This article will self-destruct: the rise of ephemeral messaging

The rise of ephemeral messaging poses a new challenge for social media monitoring.

How do you measure something that isn’t there? From the moment the first status message was shared, social media measurement has been a vexed question for those who want to judge communications work by more than just gut feel. But the latest trends in social media are making the task even harder.

Ephemeral messaging – which automatically deletes shared texts or photos after they’ve been seen, rather than being preserved in data centres for years – is growing in popularity. No longer restricted to the realms of Mission Impossible, the idea of messages that destroy themselves is catching on as something useful to people other than secret agents. Both new entrants and established players in social networking are embracing the trend as are, crucially, the public, especially teenagers.

Ephemeral messaging reminds communications professionals that what really matters and needs measuring are the outcomes.

One attraction is privacy, but another – and arguably more important, judging by the research so far – is that knowing messages won’t be preserved makes for a more relaxed communications medium, with people happier to use something they feel is less formal and has less importance attached to it.

However, the transitory nature of ephemeral messaging – often locked away behind privacy settings and quickly deleted – means measuring volumes of conversation on a product or analysing the most popular topics when talking about a brand becomes impossible.

The good news, however, is that by making the measuring of communications harder, ephemeral messaging pushes communications professionals in a helpful direction, reminding them that what matters and needs measuring are the outcomes – the changes brought about in the outside world rather than counting clicks or shares. Ephemeral messaging is the ultimate ‘ice dagger’ of communications; it has an impact that leaves traces that can still be found and measured.