Assuming we’re still in a consumer-style environment, it’s interesting to ponder what social media will look like 20 years from now.
I thought I’d see if I could predict the future of social media, well forward to 20 years only. Beyond that, I can’t even begin to imagine.
Looking at Google Trends, you can see (images below) that from 2017 to the present day, the interest in social media is both on the way up and down.
___________________________________________
Getting down into the individual platforms, we can see that Facebook has been on the downward slope since 2017
___________________________________________
Instagram is slowly going up as is Pinterest.
___________________________________________
TikTok is having a bumpy rise, which is not surprising.
___________________________________________
And YouTube is down
___________________________________________
Twitter is similar to Pinterest, and LinkedIn is steady.
Okay, so that’s the trend. But what about the future of social media?
E-commerce, social media, and our smartphones have blurred the edges of how we do business. We have taken so much online these days that we would be lost without it.
I’ve seen a rise in businesses using social media as a platform. Personally, I wouldn’t say I like it and would much prefer to go to a website. But with online shopping and easy advertising through social media, it’s becoming more mainstream.
I don’t think the personal/business website will ever go. But I do see more use of social media platforms for business interaction. That’s not to say this trend will continue.
Bots, too, will play a big part. That’s the algorithms. We already see their dramatic influence as they put advertising in front of us. Oh, for the day they figure out that I have actually purchased that product/service, so they can stop flogging it to me!!!!
I trust that privacy will also improve, although I’m not going to count on it. The bots mentioned above will have a way of ferreting out information whether you want to give it or not.
Video is here to stay both in marketing and in the news.
With live streaming, Cory Bergman, BreakingNews Co-Founder, said:
“When news breaks in the future, it will be covered by a multitude of eyewitnesses streaming live video. These streams will knit together into a single immersive video, enabling the viewer to virtually experience the event in real-time. For better or worse, the world will feel like it’s right around the corner.”
By 2040 I wonder if the young people will have to look up words like “tweet”, “Snapchat”, or “Facebook” on their brain augmentation devices. It’s a bit like asking the younger generation now what is a “floppy disc”, “Blackberry”, or “Motorola”.
And talking of ‘augmentation devices’, I do see the advance of the mobile into the wearable (we have it now with the smart watches) and implanted versions, which don’t thrill me.
Jeremy Goldman, Author of “Going Social”, believes that:
“what was once called social media will largely be voice-controlled.”
That’s an interesting concept.
And Matthew Knell, About.com, VP of Social Media & Community, has this to say:
“The term social media will fade out and become a mass media form in 25 years. By then, there will be three major trends. First, there will be more personal ownership of data. Second, individuals will be able to manage data across platforms in a more centralized way. Third, there will be extremely speedy mobile wireless broadband built into even the most affordable devices to allow one-touch and instant playback of any piece of content.”
Perhaps we’ll become like Inspector Gadget, with our Social world in the very fabric of our clothes, the glasses we wear and invisible gadgets. Will this make us social in a way we’re unaware of? The smaller devices become, the easier they will be to integrate.
I’m not sure I like this idea, but I believe that social media will be more integrated. In fact, I know that the social media we know today will be extremely different 20 years from now.
If you want to spend some time with me to pick my brains on how you can make your social media work for you, schedule a Zoom call for my “Driving Social Media”. SCHEDULE