Where is Social Media going?

[riddings]

I read an article the other day talking about the demise of Facebook - it pointed to the decline in Myspace as an example of a possible Social Media maturity cycle... I wonder if the decline in Myspace wasn't caused by the rapid growth in Facebook - not due to a natural maturity cycle...

So, my question would be is facebook stagnating because of competitors, and if so, who? Or is Social Media itself maturing and what are people looking for in Social Media?

Any ideas??

[Southern_Lenders]

Facebook has always been the more "mature" of the two. My two little sisters used to use nothing buy myspace and now have gone to facebook 100%. I don't think facebook will fizzle any time soon. People will always have a need to feel "connected" with their friends even when they cant be there in person, and facebook does a good job of solving that problem, not to mention all the other things you can do that have been added on over time.

There are many other social sites, but I honestly cant think of any of their names. It's really all about marketing too, and facebook gets a lot of media attention which fuels growth.

[riddings]

I agree with that assessment; I'm always looking at social media websites - the good, the bad, and the ugly to see what draws people in... I often wonder where Social Media will be in 5-years... Will they become more sophisticated or more streamlined like Twitter... For example, I know Myspace allows a lot of customization, which you would think is a plus, yet Facebook allows for zero customization and quickly outgrew Myspace... I look at Linkedin and wonder where are they going with there product, any ideas out there?

It's just very interesting to me watching social media mature and evolve; I wonder what the next big push will be in terms of technology/features - anyone want to take a guess???

[Southern_Lenders]

The hot thing in the future will be virtual reality..in fact its already under way. IBM, and other major comps are using games like second life to train employees and do other things you would normally do in RL (real life)... not sure if this would replace social sites, but it would make things much more interactive.

"IBM estimates the ROI for the Virtual World Conference was roughly $320,000 and that the Annual Meeting was executed beautifully at one-fifth the cost of a real world event. "

How Meeting In Second Life Transformed IBM

[riddings]

For some reason, I always forget about Virtual Reality... My wonder for Virtual Reality is are people like IBM over estimating the impact of a Virtual world versus the REAL world... I don't know about you, but I certainly enjoy my Vegas conferences - I can't imagine a Virtual Vegas conference having the same recreational appeal... I do have to look more into Virtual Reality, I'm really discounting it unfairly before really looking into it...

Do you think Virtual Reality will overcome something like Facebook style social media in the next 5-years?

[ciaossu]

Facebook is still growing, rumors are saying they're already reaching close to 500M. Any large business will eventually have slower growth because you can only grow so much before you hit your tipping point but Facebook is definitely not there yet. They are focusing on launching in China sometime this summer to further extend growth. I wouldn't count on their demise just yet.

[Southern_Lenders]

If facebook thinks the US is tough, wait till they get to China. Google pulled out a while back. They will severely limit what their people are allowed to say, and share on facebook...whats the point?

[ciaossu]

Facebook is a very different business and fundamentally is structured differently than Google. I don't know if they have the same concerns regarding censorship to the degree Google is but it's not as easy as of a comparison to make. Only time will tell whether or not they'll thrive in China. In business sense, it makes sense to be the natural progression to continue growing to other markets.

[tomatigp]

An interesting point to me is that my friends and family the 40 ish ones are just now getting into facebook and fueling its growth. They are connecting with junior hi and hi school chums long forgotten. Most of them had nothing good to say about social media until it became of value to them.

[FishBowl]

Social media is certainly evolving, primarily due, I think, to the more sophisticated ways we are choosing to use them. In particular, the way that social media has developed as a marketing tool can be seen to be dictating some of the change.

Take Facebook as an example of this. The growth of fan pages and groups could be attributed to the rise in marketing professionals harnessing the potential of social media to engage with their target audience. A target audience which can be pin pointed with precision due to the use of people's personal profile information as marketing criteria. LinkedIn has recently shown an example of this, including the 'follow' button on their site which allows people to follow a certain company - no doubt the marketing potential of this has not been overlooked.

Even the emergence of geolocation tools such as Foursquare could be attributed to marketing opportunities expressing themselves through new technology. The main selling point of Foursquare seems not that you can keep up with friends, but that you can be rewarded with special offers for visiting a certain place the most times that week. As a marketing tool, it's great. As a social network? You decide.

With rumours now spreading that Facebook and Google are looking into developing their own geolocation software, it could be that geolocation is the next step in social networking. How would you feel about that?

[ciaossu]

This was evident a couple years back when others have tried to create the first so-called mobile social networking which is the background on why location check in was even created, to bring social networking to the real world or involve people on the go. It's already here, it's not just a next step. Facebook developing it is just expanding the reach.

[lucygreenlucky]

oh,Chinese doesn't have permission to visit the site of Facebook.

[riddings]

I don't think Facebook in China is going to find much success; it's regulatory environment is counter to an open social media environment where users can create pages deemed religiously or politically inappropriate. Just as google found it unpalatable, facebook probably will as well...

I can certainly appreciate a company such as Facebook trying to expand their market presence - however, despite the relative youth of the social media industry I think many lessons can be learned and applied from other technology markets... Areas such as useability, function, and general innovation I think are key to the next phase of social media - however, I don't know if facebook is paying attention. Or, the question of what is the next phase of social media is very difficult to answer and so elusive that even Facebook and Google are stumped...

I think social media can be much more than just friends connecting or sharing photos and videos... I think one day it will be a much bigger way in how we interact, how we work, how we learn, etc.. I just wonder what technology needs to come into play for that to happen... Am I crazy here or do some of you get what I'm trying to say??

[Southern_Lenders]

I think there are too many social network sites out there trying to capitalize on the whole "Social" trend. I think most of these will fizzle out, or either get bought up by the larger social network sites like facebook. Either that or most sites will never get a major following and not be known by most people.

I like that there are people that are trying to put a new spin on things, so I give them credit, but arnt people going to get tired of this after a while. Facebook is a big player along with linkedIN, then there is tagged.com , ning.com , delicious.com , stumbleupon.com , digg.com, and many others.

[ciaossu]

I don't think Facebook in China is going to find much success; it's regulatory environment is counter to an open social media environment where users can create pages deemed religiously or politically inappropriate. Just as google found it unpalatable, facebook probably will as well...

I can certainly appreciate a company such as Facebook trying to expand their market presence - however, despite the relative youth of the social media industry I think many lessons can be learned and applied from other technology markets... Areas such as useability, function, and general innovation I think are key to the next phase of social media - however, I don't know if facebook is paying attention. Or, the question of what is the next phase of social media is very difficult to answer and so elusive that even Facebook and Google are stumped...

I think social media can be much more than just friends connecting or sharing photos and videos... I think one day it will be a much bigger way in how we interact, how we work, how we learn, etc.. I just wonder what technology needs to come into play for that to happen... Am I crazy here or do some of you get what I'm trying to say??

There is a big difference though. Facebook thrives as a platform. And the target users in China where the average age is early to mid twenties with a high interest in gaming. Facebook is the perfect environment for this. This more to Facebook than just the social aspect of the business. I think for this reason, they may have a chance to succeed in other areas as a business.