So, Facebook had an interesting thing happen this week…they had their IPO. Stock for the social media giant sold quickly and millions of shares were released. However, there have been some ramifications to the information released regarding the IPO, and the value of these share have started to drop. What do these events have to do with the future of social media? With Facebook being the “king of social media” the events that take place in the near future may directly affect the future of virtual communities within social media.
When we look at the future of social media we have to consider the different types of social media being used, such as blogs, sites like Facebook and sites that are directly operated by retailers and their constituents. Currently many people receive their news information from blogs. This information is not regulated nor checked for fact. In the future we could see personal blogs evolving into more substantial news blogs written by reporters for larger media groups. These blogs would be regulated and fact checked so that the information relayed would be accurately.
Sites like Facebook will continue to evolve and perhaps even disappear. Remember MySpace? Where is that today? If Facebook is smart, it will evolve and hopefully change as the 900 million uses start looking for something new. An important factor in both this type of social media as well as the blogging aspect is the continued integration of mobile technologies. If you cannot utilize social media on the go, it has a good chance that it will not survive. That will not happen as social media continues to expand and work with larger corporations to grow social media in regards to retail and service sales.
This brings us to what will be the biggest expansion in social media. With consumers continually driving retailers and restaurants, these industries are trying to “catch” that consumer on the go. By using the social medial technology combined with mobile technologies, this is how those industries will do that.
The future of social media is no different than any other business, in order for it to grow and succeed, it needs to change based on the demands of the consumer. So what do you want from social media in the future? You may just be the driving force for
the future of social media, (what is kicking around in your brain) whether that be in your professional capacity or simply as a consumer of everyday items.
Sites referenced:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-holmes/facebook-ipo_b_1522350.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2012/05/01/whats-next-in-social-media