The Future of Social Media

Over the last five years, social media has changed from a few groups to a multi-billion dollar industry that’s rapidly growing to mobile devices, driving major changes in contents and providing users with an identity, which follow them on the web.

With that said, the next five years are going to see even more dramatic conversion. An improvement in technology‚ the cables, wireless links and hardware that make social media possible, a world where all is linked awaits us. The result will have dual impact:

1. Significant change in our everyday lives
2. Change of actions in several industries, which now understand the importance of social media.

A relatively short history of social media provides us the fact that after every few years a new site emerges which connects us with family and friends (for example Friendster, then MySpace, then Facebook), it seems very likely that a new site will emerge in a few years time and the recent giants of social media (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) will lose their prominence in the coming years.

A friend of mine told me a story, which perfectly suits the situation for social media. He was talking to a painter, who told him that he had plans of investing in real estate because many have made money in real estate market. This was the indicator to my friend that the real estate bubble is about to burst. At that moment people thought he had gone crazy, but his point was, that when people who don’t have any idea what they are doing start to do business just because everyone else is doing it and making money, it is a possible bubble.

I am not saying that social media is on its way out. It is important and will continue to be an important tool for companies who understand how it can benefit them. It has enabled organizations to build up relations with individuals, and this has changed the face of marketing.

So, what is next? There are devices in the market now, which are using the technology, 3g and 4g, which enables people to connect with each other anytime and anywhere. The connected and portable devices are quickly becoming the reality now. We are also experiencing the behavioral change in people as a result of this trend, people are accepting to use location sharing applications and even applications, which share the credit card purchases.

In the next five years social media will be at the heart of new technology.