AI is Ending the Social Media Era and What Comes Next | Gary Vee

I think we're at the beginning of the end of the social media era. I think AI pracks the current value proposition of the social media platforms in their current state. This is already my favorite podcast ever, talking about a very smart thing. When distribution changes, everything changes. Augmented reality is a huge winner. If we really do go to glasses and we're really here, we could have a third guest right now and she's here. Some of the data that I'm seeing show that we're starting to show that we want something new. A lot more people are saying they're going to unplug than actually. People like Gary in the recent poll, I'm like stop, stop, from the wheel to AI, we will go. AI will meet you where you are and where you are at all times. I think video is a very big deal for human beings. Videos have been the proof of our society for a hundred plus years and for five years away from no one believing a video on the internet. That's the dangerous part of this, so let's talk about it. We're almost two decades into this era of social media and we can feel like it's a constant because we're so used to waking up scrolling or talking about social media. But the reality is the industry is a variable, it's not a constant as all industries that are born of different technologies. So I'm trying to understand are we at the beginning of the end of the social media era and if we are, what's coming next? Today I'm sitting down with Gary Vee, one of the legendary earliest creators in the social media economy. He was one of the earliest people to write checks to companies like Facebook and Twitter. He has a notorious track record for understanding what could be coming next and where we're going. I'm Shembo Val and this is I've got questions. Okay, so I have a thesis, there's three parts to it. I've teased it out on social media a little bit, I've written about it in my sub-stack but I've never put it together for anyone in its entirety. Until now and I think you're the perfect person to run this through it. One flounder. So I think we're at the beginning of the end of the social media era. Okay. Part one of the thesis. So I think, and they're all tied to AI, I think AI cracks the current value proposition of the social media platforms in their current state. So we post because people watch us, right, whether I'm signaling that I'm single or taken, that I'm employable, that I was at the beach the other day. There's consumption on the other side. We post for human receipt. Yes. If we can't verify that I'm posting for a bunch of R2D2s or actual people, that psychology of signaling starts to break. So I post, but what is the incentive because the feedback is not there. Want to start? Okay, I'm going to build them all and then you can want to download it. Part two, the better AI gets and the more reliable this technology gets, especially as it transitions towards voice first. The less I'm going to want to pull out my phone and it's going to start to break that habit that we formed of opening, swiping, watching, viewing. And I'm just going to say Alexa, Uber, order this thing, do this thing and I'm not going to open and watch. And then the third, AI, it's a general purpose technology, like the internet. And these technologies don't mean that we do the same thing just faster or more automated. We do different things. Yes. So I think, you know, television, YouTube isn't automated TV. It was new people that gained influence. So I feel like we're on the beginning of something entirely new. That will have threads to the social media economy but it will be unrecognizable as way from cable to TikTok. A couple things. So that's awesome. This is so fun. This is already my favorite podcast ever. I would argue that cable and TikTok are not wildly different. Okay. So that's put on a shelf. Okay. Go back to the beginning. Yep. The value prop. Yeah. The reality is it will be and not or. If you work, if your numbers, let's just go where I think you're going correct me from wrong. So I don't believe AI bots or agents consuming content eliminates the reality that humans could also consume that content. So I view it as an end environment versus or to your point to many people's points in fake fraud media world pre social like bots in digital marketing. You know, if I see 14 million views and I know that that's actually only 300,000 that creates a new, you know, micro dynamic. Sure. But if the results of what I want to happen happen from the 300,000 people that actually saw it. If I'm now posting and 99% is bots but 1% is human and all my metrics are 99% fake but one is human or AI or bots or agents or ever we go. If the results that I want are still grounded in the 1% of human instead of 100% human, I'm still going to be incentivized to do it. If I say I'm single and the only people that are trying to date me is a is an AI agent robot bad. It's possible. If it is also going to be people just drowned out metrics and maybe optically by data robots agents. Well, then I'm still going to do it. If I am going to sell wine or get stopped by 500 people in the street and say you changed my life. Even though yesterday it was 100,000 views and that's what resulted it and now it's 40 million views but