When people hear the phrase “social media” ideas of influencers, drama, and relatives posting embarrassing childhood photos of you pop into their minds. Concepts like history, meaningful conversations, and the future of communication don’t really appear as highlights of any social media platforms. However, as someone who has been very active on social media for almost a decade, I’ve noticed a trend that has only been amplifying as social media progresses… Real-life consequences directly related to content or communication that was created on social media platforms.

The most glaring example of this is seen in instances of cyber-bullying. However, social media is starting to affect and play critical roles in reality. Another negative example of internet content having real-life consequences is the 2014 Slender Man Stabbing case, where two girls believed in something they saw on a social media site, and attempted to kill another girl in order to join and live with a character that was never real in the first place.

Not all of these digital and reality meshing implications are bad though. Platforms, like Instagram and TikTok have proven to be very useful tools for communication amongst individuals who hope to enact change in the world. This has been seen with the Black Live Matter protests in the early 2020s. A more recent example is the current protests in support of Palestine along with the coverage of the events that are unfolding. The importance of social media within society was also solidified during the Covid-19 Pandemic where it served as the main form of communication during lock-down.

Historians and other historical organizations have started to take social media seriously within the last two decade or so, but these platforms have existed for much longer than academic interest and serious research regarding them has. This is where my idea of a new kind of historian comes in. The job of historians is to study and write about the past and many tend to focus on certain events or cultural eras. Why can’t this concept not be applied to the study and analysis of social media platforms? It is now a major aspect of daily life that is being used to not just communicate and share photos, but as a way to organize, plan, and perform things like protests, events, and gatherings.

I’ve also noticed that when discussing the role of social media in a historical context, most people understand that it contributes to notions of pseudohistory and echo chambers, but there is no further elaboration other than “it’s a rabbit hole” or “the conspiracy theorist to right-wing pipeline.” However, the question of why and how these spaces were created and grew in the first place isn’t typically discussed. People with horrible ideologies existed well before social media, but what is it about certain platforms like Reddit or 4chan that attract these individuals?

As we continue to delve more into social media like Twitter (X), Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook, the more that we will lose track of events that originally gain traction on these platforms, and eventually, the platforms themselves as new ones develop. It is important to understand and record content and communication across these platforms before they fall into technological obsolescence. Socia media now serves as a significant cultural object that may not seem important now but will be soon as the world continues to develop around us. Historians sometimes must anticipate what will be important to the future generations and historians and I believe that social media will be key to understanding certain cultural aspects of our current time onwards.