The Future of Social Media

Reading through the articles provided to us for this course and looking at timelines, it seems like the internet has pretty much taken over the world, especially when it comes to our social lives. In our Facebook Outline article, the term 'social media' has three (3) definitions. The definition that put it into perspective to me was a definition given by Brian Solis, a PR expert, who defined it as “a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologue (one to many) into dialogue (many to many).” Let's take a look at the big 'splash!' that Facebook made in such a short period of time:

The reason I am focusing so much on social media, is because I believe this is the part that will continue to have a major role in our future. If we think about it, when we need to know about something in the news or want to hear the latest 'gossip,' we turn to social media. There are very few people that I know that still watch the news or read a newspaper, unless something major is going on – like the Superbowl or a Presidential campaign/speech. I believe that the future, in the next 5 years, contains a lot more personalized media sites. This may be a little hard to explain, so let me give you an example: when you search something on your computer (for instance, I've been searching wedding venues lately), when you go to Facebook, it will give you 'suggestions' for other sites that has something similar to what you were searching for. I think there will be more websites created as social media sites, but utilized for other reasons than just socializing with friends. A good example of the beginning of this is LinkedIn. This website is used for professionals looking to make connections via other professionals they know online. I think that everything, including news, will be delivered through the internet, but will be personalized to what the site believes the person wants to know or may need, depending on the websites they visit the most and the things they search the most. Because of this, I believe the biggest media companies will be those, like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Amazon, that make news, entertainment, and shopping a little easier, faster, and at our fingertips.