it's really only 100,000 views. I'm still going to do it so the question becomes if there is still human consumption no matter how drowned out in an overall metric and the actions are executed on by those humans. I don't think we walk away. So you're saying okay if I'm selling makeup and sure now I maybe have a million million views some of those are going to be synthetic but if I'm still growing my sales because that information is getting back to a human somehow. I know that this is still working something's happening that it is actually working. One of the cool things about why I think we I built one of the biggest marketing companies is I don't care about marketing in a silo and I think the marketing industry does. I care about what marketing does for a business. Right. So I've never worried about anything other than I do this all the time like trying to remind people like this is not our class. This is we have to drive this insurance companies business right right. So that is a comp to what I'm saying. But how does this happen on the same platforms because what I'm envisioning is cable and then tick tock on the same channel and that's what I think you're wildly right. So I think one of the things you said is like you know so a I could not agree with you more about voice. In fact, we started talking about this. I've got some good ass receipts in 1617 because I became infatuated. I started seeing early AI. I'm like oh shit, Alexa's a beast. You know, like I really voice a war. Yes. And we're in the worst voice technology will ever be. Oh my god. And it's the most conversation I would eat this for us. I only prompt and voice. And their entire businesses that are now voiced for so you go into their offices or startups. They're not typing. They're talking and it's much more. By the way, I'm so pumped about that as someone who can't write for shit. Right. But you were sass of. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, so I'm a buyer. I've got another build on yours. Okay. Because you're talking about a very smart thing. I also believe, forget about voice that I'm with you on that. That's one thing. Where is it? So you do agree that voice could break that loop of open phone and watch something. For sure. Yeah. And open phone and watch something is being battled on not just by the voice devices. But why? But this is coming. Glasses. Glasses. I would argue that voice would be an and because we still want to consume visually. Yeah. I think it's glasses. I think voice to your point may be a dent. Sure. But I think if glasses pulls off it's mission. Yeah. Whether it's meta, whether it's Google Apple. Who knows? Apple. And you know this could be some secret lab right now. There's a Chinese. Yeah. There's someone building something. That when glasses comes. That. Well, I believe glasses is the most obvious thing brewing. That is going to do the phone. What phone did the television. And what television did the radio? I fully agree. And so. Okay. So let's paint this new economy. I think it's going to be a lot of things. I think it's frictionless. I'm going to make a prediction. 80% is going to be you. Price, convenience, set, reorder for me. Reorder, like the product is going to be Internet of Things when it's down to a little bit. It'll reorder itself. All that. But it'll be fun to see who cares enough about pickles to set pickles. Well, you do toothpaste. How do you feel about toothpaste? I'm chill. I'm chill on it. I'm chill. What? Give me something mundane that you're not chill about. Perfume. Perfume. It's beautiful. There you go. So let me say me. Could give a fuck. I'll be like, whatever. Actually, back to like where the world's really going. I'll go to Atria, my bougie place here in the city. They're going to do blood work. And whatever the right math is, like I don't take it. Right? So like, but like for you. I'm comparing it. I'm running it through an AI. I'm just. That's right. And you're going to not let a you're not going to be like order supplements. Just keep me good. No, no, no. We're going to be getting conversable. And so that I'm painting the picture that I think we're all going to, which is we're going to all learn that everyone has things that they really care about. I mean, there are people listening right now that are be like, I'm not letting my AI order my beer. I'm going to be specific. Sure. And there's a place for you. That's what's going to be so awesome. We're all going to be in a place of, and it's going to be so cool. We're going to figure out what we actually care about. And things will change. I may have my beer set and forget just so I have beers for company. Yeah. And then I might go on a trip. And I'm like, oh, I'm into micro bruise now. And then I might reset it. And that whole interface of like watching your life of like one you care about, what you don't care about. Some people think you should really, you know, I'm going to blow you away. You said car. I don't give a fuck. That's crazy. Because I know car is like big ticket. People really care. The logo, the color, the leather. I don't. So Gary will be like car. Mess price bestie. Like whatever garbage rush that I care about. Time. Convenience. You know. Yeah. Yeah. AI will meet you where you are. And. And where you are at all