the status quo. Some are looking to emerging platforms like 

 for alternative environments, while others are changing things from within, like the teens using 

 around communication will likely stick around, but platforms, brands, and influencers will need to win back trust by creating environments that are fit for purpose and by proving their ethical standards.

In this chapter of Canvas8’s 2021 Expert Outlook, Dr. Stephanie Alice Baker, a senior lecturer in sociology at City University, discusses regulation and trust; Dr. Crystal Abidin, an anthropologist and ethnographer of internet cultures, explains how the values of brands and influencers are becoming more important; and Dr. Xinyuan Wang, a postdoctoral research fellow at UCL’s Department of Anthropology, explores how norms around technology use are changing due to the pandemic.

The COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ has seen trust in Big Tech hit an all-time low

Dr. Stephanie Alice Baker, senior lecturer in sociology at City, University of London, and author of 

Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing Authority and Influence Online

One interesting development we saw this year was Big Tech companies taking the unprecedented move to work together to tackle misinformation during the pandemic. In March, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other Big Tech platforms released 

 outlining that they intended to combat the spread of false and misleading information in response to COVID-19 by removing harmful posts and elevating ‘authoritative content’ from government healthcare agencies.

Previously, Big Tech platforms had resisted government regulation and tried to eschew editorial responsibility or the idea that they are publishers of content. This position has become increasingly untenable as harmful misinformation has increased on these platforms. One of the difficult questions is how to define harm? While there are clear legal boundaries for some types of content – like terrorism or child sexual abuse – there is much more 

ambiguity around what constitutes 'harmful content'

. The new harm policies introduced by tech companies during the pandemic have emerged, in part, to avoid government regulation.

People are wise to the ways of data harvesting on social media

Consumers are becoming more aware of issues such as data ownership and misinformation due to the increased attention given to these topics in the media and in films like 

. There’s a deep distrust and suspicion of social media companies, in particular, because people have a better understanding of their business models, which profit from outrage and engagement. In 2021, I expect there to be more initiatives from brands to try to increase trust in and the quality of the information we consume online via content moderation. However, this is a complex enterprise.

At present, there is a general feeling of distrust in institutional authority. The lack of trust in public authorities and political institutions makes it more difficult for social media companies to moderate content effectively. How can you elevate ‘authoritative content’, for example, if people distrust the organisations espousing advice and the social media platforms this content appears on? When social media companies take action to remove content or label it as ‘disputed’ and misleading, these decisions will be subject to criticism. While many support content moderation and see these policies as protecting users, others view content moderation as censorship that infringes their constitutional rights. Social media companies are in a difficult situation because these measures are being introduced retrospectively and are not something consumers experienced from the outset.

Some people’s exposure to information is narrowing. Those with low levels of trust in institutional authority, for example, often seek information from alternative sources on social media

There is also greater public awareness about the role of algorithms in shaping the content we see online, which is something people weren’t as aware of a couple of years ago. Some users are looking for services that intentionally expose them to a broader range of opinions than they would normally see on their feeds. For example, 

 lets users see which news outlets are covering a specific event, and 

 removes users from their Twitter bubble and exposes them to content on someone else’s feed. On the other hand, some people’s exposure to information is narrowing. Those with low levels of trust in institutional authority, for example, often seek information from alternative sources on social media, such as private groups on Facebook or WhatsApp. Conspiracy theories and misleading claims often emerge in these small, isolated communities before being disseminated more widely on social media.

In October, the major social media companies removed pages and accounts dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory from their platforms. Despite their efforts, many of the underlying issues around misinformation persist and one would expect misinformation to be rife in 2021, particularly as vaccines for the novel coronavirus are publicly distributed. With governments threatening regulation and people concerned about the quality of the information they consume online, tech companies will need to re-establish trust with consumers and demonstrate that they can protect users from misinformation, fraudulent products, and abuse. These initiatives may take the form of revising their algorithms or labelling, removing, and demoting problematic content. Any new brands that make a name for themselves in 2021 will do so by prioritising trust and ethics.

Not everyone is happy to sit in their online filter bubble

Brands and influencers will no longer be able to stay silent on big issues

, anthropologist and ethnographer of internet cultures

For a long time, influencers and celebrities have been seen as mainly a marketing tool for products and services, but with the events of 2020 putting a spotlight on brand and influencer values, it’s no longer possible to be apolitical. At one end of the spectrum, we have seen influencers being used in political communications and even joining politicians on the campaign trail as a part of their creative strategy team, while at the other, influencers who have tried to stay silent in the face of crises have been heavily criticised. It’s not surprising that people have strong opinions about this given that influencer networks can be more persuasive than social or news media as they attract followers through close relationships.

