Almost no one cares if your site is not on social media

Traffic Sources & Effectiveness

• Several commenters agree that, for most sites, Google is now the dominant traffic referrer; social platforms are minor or negligible in comparison.
• The article’s author reports dropping a large Twitter/X account with ~17k followers and seeing no meaningful change in site traffic.
• Others counter with anecdotes where a single social post (especially on Mastodon) triggered huge spikes and mainstream-media pickup, showing social can still be a catalyst in specific cases.
• Some note that dark social and referrer stripping mean social-driven traffic may appear as “direct,” complicating measurement.

Platform Dynamics & Algorithms

• Twitter/X is widely perceived as far less useful post‑acquisition: link reach appears throttled, especially for non-paying users; links in replies sometimes perform better than in main posts.
• TikTok, Instagram, and Shorts are described as increasingly central to e‑commerce and discovery, but extremely poor at sending users off‑platform.
• LinkedIn is repeatedly cited as still effective for professional/commercial outreach. Mastodon is seen as small but influential in tech niches.

User Behavior Toward Links

• Many say social users rarely click links: they skim previews, react, and comment without leaving the platform.
• Some explicitly avoid links because the broader web feels hostile (slow pages, popups, cookie banners, trackers), which discourages exploration.
• On HN‑like sites, multiple people admit they come mainly for the discussion, not the linked article.

Content Type, Audience & Goals

• Social media can work better for products, video, shops, and events than for long‑form writing.
• Written content and blogs often see poor conversion from feeds optimized for dopamine hits and short attention.
• For niche or underserved languages/topics, search traffic can be especially strong, independent of social.

Social Presence as a Trust Signal

• Several commenters check a company’s Twitter/Instagram/Maps activity to gauge if it’s alive, growing, or in “maintenance mode.” Lack of any presence can be a red flag for choosing vendors.
• Conversely, some users refuse to engage with businesses that only exist on Facebook/Instagram, insisting on a standalone website.

Broader Reflections

• Multiple comments lament the shift from early “social networks” (friends, blogs, web rings) to today’s broadcast‑and‑ads feeds.
• People distinguish between mass‑broadcast platforms, group‑chat tools, and direct messaging, and some deliberately prune “time‑wasting” apps to regain focus.