What happened to Friendster and Myspace? These social networks dominated their original markets for years, and were undisputed leaders. Until Facebook came along, and disrupted their leadership roles. Now, Facebook is the leader.
Are social media users fickle, and always looking for a better place to network and connect? Would they *switch* to a better social network in the future? Would users belong to multiple social networks? Or would there be one gateway that connects users to multiple social networks? What would that social gateway look like? Will Google+ challenge Facebook?
People today have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Yelp, Picasa, Flickr, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and many more. Would these users continue to use all of these social, community and professional networks in the future? Or would they consolidate?
Either social media will become so ingrained in our personal, community and work lives that it will become second nature; Or, newer modalities and innovations in social and business connectivity will emerge that will change the way we consume social media.According to Liz Gannes of All Things D: "Where in the past, tech industry watchers derided new start-ups for launching “yet another social network,” ever more users seem to be constructing multiple online presences that utilize the strengths of various platforms and networks.And this splintered approach is only going to increase." Do you agree with Liz?
Currently, social media is predominantly centered around people sharing with people, professionals sharing with professionals, and communities sharing within communities. Newer trends in social networking are forming, wherein people are sharing with business, professionals are sharing with business, businesses are sharing with businesses, and businesses are sharing with communities. It is interesting that people don't take the time to say hello to their neighbors; however, they enjoy using social media to share. In the future, social networks could become event, news or activities driven; segmented around industries, interests or markets; localized around neighborhoods, communities and causes; connected around geographies, regions or ethnicity; privatized around schools, colleges or workplaces. Everything could be inter-connected using social networks on computers, mobile phones, tablets, televisions and new devices.
No one social network can appeal to all the user and behavior segments. Large social networks will try to add features and functionality to appeal to a majority of segments... however, networks that try to build everything for everybody will become generalists and complex, and will get disrupted by new specialists. Which social networks will be around in five years, and which ones will emerge? Only time will tell. However, if history is a judge, some of the well known social networks of today may not be around tomorrow, or get consolidated.
One social network that is emerging, specialized and exclusive for the small business community is Ogoing. If you are a small business or entrepreneur that wants a great business profile, a place to promote deals and products, attract new customers, make local connections, and boost your social brand, take a look at Ogoing. Ogoing is the leading social network for small business. Sign up on Ogoing for free, and turbo charge your business social media. Go here to get started on Ogoing!