Facebook is down? Welcome to Apple’s invisible social media platform – no Android users allowed

This story is about Apple and social media. Firstly, we’ll take a look at Apple as a social media user, and then as a stakeholder. Also, there’s a twist! I’ll also tell you about Apple’s “invisible social media platform”, which you’re a part of.  But let’s start by saying that Apple, as a social media user, doesn’t necessarily love the medium.

• Apple loves taking shots at Facebook by bringing up privacy concerns and “fixing” the platform for Apple users – most recently with App Tracking Transparency
• Apple isn’t really active on social media, save for their Instagram page for sharing pictures taken on iPhone, or their Twitter sub-pages like Apple News, or Apple Support
• Apple doesn’t directly utilize social media for advertising, or marketing campaigns unless it’s via paid promotion

Many say Apple isn’t very active on social media platforms, essentially because the company doesn’t want to open the lane for negative comments. For example, you can see a bunch of these under Apple’s Facebook profile photo, and that’s because people don’t have anywhere else to put them. The company’s YouTube page disables comments for videos, but allows likes/dislikes, and all in all, it almost feels like Apple has Twitter and Facebook accounts just because.If we think about it, Apple is like that control freak partner, who wants to pull the strings, so that might be another reason for their lack of social media activity. The iPhone is an epitome of that – everything from the hardware to software is designed and controlled by Apple, and how can you argue against that? It’s what allows your 5+ years of software updates, for example.

Facebook is down, Twitter is up, Apple is… what?!

To understand the opportunity on the table when something like that happens, we need to look at Twitter – the biggest platform that welcomed “literally everyone” within two hours of Facebook-owned apps going down at around 11:40 a.m. ET on Monday.

What would an Apple social media platform look like?

iMessage aside, what would an Apple social media platform look like, anyway? What if it was an Apple-exclusive like iMessage? Or “for everyone” – like Apple Music? It’d be exciting to see Apple’s take on it. I’d imagine privacy would be at the core of the project – as expected, but also functional design. Many say iPhones are easy to use. I’d argue that’s not always true, but I can’t argue with Apple’s sales.

Take iOS 15 and some of its new features. SharePlay is a new function (not out yet), which will allow users to sync while on FaceTime and listen to songs, watch a TV show from AppleTV+ or other streaming services, or share screens to view whatever they want together. All of this will also be possible on Apple’s tv box – Apple TV. You can even watch sports with your friends as if you were in the same room.

So, what if all of that, was part of Apple’s social media platform? 

In the end: Apple already has a social media platform, and you are part of it

Regardless, the verdict is that Apple doesn’t like being social, and it doesn’t desperately need social media, either. Yet. there’s definitely an opportunity for a new service out there, specially considering the public’s concern over privacy when it comes to Facebook’s empire. An outage is one thing, but if you are concern about protecting your data, Apple promises exactly that.

Yes, it’s a closed ecosystem, but that way, it’s easier to maintain. Furthermore, Apple doesn’t lean on traditional marketing (assuming social media is also becoming traditional at this point) as much as other companies. That being said, Apple can get away with it, and it does.