The future of social networking

The update for our times is that there’s a connecting point for each one of us on the internet. Razi Shaikh explores what the future holds for social media.

The Status Quo

Although they’ve been around for long, we don’t expect the current crop of social networking points to last forever. We’re not saying that they’ll completely evaporate tomorrow. It’s just that the consumers, fatigued by the static state of things on social networking sites desire for something more.

Technology will become more social

Social media will become indispensable because a time will come when it becomes a part of us. Think of a future when the watch that you use detects that you’re going to get a stroke. Without you having to take the trouble, it alerts your social network along with your doctor and before you know it, you’re safely tucked into a hospital.

Smart Advertising

Let’s say, you instruct your device, something like a Google Glass to hunt out a restaurant for you. Glass checks your cuisine tastes, hunts outs a couple of food joints nearby and allows each one of them to make a proposition to you. You then make your choice; a smart choice for that matter.

A Mobile-centric approach

As the launch of Facebook Home clearly shows, social media will get more and more absorbed in our lives, through the medium of the phone. 600 million mobile users is the number Facebook claims which is expected to increase even more.

Social Networking sites to watch out for

Medium – An invitation only platform, it resembles a closely curated blog network.

NextDoor – A private social network for your neighbourhood.

Thumb – Personal crowdsourcing that’s emerging as a medium for serious engagement on the net.

Conversations – Social networking for companies.

Social media of the future won’t be about people, it will be about the individuals. We can’t bet our money on this but we’re reasonably sure that the coming-of-age of social media is going to be the next big thing in the 21st century.

“In coming years, humongous amount of data will be readily available and analyst will be able find out the market trend and predict the sentiments among customers. In the future, we will see many social media dying. You will see lot of experiments and creative ideas coming up as marketers will see a wide market open to them and experiment.”

– Gaurav Jain, 24, Social Media Consultant

“I can safely say, twitter gave me a career as I started my career simply on a tweet. With more and more people hopping on to social media and its constant improvisation, the user experience is going to change completely. With the Internet of Things coming up, social media will gain more importance. I came across an interesting case study. There was a party to promote a particular event, wherein the attendees had to wear RFID bands. When they went to the bar, the RFID sensor scanned the band. And a tweet was automatically sent: ‘Having a drink. #eventtag’”