Websites won’t matter in 2020

Do I agree with this statement?

I saw on Twitter yesterday, a tweet by Social Chain stating that the new Instagram update means websites won’t matter in 2020 and in this post I am going to be talking in depth about whether I agree or disagree with that statement.

Websites won’t matter in 2022

In case you missed it, on the 19th March Instagram released a new feature within their app called Checkout which means you can buy a product without leaving their app. This is a major step forward for Instagram and brings them closer to becoming an all in one platform for users.

I’m personally a huge fan of Instagram and the platform as a whole due to its visual nature of content but even with these latest features on the social media platform, I strongly disagree with the statement ‘websites won’t matter in 2020'.

I believe websites will still have their place in the digital world in 2020 and beyond and continue to work beside social media platforms for individuals, brands, and businesses to promote themselves. This belief is mainly due to the fact you have control over your website. You can control the look, tone, and content that is on it. Even if you don’t develop your website yourself, you can request changes as well as full re-designs to the person or team that does develop and maintain your website. You can’t, however, control how Instagram or any other platform looks visually, or have any say in the updates they make to their UI (User Interface) nor do you have any control over the features and functionality they add and/or remove from the platform. In addition to this, you don’t know how long a platform will be around for, which means you have to rely on your audience following you as you move to different platforms. A website provides you, your brand or business with a solid hub for all your information for both new and returning users.

There is no getting away from the fact that social media platforms are a fantastic way to engage and interact with people from across the world. It is therefore easy for many people to move towards only having social media as a way for people to find and see the content you are sharing. However this not only forces you to conform to with those platforms way of working, it limits you as your audience has to be on that platform to view the content you are posting. By having a website as a hub for you, your brand or business you open yourself up to being discovered by users who aren’t on the platforms you are posting content to or social media as a whole. Due to these reasons I see websites being relevant for a lot of people the foreseeable future.

What are your thoughts on this statement, and your reasoning to why you agree or disagree with it?