times. And also you're going to set your intentions. So for me with the food, I would be like, okay, I'm. I have people coming over to pizza party. Organic, try to go low on the microplastics. If you can, either what this is my budget, I'm good. I don't need to see what it looks like. And I don't want it. I don't need to pick things. Somebody else might not. My wife spends 15 hours trying to make sure every single part of the food she puts in her body is clean. Now AI will do that for her. And real way too. But then how does the pizza parlor. The skin care, the supplement person. The. Somebody will do it. But then how does the pizza parlor this skin care, the supplement person, the somebody was something to say break, where are you in that stack? I don't know. And I kind of know. Here's. I have no ideas too. Okay. So first. What Google did as being a toll booth for the world for 25 years is wildly misunderstood. Open table. You know, a kayak. You know, price line. The amount of companies that were built on top of Google search. To become massive companies on the arbitrage of Google ads, bookings.com. Travel. I mean, it's insane. That's about to happen with LLM's agents and what have you. There's going to be, but the question becomes. Do the companies that have the control of our attention want to get into the businesses. So will Google with Gemini doing this era because they're so little friction. Well, they decide instead of sending people to HNR block, do they want to become HNR block? Does open AI want to get the ad revenue from Geico? Or do they want to compete with Geico? Because everyone's going to go through their funnel. So to your point, how do you break through? One, this is going to send the world into a frenzy of understanding why brand is so important. You know, there is like, this goes back to religion. Like things are going to have to really matter or it's just going to all happen in the backdrop. How you get something to matter will come in a million ways back to your point. I'm actually massively bullish on experiential marketing popping up at Coachella and the Super Bowl. Doing your own stuff, having a running club, hiking club, fishing club. I'm very into it. Again, I think the way the world's going to work is whether it's, we're still going to live. Ready player one is going to come at some point, some version of it, but we're still going to live for a little while, especially us. We're listening right now. I'm going to the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks. That's Saturday. I'm going to walk around before the game and do events and go to parties. By the way, I really did take note of your t-shirt. It's funny. You brought it up. I take note. I'm like, that's cool. I want that. Like, maybe I don't want my AI to keep ordering me blank black shirts. Maybe I want that one. I'm going to be able to, in two seconds, be like, I want that. And it's going to go cooked. So in a lot of ways, it might be more extreme. See where I just-- No friction. You can have what you want, all the way. And what makes us want something is word of mouth, a conversation, walking down the street. It's kind of like-- Real life influence. Real life influence, right? But by the way, there's going to be something that we consume. Sure. We'll be digitally connected. No one's going, yeah. Correct. Because whatever the YouTube or the Instagram or the TikTok of the day is, whether it's an AR app, I mean, look at it. If MetaWinds, I promise you Instagram is going to have a place. If MetaWinds this, they're not going to be like, it's going to be something. And by the way, it may be as mundane. I'm looking at you right now. There's a blank wall here. It is potentially as mundane. And this will break your heart, maybe. Depending on your vibes right now. Like, it might be that scrolling. I don't think so. I do think in the short term it will be. I think so. There's between times. Like I said, not the video at exactly. Yeah. Long term definitely. It's going to be unrecognized. Of course. It has. Because history has told us that. Yeah. Okay. So how does, if you are an economist that has some course to sell, or whatever it is that you're doing in the future? Understanding, yes. How brand, how things resonate with people, how you sell a mission that you bring someone on board. That's, I feel like we're now in a time where it's really easy. A TikTok finds you because of algorithms. And that's the selling part. I think you're going to have to make your brand so resonant. And so because everything can be instant. And everything is going to be much more. I don't know. I think it's going to be trickier, but maybe easier. Yes. It depends on where you are. And it's that. You're thinking about it so right. And notice I said the same thing. Yeah. Here's what you and I don't know, which is why I don't even think about this shit. I think about it in the macro, but I do not try to go further. It goes back to discovering Pearl Jam in a bar. I will know when I see it. That's it. That's it. You got it? You and I agree. I'm sure people are like, oh, wow. Yeah. And I'm saying the next part that you're trying to do, you know, in your world, that is meaningful. And you need to do you. Yeah. What's going to happen is when it's here. You'll see a signal and you'll like this is. That's it. When Vine was five seconds in, I'm like this. And then Jerome Jar, Logan Paul and King Batch. And I understood it. And I also knew. I'm like, uh-oh. Short form. Yeah. Remember six seconds only. Yeah. And I was like, uh-oh. This is a new paradigm. Right. And now here we are, right? Yeah. Like we're in a shorter form. Yeah. Snackable. