Let us be mindful that social media platforms are businesses with specific business goals.  There is nothing in inherently wrong with this.  Businesses generate profit to the extent they provide value to people–and we certainly value our social media outlets.

But to the extent to which they are ingrained in the culture, it’s easy to forget that media, like any business needs to generate profit to remain a business.  They are not public utilities established solely to serve the public interest.  They have business goals and it bears keeping in mind that those goals may not always be aligned with our own.