After the death of Orkut, Facebook and other social networking sites are very particular about keeping up with changing demands. They are already working on innovations on new platforms
Sgrouples, Myspace, Nextdoor, Pinterest, Path, Whatsapp, Instagram and the list goes on. The social media-scape is witnessing a revolution of late where every year new names like these are popping up from all corners. Add to that, the social media giant, Facebook itself undergoes frequent transformations and comes up with newer experiences for its users and innovations every moment.
With the recent announcement of the end of social media platform, Orkut, which was once a favourite with youngsters, the focus now shifts to other social media ventures which anytime can be under threat of losing out on their users or popularity or being taken over by other novel ideas in the field of social media. Hence, they are 24X7 trying to reinvent themselves to keep their users hooked for long.
Another widely noticeable change is that the social media landscape is changing and increasingly going mobile. The current state of affairs suggest the thinking brains of social media platforms are definitely planning ahead of time as a plethora of developments are on the go. Digital users are moving away from bloated social networks like Facebook and Google+, and spending more time on networks that offer a more intimate and personal experience. Specifically, there’s an increase in smartphone usage and the ubiquitous use of mobile consumption when it comes to content and networking. It seems the mega-networks like Facebook are becoming a dying trend and ‘mobile tribes’ would indeed lead the future state of social media. Soon there will be users who will follow a small circle of close friends on Instagram, pin with a small handful of followers on Pinterest, message a girlfriend or schoolmate on WhatsApp or Snapchat, or follow a co-worker’s check-ins on Foursquare.
Nextt, a private social networking platform looks to mix online friendships with offline socialising. Initially, it was launched as an iPhone app but is now also available on Android. Primarily built to counter FOMO (the fear of missing out syndrome, which has become increasingly prevalent online), Nextt allows friends to use calendar templates and tools to arrange private get-togethers and make plans. Nextt’s distinction from similar networks is that it keeps activities between small groups of in-person friends. It allows for much more privacy. Spayce is another in-person network that has a lot of similarities with Facebook. Both started as a student project at Harvard and they see mobile as the future of social networking. However, unlike Zuckerberg and Facebook, Spayce founder Patrick Colangelo is taking a very different approach to connecting people. While Facebook sees its platform as a way to connect the world, Spayce wants to connect like-minded people who are within 100 meters from each other. Users create a profile that’s separated into personal and professional personas and then use the appropriate persona with whatever social situation they’re in. Spayce then uses facial recognition and hyper-location tools to highlight users within specific vicinity, allowing people to connect with others who enjoy similar interests, tastes, discussions and more.
These networking and communication platforms and others like Pheed, Tumblr, Vine and SoundCloud may affect the state of social media in the years to come.
According to Mark, Facebook is not one thing. He also mentions that the next focus after being able to look for structured connection is searching for posts. “The real push is mobile and the real question will be how effective it will be on mobile once post-search works. I think that’s a five-year thing. We have to think about it over a longer period of time,” he says about innovations on new platforms.
Variety is a key concept for the virtual experience. So Mark and his team are aiming at building a pipeline of experiences for the worldwide audience. “It would be a mistake to compare any of the platforms in different life cycles to others. They’re at different levels. First, there’s Facebook the app. A billion people or more are using it, and it is a business. Next there’s Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Search — they will probably be the next things that will become businesses at Facebook. Then there are things that are nascent, that we’re inventing from scratch, like Home, Paper or any of the other Creative labs work we’re going to do. Maybe in three to five years those will be in the stage where Instagram and Messenger are now,” he states.
Kushargra, an IIT-ian and a software developer says, “Facebook keeps its users engaged by constantly changing the key visual designs, like switching from the wall to the timeline format. Morever, their acquisition of Instagram and Whatsapp isn’t a coincidence. These huge buy outs were aimed at gathering a very specific market of users that function through the mobile interface, facilitated by the open source of Android. They have achieved their aim of integration to quite an extent and thus, ensured that they still be in business for years to come.”
inputs Samiksha Raj and Ananaya Banerjee