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I think that. I think the principles are the same. I think you're right. I think two. I'll tell you what I like about your vibe. That we're in the very early pre-doin. Yes. In fact, I know you. Let me phrase. I really think you're right. That we're in the beginnings of the crack. I think that you're young. I can tell you what mistakes I made. I thought they were going to happen faster. Yeah. I'll never forget when I launched WineLibrary.com in July 1997, thank God I wasn't making prediction videos. I was like, by the year 2000, everybody will buy everything on the internet. Yeah. So, you know, these gray hairs come in handy. Yeah. Notice how I said some things. You're like, oh, wow. When I said 10 years, you know, it takes time. Because look at what's happening with AI. There's so many dinos you can't predict. Several years ago, I was like, oh, shit. Because I have some nerdy ass friends. I'm like, oh, fuck. AI's getting close. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I could have even understood how profound it really was. But I was like, oh, it's coming close. I could have never predicted then, even though I knew it was close, that there would be such a backlash because I couldn't have predicted that everyone was going to be so scared, shitless, that they were going to lose their job, that they were going to be mad at AI in any form. Do you know that most people's negative opinions of AI in a commercial in content is all actually predicated on their own fear, that they're going to lose their job because of AI? As you know, they're not even going to know if it was AI generator or not. The technology is too profound. We're all going to consume unlimited content in 24 months and have no fucking clue if it's real or not. Now the girl's blurry. That's an AI model. We're dangerously close for no one having any chance of guessing. I think we're already here. I agree. I agree. I agree. I agree. I don't think anyone can tell. I think we're in an era where let me say it a different way. I agree that every person listening has consumed an AI person and did not realize. Sure. But I think you know what I'm about to say. Many are consuming AI people in their feeds right now and they can tell it's AI. Sure. So that's going to go away. Yeah. So I'm with you. Yeah. On the first part, I know that. Yeah. It's the second part. That's going to get them. And we're at AI gets really interesting to me because the pressure that I think we know we're at the beginning of whatever's going to come next in social. We're seeing the cracks. It's not even unique to social media as an industry. Any tech company that was any tech incumbent born of the internet era is feeling the pressure. We're seeing it with dating apps. Netflix. So Netflix stepping into the creator economy. They're going to be putting some YouTube videos on Netflix podcast. Great. Everybody was really excited. The headlines where this is amazing. Amazing if you're a creator or a podcaster. I didn't see this as a good signal for Netflix. To me, this is an incumbent under stress. They're stepping into a mature industry podcasting in the creator economy. It's a mature industry. We're going on almost two decades. Netflix is a tech company. Yes, they're in the business of Hollywood. But they are first and foremost an innovator. And for them to not be reinventing. And instead stepping to me, this is consolidation. Let me tell you how I process that. Yes. And okay. That's it. It's apps. It's the classic Hollywood. It's the last 80 years of media. Consolidation, fragmentation, pendulum swings. Consolidate. Break up. New things come up. Consolidate. Break up. And this is the same old shit. I was still trying to do this 25 years ago with Viacom in cable. It's all the same thing. But we don't know what they're doing. That's one thing for you and I. Like, you know, to look at the market signals. But we don't know what they're actually working on. Especially in the game that they're all playing now. Which is the secrets of what they're working on have too much value. And that's even with AI companies. No one's talking anymore because everyone's coughing. What I'm waiting for and entertainment. And I'm actually not interested in watching a movie with digital twins of Leo and Brad Pitt. To me, that's not interesting. And that, again, isn't what the future is. Just an automated present. I think no one's doing that. Or hopefully not. What's interesting to me is the kid that's in their basement right now. Working with AI to bring in a new type of entertainment that we can't even imagine. And it seems so radical is going from Broadway to movies. It's a different type of entertainment experiment. And I think when the distribution is more voice and glasses and not phone. It's going to all make sense. Correct. To your point, I could not agree more. There's a seven-year-old