The Future of Social Media
The Future of Social Media
Thanks to the proliferation of the internet, social media has totally transformed the landscape through which users communicate with one another. With the constant advancements in technology, the potential that social media tools offer appear limitless.
Before we explore what the future holds for social media, perhaps we should first define what latter really means. What is social media? Social Media basically refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Like a radio or a newspaper, social media can be seen as an instrument of communication. Social media tend to be in the form of websites that doesn’t just give us information but also interacts with us while doing so. Examples of social media include:
• Digg, Propeller and Hi5 : Sites that allow users to read, vote and comment on articles
• Facebook, Hi5 and Last.FM : Sites where users can interact with one another by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
• Youtube and Flicker: Users can share photos or videos and comment on other users’ submissions.
• Wikipedia: Users can add, read and edit existing articles.
What does the future hold for social media? Well the most probable outcome that I firstly foresee is the physical and digital worlds becoming more highly connected than ever before – already today we are able to run in the park and track our progress online while sharing it with our friends or track our weight loss, or even our ovulation (well, some of us, that is) with iPhone apps that connect to our Facebook and twitter profiles and enable us to keep track of our progress as well as share the data with our friends. Secondly, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other major social networks will increasingly become “Social Dashboards”. In essence, Facebook and Twitter may evolve into social channels on which other companies can
Thanks to the proliferation of the internet, social media has totally transformed the landscape through which users communicate with one another. With the constant advancements in technology, the potential that social media tools offer appear limitless.
Before we explore what the future holds for social media, perhaps we should first define what latter really means. What is social media? Social Media basically refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Like a radio or a newspaper, social media can be seen as an instrument of communication. Social media tend to be in the form of websites that doesn’t just give us information but also interacts with us while doing so. Examples of social media include:
• Digg, Propeller and Hi5 : Sites that allow users to read, vote and comment on articles
• Facebook, Hi5 and Last.FM : Sites where users can interact with one another by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.
• Youtube and Flicker: Users can share photos or videos and comment on other users’ submissions.
• Wikipedia: Users can add, read and edit existing articles.
What does the future hold for social media? Well the most probable outcome that I firstly foresee is the physical and digital worlds becoming more highly connected than ever before – already today we are able to run in the park and track our progress online while sharing it with our friends or track our weight loss, or even our ovulation (well, some of us, that is) with iPhone apps that connect to our Facebook and twitter profiles and enable us to keep track of our progress as well as share the data with our friends. Secondly, social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other major social networks will increasingly become “Social Dashboards”. In essence, Facebook and Twitter may evolve into social channels on which other companies can