The Social Media of the Future
Although social media has been used by the likes of students and musicians for almost a decade (oh hey, MySpace!), only within the last few years has it been embraced by international and corporate communities. The late ‘aughts’—is that what we’re calling them?—brought about a social media explosion, pushing us into 2010, where its popularity continues to grow, monitoring and analytics technologies have been vastly improved, and social media-based marketing reaches becomes the norm. What a perfect time, then, to discuss where social media is headed!
This week, an interesting article by Freddie Laker in AdAge featured 11 social media predictions for 2012. Ranging from the obvious—product/venue ratings becoming the norm—to the more extrapolated—social media augmented reality overtaking reality as we know it—Laker offers a comprehensive overview of what 2012 could really be like, assuming, that is, that the earth isn’t destroyed by the apocalypse. Here’s a quick rundown of his most interesting/important points.
1) People will find it more acceptable to share personal information. This point seems obvious, but its importance should in no way be underestimated. Why? Because the average user’s level of comfort with the level of information they share is not merely social media specific. Instead, it is an indicator of social climate as a whole, testifying to society’s embracement of visible identities, and consequent rejection of the right to complete privacy.
2) Decentralization and Aggregation: A number of points touch upon the topic of information aggregation, from aggregation of all social media profiles into one, to the transfer of friend networks themselves. For those users who find the juggling of numerous profiles to be a bothersome task, the future seems bright.
3) The personal information you provide will be used for everything and anything. If things go the way Laker plans, the information you place on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn will be tapped for everything. Gone will be the days of anonymous Google searches. Instead, Google social search will show you what it thinks you want to know. Even more, Laker predicts that everyday experiences will be enhanced, from customer service to using the telephone to call your friends—you might be able to see what the person is doing… before you call them.
4) Social media will focus on the future, allowing search engines to antipicate what we’re looking for based on who we are and what they know about us. This “semantic web”, as Laker calls it, will be the next step in web evolution, replacing 2009′s focus on real-time information.
5) Everything will become what it once was. If Laker’s final prediction, that ‘social media’ will once again be referred to as ‘digital media’ comes true, we’ll know that we’re moving toward complete digitalization. Personal preference will dictate whether this shift in social climate will be welcomed on the individual level, but it seems undeniable that our baseline need for privacy will continue to be pushed towards the deconstruction of previously accepted notions of social boundaries.
(Via AdAge)