girl right now in her basement in Toronto, who is working on something. And she will be our Scorsese in our Spielberg. And it's going to be an immersive AR environment. And we're going to be like, holy fuck. It's totally new. That's right. Yeah. And it's great. And it's great. Yeah. But I also think in the same way that from an ironic lens, people want to read a newspaper. Totally. They'll want to sit down and watch a movie. Or reboot their old iPhone from 2026. And it's magic. And go through it. Like, I think socials in feed. You're so young. You're going to see the whole thing. You're going to see people doing it in 40 years as a counter to full immersive. This is going to seem like the simple day. Yeah. Yeah. And when you power this with AI, and this gets interesting, when you have all your photos, you have all of your calendar, everything that you've done on your phone. You could one day theoretically pass us to AI and say, make me a documentary of my life. And it's by the way, I mean, that's why I filmed myself. Oh, you're going to have, yeah. Like for five and a half or seven years. And passing that down to your kids. Oh, my God. I mean, there's, we are so aligned. You're right. Like the early videos is like, I know this is weird. I'm having a man follow me in a camera back in 2015 when I did daily V. I'm like, but do you understand that I didn't know either of my grandfather's? Do you know how cool this is that my grandchildren are going to be able to like really know who I was? Not all. They're like, he holy cow. Only famous people used to have a glimpse. This is way deeper. Yeah, footage of your life. Okay. So people are listening now and they're, they hear us talking about the creator economy. It's going to look like something different. We're going eventually somewhere else. And you're on a maybe five, ten year timeframe, even though things are trying to change now. I mean, I'm a creator. So I benefit from this world. And I know it's changing. What should creators be doing today to start positioning themselves for what's coming going more agent first? How should we, what should we be posting doing showing up? Not getting over crippled by tomorrow. Yep. So it's flying two planes at once. So step one in all this noise. Keep doing what you're doing if it's working. Yeah. The more people know who you are, no matter what happens in technology, that is going to matter. So I actually would argue the number one thing a creator can do right now is squeeze the living shit out of the discoverability that is TikTok. I have transformed to every platform. I'm one of the few humans on earth that has millions of followers from LinkedIn to snap YouTube to Facebook. I've done it in real time. In fact, it's one of my biggest pet peeves of creators that they're two one dimensional. That they're only on one or two platforms. So I go vertical. This is going to go horizontal. And so that's got a whole different thing to it. But the amount of brand and awareness they create right now will service them incredibly well. Right? Yeah. Now the transition, here's where you're going. The transition of like we're all here and now we're all over here. They have to make sure they make that transition right? Yeah. Yeah. Because the my space friends I had did not. Right. Dane Cook could be the biggest. I mean, he had whatever his wants and needs are teela tequila, whatever her wants and needs are the personalities. But they didn't take their my space fame and attack Facebook and Twitter the way I thought they should or could have. Yeah. Right? So I think it's extracting. But this other plane has to start to be built where you have to start challenge yourself to know what's coming. To know. Yeah. You need to know what lovable is and vibe coding. Maybe it works for you. You need to know what's going on with live shopping. Because you might be better at the QVC part than the content stuff. You need to start trying to use an agent or AI or for research. Like you have to start getting on the treadmill because the marathon's coming. Yeah. So you've got to get on the treadmill. You don't have to become you in a fucking savant or technically deep. But you have to start flirting. You have to start flirting while extracting. Yeah. Like I tell you for myself, I plan on going nowhere. Yeah. And I'm trying to extract the fuck out of the current. And I'm dangerous and knowledgeable about tomorrow. And what it seems like you've done. And I think every creator needs to be able to do is what is your value proposition? You have to be able to answer the question. What is your value proposition decoupled from the medium of the moment? So it doesn't matter what the platform is of this moment. Maybe it's YouTube. Maybe it's TikTok. Maybe it's whatever comes next. But what your value proposition is, you can translate it on all the platforms. This is why I've told so many people through the years. Like don't trade on looks. They go away. Don't trade on, you know, like, what are you trading on? Yeah. What's your mission? What's your venue? It's whatever the medium of the moment is. It should be independent of that. It's above that. Well, that's why everything's worked for me. Like, I'm audience. What's in it for them? I'm in a full 159 mindset with the world. I want to