Is it just me or people don’t really want to engage anymore?

It’s not that people don’t want to engage, it’s that the bar to engage is higher now.

People are still watching a ton, but engagement has become more selective. Liking or commenting isn’t default behavior anymore, it happens when something hits identity, emotion, or feels worth adding to.

A lot of content today is optimized to be consumed, not responded to. It’s clear, polished, informative… but there’s no tension, no opinion, no reason for someone to jump in.

Also, most communities naturally follow the 90-9-1 rule. A small % creates, a slightly bigger % engages, and the majority just watches. That’s always been true, it just feels more obvious now.

What’s been working is shifting from “here’s value” to “here’s something to react to.” Open loops, strong takes, asking for perspective instead of answers, or framing things in a way where people see themselves in it.

For example, look at political content. It’s very “us vs them” mentality. Think of how you can incorporate that into the essence of your own content.

So it’s less about forcing engagement, more about giving people a reason to care enough to respond.

The internet is infinite. It’s just not possible to spend time on everything.

I think certain platforms you see this apply more strongly. As for communities that should be active, what makes you think that they should? Is it more that this is a general assumption or does it apply to your own audience?

I see a lot of engagement mostly stupid which the feel to engage decrease because is useless. 

Sometimes if you engage and share your point of view which is different from the mass,.you ended up banned like many sub here in subreddit. 

No freedom of speech though politely, you have different opinion then go away. 

Fit or leave.

Did we ever stop to think that maybe we aren't protected by the 5th amendment as claimed and litterally everything someone says is marked against them. Or at least noted. I don't think its so much as not wanting to engage as more people are aware of how everything we do, say, think, or feel openly online is used against us at some point. Especially someone looking for a job. Media is looked at heavily as well as groups you are part of.

Engagement has shifted a lot. People consume way more than they interact now and I think part of it is that publicly commenting feels higher stakes than it used to.

What's worked better than chasing engagement is just focusing on creating content that makes people feel something specific — strong opinions, useful takeaways, or something that makes them feel seen.

I think the replies tend to come naturally when people feel like you're talking to them directly rather than broadcasting at them.

Personally, I'm no longer comfortable engaging on political issues on public posts because of the changing political climate in my country. In general people have become increasingly weary of revealing things about themselves on social media and it's affecting the kinds of engagement that don't reveal much at all because the less you engage in a specific kind of way the more accustomed you get to not engaging and just quietly scroll.

I love the irony of this post AND I agree .Across all platforms I see more pushing content then I see engagement. It makes me sad cause I've lived outside my home country for years and have lots of online friends (some I met in person and some I've never met), and its even a chore to get them to respond one on one online sometimes. I get online burnout but this is intense.

It's worse when a company's own employees don't engage on their company's social media posts. As a CEO you're like, "I'm paying you. It helps our clients. Who pay your salary. Get engaged!" A lot of companies have this problem. They have a paid army of unused engagement. They can increase engagement by building a community around their posts, gamifying it, making it inter-active, fun and engaging for the team. It also helps if the company is creating authentic, interesting content, and not just sales slop. Basically, create and give VALUE, to the employees and followers.

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