11 Ways Social Media Will Evolve in the Future. Why, Facebook and Twitter, of course. Who doesn’t have strained relationships with friends and family after one too many political opinion posts? But that’s not the only social media shift happening. “While this is valuable when you have a broad announcement to share and want to reach as many people as possible, these are no longer the vehicles for sharing photos of your kids, recording audio or staying connected with your inner circle of family and friends." Two things will happen to change that previous wisdom. This will become very important for relationship maintenance. Expect future social media companies to offer more advanced network and profile privacy than ever before. Users will want their social media to existing as an ongoing time capsule, a living record of their lives. Instagram's parent company Facebook also released Facebook Live and Messenger Day.
The 2016 election was a painful time for most Americans. It was so mentally strenuous that psychologists are still talking about post-election anxiety several months after Election Night. And where did we process all that anxiety and frustration?
Why, Facebook and Twitter, of course. Some have even gone so far as to blame the results and tone of the election entirely on social media and the way real and fake information was shared.
Who among us isn’t still suffering aftershocks? Who doesn’t have strained relationships with friends and family after one too many political opinion posts? Who hasn’t been affected by use of the “delete” button? Social media, in its role as ground zero for viral political commentary, is invaluable, unavoidable, and exhausting.
But that’s not the only social media shift happening.
Demographics of social media are changing. Teens have been leaving Facebook in droves for years, and many can’t even be bothered to join because it’s what their parents use. In 2016, Facebook marked a 21 percent drop in original, personal updates as users have begun communicating more and more in shared articles and memes alone.
Privacy concerns are getting more pronounced as people become more aware of data harvesting, adding to previous concerns of identity theft.
Many in the industry are predicting massive changes as we move into the dramatically shifted post-election social media landscape. I recently interviewed Jeanne Lewis, CEO of Capsure, a new private social network for preserving memories, and she says, “Social media has really gotten away from us. It’s gotten to the point where we work for it, not the other way around. With social media as it’s been, the users are the product, which has caused some real rifts and problems between loved ones. It’s just not connecting us the way it was supposed to.”
Lewis isn’t the only one who feels that way, but she’s something of an expert on the subject, and she had some excellent points on how social media will transform in 2017 and on.
1. A focus on relationships
One of the first social networks was Friendster, a name which implies its purpose: Forming and maintaining friendships. That was how MySpace and Facebook ostensibly began, as well. However, as they’ve progressed, they’ve become more about personal brand maintenance and attempts to form and join various short-lived zeitgeists.
“Social platforms today have evolved into a broadcast tool both for companies and individuals,” says Lewis. “While this is valuable when you have a broad announcement to share and want to reach as many people as possible, these are no longer the vehicles for sharing photos of your kids, recording audio or staying connected with your inner circle of family and friends.”
To fix this, social media will probably begin to draw the focus back into relationships by emphasizing personal posts, photographs and small, intimate connections over outside content like memes and articles.
2. Diversity of personal posts
Until now, posts have been limited to outside material, pictures, videos and text. Don’t be surprised if, going forward, new players will introduce more diverse posting options, intermingling audio and visual components to create a unique experience for people viewing and creating posts. As digital technology progresses, people will be hungry for new and interesting ways to share experience.
Lewis emphasizes the importance audio will play in social media’s future: “Just as many of us gathered around a cassette recorder in our early childhood, the unique power of audio can be experienced once again using our smartphones.”
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