give it more than I'm asking for a return. Yeah. Makes me feel like I can never lose. I agree. This podcast. What am I doing here? Yeah. I'm desperately trying to say something that brings value to your audience. I have context for your audience. It allows me to deliver content that has a higher propensity to do well. I'm not worried about like, who's going to discover me? I'll take it. I'm a human. I'd like it. Yeah. I'm deaf. I'll tell you one thing because I know how I roll. I really hope that somebody who used to think I was a boso because I was yelling in 13-second videos, like, wait a minute. There's a little more depth to carry me. Of course, I'm a human. But my main intent is I need to respect this distribution. Not here now. Your context. And how do I as a human being say things that might bring value that might be a compliment to the things they're hearing from you, which gives them two data sense that allows them all. Yeah. It wasn't me, siloed. It was you prepping them three episodes ago saying something that's been in their head. I have a little spin on it. A different voice on it. And all of a sudden, phew. Yeah. Yeah. And, okay. And this would be more of a personal question. You're over under on live. I know you're saying live shopping is the future. And I think it's the present. It's the present. Do you think that that's also the on ramp to where we're going next in terms of a social ecosystem? What's happening, too. In fact, I would argue Twitch and kick and he's live streamers. Kaisen and like, you know, eight and roll. I would say that's even further long than live shopping. Mm hmm. I would say live is very obvious. Mm hmm. Massive. Yeah. I think you would slay. It's a huge commitment. It's a crazy thing. It's not for most because it's a level of like always on that is intense. But like, I would say what's going on on Twitch and kick right now. Pay attention to the live is massive. And it's really interesting. And I think it's doses. Like, you know, a 24 hour a thon with you answering. Hey, everybody on the podcast. I'm sure all of you would love her to commit from a nine to nine 12 hour available to you. Come to this Twitch answer. I'll answer questions because right now you're getting her brilliance through the podcast. They want to be able to interact. Yeah. That's the digital version of what you're talking about in analog. Mm hmm. Yeah. Live. And it's really interesting because it's participatory. Everybody is there together. So it's not just asynchronous, like so. Or, yeah, it's sports. It's real. And you're only in this moment. Right. And it never happens again. It's awesome. And to me, I don't know if it's. But not only this, but it's actually double good. Because then you can share it after. Of course, they clip the fuck out of it. Yeah. Put it everywhere. You feel more like it's right. I just want to say something to you that I also think is going to really land for everyone else. You strike me as dangerously close to a next level. And I'm going to say something right now that I desperately hope brings you value. Because it's wildly intended for that. If, as I'm recapping this last hour. The more you think about the not what's not working. But what's about to work. Mm hmm. I feel like that's going to really service you well. Thank you. My ability to not dwell or get myself over concerned about the many things that are not working. Because in a macro, I have incredible belief in the human race. Because we've proven it. We'll actually create a different energy in you that I think will extract your brilliance even more. I genuinely believe that. Thank you. It's on the record. So we'll take note. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I think you're just a conscious person. You know, I think that helps you a lot. And I think, you know, man, for, you know, there's so many things that are challenges. And there's so much going on. But I think the reason I got into root causes. Yeah. Self-esteem, parent, like real shit. Is all these are just byproducts. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't know. I think we're an incredible place. And don't forget, I'm part of the era 2008 Obama. This, this stuff was changing the world. It was Nirvana. We're on the other side now. Yeah. A lot of the, we're getting exposed to, you know, our shortcomings are coming out. Our angst is coming out. They definitely are. I think technology is wildly, historically obvious that it has been net good for humans. Penicillin was a good invention. Electricity was a good invention. The automobile was a good invention. And unfortunately, someone today will, you will drive drunk and hit someone. You know, I think we focus on the.001 percent of bad. And don't see the 99 percent that's good. I really believe that, by the way. And I think for you specifically, the way you're thinking and the way you're rolling, I felt very compelled to share that. Thank you. I'll take it. Thank you. This is a pleasure. For me too. That's a wrap. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of I've Got Questions. If you enjoyed the episode, please share it with someone you think may find it interesting. Be sure to drop us a comment below if you have questions about it. And we look forward to seeing you at the next one.