More broadly, the logic of authority and credibility is changing. With COVID-19, BLM protests, and the environmental movement gaining ground, people are seeking greater clarity, engagement, and transparency from brands and personalities on these issues. Now, when celebrities take to social media, people are no longer just looking for behind-the-scenes footage. They’re looking for politics and for them to come down from the pedestal of celebrity and be ambassadors – like John Boyega during the BLM protests. Such actions are particularly resonant with Gen Zers, who are very politically conscious and fully engaged with call-out culture. They will happily embargo, abandon, sabotage, or boycott a person or a brand due to a single misstep. To survive and flourish in this environment, brands need to be more aware of their inherent politics. They can certainly stand for causes and even act as role models, but because people do their research, they need to have a track record with the topics they are engaging with and make sure that their principles line up with their statements.

All of this means partnering with influencers has become tricky for brands as, often, they are at the whim of influencers changing directions and changing their principles. Something I’ve seen happening in Nordic countries is brands grooming their own in-house influencers. Sometimes, it's someone who starts as an intern, who's got a bit of character and then becomes the spokesperson and social media guru. Other times, there are dedicated programmes – for example, Amazon grooms its own influencers. I could see this happening more in 2021, with brands really investing in a group of unknowns to try and make sure that their brand messaging is clear. One other option is to try to occupy an educational middle-ground. People are tired of polarising networks but there are influencers for every trend and on every side of the fence, so influencers that share clear and persuasive messages that educate and inform can cut through to a wide audience.

Teleconferencing is set to be a part of the new normal post-pandemic

Unspoken rules around communication manners may have been broken forever

Dr. Xinyuan Wang, postdoctoral research fellow at UCL’s Department of Anthropology and author of 

For people who are isolated, social media is their real home. It allows them to go beyond the limits placed on them in their offline life and to create an identity to connect with the world. Within my two studies with older generations and migrant workers in China respectively, who were often socially isolated pre-pandemic, I found that they embraced the possibility of social media and smartphones more than you would imagine, even though they are not particularly digitally-savvy. What’s interesting is that there are parallels between their use of social media before and how we use it now.

Previously, younger generations took travel and being outside for granted, but older generations already used social media to bring the world into their empty homes. For them, home is where the Wi-Fi covers. On the other hand, Chinese rural migrants use social media as their ideal world – a place they can cultivate as a fantasy world. They treat their profile as if they are decorating their house, putting up beautiful photos of Greece, even if they have never been there. All of this is something most of us can empathise with now. COVID-19 forced us into our homes and, with this, our relationship to social media changed. It became – and remains – a place for us to highlight or dream about our ideal life.

It’s common to see people actually have more frequent communication with relatives and friends than they were having before, often reverting to calling them on the phone for a bit of a rest from screens

Alongside this, COVID-19 forced established norms about how we contact others to shift. Previously, there has been a sort of moral judgement around what kind of communication tools you use for what, with choice of method being tightly associated with how you value the relationship. But I think that will be re-evaluated. In the past, there were likely some people you might text but would never call, and some work clients you would always see face-to-face and never video chat, but COVID-19 flipped these norms on their head. It’s common to see people actually have more frequent communication with relatives and friends than they were having before, often reverting to calling them on the phone for a bit of a rest from screens.

The rules have especially shifted within work. People would previously have travelled long distances for meetings as a form of respect, authenticity, and formality. But these practices have been significantly compromised during the pandemic. Many were ‘forced’ to try online conferences and, for some, it’s been eye-opening. In the future, the practice of offline meetings will bounce back as people seek some relief from screen fatigue. However, online communication has been fundamentally destigmatised – that moral judgement upon online communication being less formal or less authentic has been largely rebutted. It’s very likely that online meetings will remain a major alternative or become routine on a much larger scale both in workplaces and private communications.

Dr. Stephanie Alice Baker is a senior lecturer in sociology at City University, London. Her work focuses on how we connect and communicate online, especially around issues of health. She is the author of Social Tragedy and Lifestyle Gurus: Constructing Authority and Influence Online.

Dr. Crystal Abidin is an anthropologist and ethnographer of internet cultures, specialising in influencer cultures, internet celebrity, online visibility, and social media pop cultures. She has authored several books, including Internet Celebrity, Microcelebrity Around the Globe, and Mediated Interfaces.

Dr. Xinyuan Wang is a postdoctoral research fellow at UCL’s Department of Anthropology. She is the author of Social Media in Industrial China, co-author of How the World Changed Social Media, and is currently one of the researchers on the 'Anthropology of Smartphone and Smart Ageing' project.

Global

Communications

What does a lack of IRL interaction mean for virtual communities? Can influencers remain apolitical? How can Big Tech firms win back people’s trust? In this part of the 2021 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how communications are shifting in the wake of a crisis-filled year.

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