Social Media has been one of the greatest game changer in disrupting the capitalistic ecosystem and connectivity, in a never seen before manner. It holds the power to create your brand, to earn you or your organization a huge amount of money, and to create visibility, networking, and connections in a virtual world. On the flip side, it can create chaos, depression, anxiety, can influence elections, riots, and spread fake news. It’s a bundled offer sadly.
In this article, we will read about how social media was previously maintained and how it evolved over the time, leading to its present form and how it is going to change the future.
Social Media started as a unique thought to create such a platform which keeps people tight, close and connected. Through which information sharing was digital, cheap and most importantly – fast! But it escalated very fast, as we can see, it’s not only the home to “Digital Marketing” and the world’s greatest businesses being built on top of it.
Turning to the good side of it – It has led us to a time, never in the history of mankind, where information exchange or communication was faster. It has helped brands and conglomerates get to their lowest tier of consumers and hear their issues and improve service. Also, the other way around it has bridged the gap between an average user and the seller. It has helped artists get appreciation and visibility for their work, to actually generate revenue from their art, it has opened a gateway of infinite possibilities of collaboration and innovation. It has connected recruiters to find their next star and vice-versa.
Now turning to the black mirror side of it – Influencing mob mentality through data driven approach and manipulating personal data to make believe the users believing it was their decision. Influencing major historical, political events and using the personal data for advertisement, data leaks to hackers leaving your privacy a complete joke on the internet.
Cybercrimes are greatly influenced by leveraging the power of social media. People these days are looking forward to a sense of fulfilment and validation, which they get through the likes, comments and shares that they received from hundreds of strangers. There has not been a generation which was more anxious and depressed than us. Ironically, social media is disconnecting us.
So, what does the future hold?
Thinking about the face of social media in next 10-20 years is exciting and almost unpredictable but let’s give it a shot –
More privacy and security:
In the current atmosphere of web-based media, it’s a higher priority than any time in recent memory for brands to discover and actualize techniques for building buyer trust. This starts with how they associate with crowds. Security concerns are on the ascent as social media users are getting substantially more mindful of how their information is being utilized.
More video:
It’s an obvious fact that video utilization through social media is on the rise. It’s assessed that individuals take a gander at video content multiple times longer than static content, for example, text and pictures, on both Facebook and Instagram. Along these lines, it’s nearly ensured that we will see significantly more video content all over social media in near future.
Premium services and fewer ads:
Ads have interrupted your music listening experience, gaming experience and social media browsing and regardless of that people are not shifting majorly towards adless experience because of the price sensitivity (in countries like India). But as in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities people are migrating to premium services, brands will slowly try to lure the Tier 3 and 4 cities too.
A surge in social audience:
As COVID left people with no choice than to stay in home, so people started spending more and more time in front of their mobile screens, social media usage increased and this surge in newer audience to many social platforms is fortunate for them and they will try everything to retain this user base, hence creating a larger pool of audience than before. That means brands will have even more people to reach out to and sell their product and services.
Authored by Krina Gindra, Fashion and Lifestyle Blogger and content creator
