The average person spends nearly 2 and a half hours on social media daily. With this number only growing over time, new social media platforms are constantly being developed. Today, there are hundreds of available platforms, but many are riddled with inactive users who don’t post or interact. Several platforms had a very high peak and slowly dwindled off into the social media graveyard. Read on to find out what led to the downfall of some of your favorite social media platforms.

MySpace

MySpace was one of the first social media platforms and was a large trendsetter in the grand scheme of things. After launching in 2003, it quickly peaked at 75 million monthly users. MySpace offered the ability to customize your page, share your interests, images, mood, etc. Unfortunately for MySpace, timing was not on their side. Just one year after launching, Facebook was created. Everyone did not immediately flock to Facebook, as MySpace still offered regular updates and listened to what its users wanted. Their downfall came at the hands of mismanagement. MySpace started prioritizing revenue over its users, turning a once great social networking site into a platform spewing with ads.

Vine

Vine had hundreds of millions of users at its peak. To this day, you can find Vine compilations on YouTube. It worked very similarly to TikTok today, curating short-form content for users based on their interests. It seemed like Vine was going to be the next best social media platform since Facebook. So what happened? The biggest issue was a lack of monetization. Vine did not pay its creators, and due to the videos being limited in length, the opportunity for organic brand sponsorships was not there. Also, Vine was owned by Twitter, and at the time Vine got shut down, management was struggling. Leadership was shaky at the top, ultimately leading to the neglect of Vine. Users and creators became upset at the lack of support, and Twitter ultimately pulled the plug. To this day, people are upset about how things ended with Vine, saying that there should have been a better effort to save the platform.

Yik Yak

Yik Yak was founded back in 2013 by two college students, growing insanely fast, specifically on college campuses. It allowed people to anonymously share their thoughts at the location they were in, and users could either upvote or downvote posts. The most popular posts got posted to the “hot” channel, and if a post got 5 or more downvotes, it was removed. In theory, this platform was a great way for people to have authentic conversations due to the anonymity. The very value of the platform is also the reason for its downfall. Eventually, people took the fact that everything was anonymous to another level, and the platform became a breeding ground for cyberbullying, hate speech, and more. There was a lack of censoring, monitoring, and management. College campuses started banning the app, and after a lot of backlash, the app was shut down. In 2024, Yik Yak was brought back, this time with a stronger focus on content moderation. It has not returned to its former glory, and its past is a hindrance to its success going forward.

BeReal

BeReal emerged in 2020 as an anti-Instagram app. The goal was to capture authentic moments by sending a notification at a random time every day and giving users two minutes to take a picture of what they were doing at that moment in time. It took away the “fake” persona people would share on Instagram. A quick decline in users was because people simply got bored. It was the same thing every day, and new features were sparse. Another reason the platform died was the concept itself. In theory, this is what people wanted. The feeling of realness. Despite this, the main user base was Gen Z, and Gen Z users hated the feeling of the platform telling them what to do. The platform demanding that you post within a two-minute timespan did not sit right with a lot of the audience. BeReal still exists today, and there is a select group of people still active, but it is not what it used to be. A lot of people do not care about the notification, and wait until they are doing something fun to post.

There is a common theme between all failed social media platforms. What started as a popular platform or trendy idea eventually fizzled out because a good idea alone is not enough. Between an abundance of ads, a lack of updates, and poor management, viral growth faded fast and these models proved to be unsustainable.

There certainly is no sign of social media growth slowing down, and there will be a continued wave of platforms coming and going. For business owners crafting a social media marketing strategy, it’s more important than ever to make sure a social media platform aligns with your audience and brand before investing time and resources into it. For most businesses, your time, content creation, and marketing dollars are limited. Focus on platforms where your audience already is and build connections there.

When a new platform or idea comes along that seems promising, dip your toes in with intention. It’s never a bad thing to be curious, but it pays more to be strategic.