For consumers, social media can often get overwhelming. With all the display of users living their best lives and getting ‘liked’ for it, to the trolls – Nuff said about the trolls.

Take your pick of platforms; any one of them can leave users feeling inadequate, whichever way you look at it. Whether they cannot live up to the lives of their influencers or they find themselves amid a toxic online debate. As much as we love social media, sometimes, maybe a lot of the time, it doesn’t feel nice.

Recently, I began to wonder whether creators create for the people or to get likes. I have a feeling many of you will say the latter. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but you’re probably right. It does appear that way, particularly on platforms like YouTube, where it’s common for content creators to use clickbait titles to draw in viewers.

It appears as though creators may have no genuine interest in making the world a better place. Of course, that’s not the case for every creator, but some are definitely in it for the views. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting more eyes on your content, but the audience’s best interests should be at heart.

You could argue that audiences choose what content to consume, and if they think it’s not good for them, don’t consume it. So maybe, just maybe, they have little choice.

On the other hand, creators will tell you that they wouldn’t have any viewers if they didn’t make that outrageous stuff. I need to take a leaf out of their book for my channel, perhaps, now sitting at 2000 fans since like forever.

Lately, when seeking content, on YouTube, in particular, I know I’ve personally found the balance between edifying and sensationalised content tilted towards the latter.

We’re also seeing more and more people using social media as an escape from reality. And now comes metaverse. The future is now. Many years ago, we dreamed of a time when we could create and live in augmented reality, and Meta has made our dreams come true. But a metaverse may not be as socially responsible as we envisaged. How many of you are dreading what the social lives of some of us will turn into? You thought it was terrible now – wait till users start choosing a metaverse over their real lives.

And this is where I think responsible brands can take over. As organisations, we have a duty of care to provide safe and elevating places for our audiences. More important than trying to get views is creating content that makes a change; that helps users get to where they want to be in life – happier, healthier and wealthier however they define these three to be. And as brands, we can genuinely help our fans get there and not just seek to get coins from them.

synatelmedia.com is a content marketing agency based in London