Social Media has grown, not just as a single website, a mobile app, but something cool to “do”. Even those reluctant on sharing info or engage the online world, facebook has made a cultural impact on us all. From personal use for social interaction to business marketing as a channel to this online world, social media is here! Is it here to stay? All signs point to yes, as we have been driven to gain a social benefit through web interaction. The folks who deemed the internet as a mere fad, are now using it for info seeking and watching the world connect to a network. Why is it so popular? The web is a fancy place. We get so much info here and have an ideal that any or every question can be found here. Now with our friends there, the art of web socializing is getting creative. Twitter help to spawn this growth as texting from phone moved to web based twitter msgs (140 characters). I bet this recruited some into reading more, yet maybe spelling more horribly, lol. I know I read much more than years before the social media boom.
Social media should be called a digital social system, lol. Like an eco-system, it is interconnected and self-driven. Facebook has cleverly used ways to keep us talking to our friends, even though the individualistic attitudes of the last half of century has many creating private lives and less social. Facebook has opened us back up… to log in multiple times a week and check the status of others, whether it’s to be nosey or we genuinely care is debatable. Think of how many times you’ve heard someone say “Did you see the post on my facebook wall” or how about an argument that started from facebook gossip. How about jobs firing you for talking negative about them, or an organization doing a background check including social media sites? It is growing extra interesting.
Social media will not fade away any time soon. The rate of increase will even out, but with its current impact, it looks to gain ground. The biggest issue I fear is the miscalculating of the online population, the foolish wars between companies like this is a gold rush, and any errors in leading us to a digitally social world. I see how Zynga, an popular online gaming company on social media sites, aims to keep users busy, active, and growing. They have the actual key to the future as their strategies seem to be created by the best of marketing experts, psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist, whatever… the company is great. The reward of benefits for use is enough to keep growth high. I expect Zynga to do well in upcoming years, even better than facebook. Another major threat is if we finally find something cooler than all these tech toys and quick info searches. If our reality is not better than the digital world, everyone will be there… and that leads me to another post in due time, entitled “Augmented Reality”.
What’s next? Well, look at Twitter… they are becoming disappointing. They have new changes in play, but seem to lose their grasp on who they wanna be (position). These changes are happening too slow as facebook and google have hundreds of ideas they slowly perfect into their gameplan. Their corporate visions are incredible and look to take over the web as well as entertain their constituents and fans.
Google Me is set to launch, but I do not believe it will be a facebook “killer”. I think it will be a new clever tool for info seeking and interacting socially (sharing, bookmarking, etc) Facebook will act as their database of users, an online DMV and social club. Google is a powerhouse, and it has not been successful in understanding the depth of social media. It has it hands in everything, such as cars, to electricity, but very effective in software and my new interest, geo-location. (Social Media + Maps + Mobile + Software= future)
Google will find ways to entertain and empower those who use the web with skill. They look to brand as “thee internet” not just a subculutre of the web. It is spreading to active users like, students, business, web developers, and common users who search for anything from recipes, weather, to travel info. Watch out newspapers and broadcast media! As Facebook aims to adds website plugins and widgets, it gains ground by expanding to other areas of the web. If a company can successfully become useful worldwide, it will have a chance to compete with Google. For the meantime, we will just have fun in little places to visit on the web, until our own lives become as entertaining as the web and its fantasies.
