The social media industry is in chaos and so are its workers, who are struggling with burnout.
Just three months into 2025, and the social media world has been turned upside down. The TikTok ban went into place in the US, and then it didn’t, and now there’s a 90-day extension? Meta announced a change in fact-checking and their hate speech policy. Twitter (begrudgingly known as X) has been on fire for over a year, and its leadership continues to alarm.
Your social media employees are not okay.
Social media management has always demanded a lot from employees. We all know social media doesn’t sleep, and there’s an element of needing to always be on as a social media manager.
Then there’s the vitriol. People are willing to shame, threaten, and attack anyone behind a screen. Even if you know they’re not angry at you, you still have to read it all, and it’s impossible not to absorb it. Add in the never-ending revolving door of platforms, best practices, scheduling tools, calendars, content types, editing, designing… well, you get the idea.
Now, looking at 2025 from a personal level, many social media managers are facing internal conflict. As the political climate continues to evolve, there is pressure to adhere to personal ethics in the face of professional responsibility.
A social media manager may no longer wish to maintain a presence on certain platforms but may be forced to do so from a professional expectation. How do you balance these opposing forces?
Unless you work in or very closely with social media, chances are you might not fully grasp the layers of stress and anxiety social media employees are facing. Check in on your staff, your friends and your colleagues. We’re not okay.
What can you do, you ask? You can offer an open door for your social media manager to vent, stress or game-plan. You can encourage or support going quiet on platforms for a time. You can talk to leadership about supporting your team. Honestly, you can just let them know you see them and support them.
Again, we are merely weeks into what promises to be a tumultuous year (or four). The reality is social media isn’t going anywhere (except for maybe TikTok?), but your social media managers might.
And if you work in social media, dear reader, know that I see you. I’m right there with you. We’ll get through this, and know that the social media community is there for you, too.
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