Social media initially wasn’t so much of a craze, but in the present day it is rooted in our everyday lives and the web itself. It has impacted communication in a way NEVER seen before!
The first trend we collectively agreed upon is Social Mobile, where we looked closely at the continuing rise of smartphones which allow us mobile synergy and social networks all in one, making the easy access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube simple, yet very additive!
Figures show that over 50% of Twitter is from the mobile, a staggering 1.2 billion people have an internet connected smartphone and over 400 million Facebook users use their mobile to check in, which is very similar to the millions of YouTube views coming from the mobile.
We then decided on Socialisation of Search, and as Google is one of the TOP search engines we have gone with this example. Google appreciates that social networks are here to stay and as a result invested half a billion dollars in designing and developing Google+. They have understood that social networks need to be prioritised when producing search results in order to stay relevant. Google considers social as fundamental to its strategy and is using social signals when delivering information from search engines. (This can be seen from the top social networks appearing in the search results).
We ourselves think Google has done the best thing and for that we love it!
The next trend is Location-Based Marketing with Social, through this service is the help to spread awareness of a business and drive customers to the door (How clever!). Facebook offers the ‘check-in’ feature which demonstrates this trend. For instance, when you check-in at a place via Facebook you are not only letting your Facebook friends know “I am here!” but Google+ encourages users to leave reviews.
It’s not only Facebook either, but other social networks, which are entirely built around location-based services. They turn the process of checking in at various locations into a real-world game, complete with leader boards, and the chance to win rewards and discounts at participating locations.
We find this particular trend interesting as once the location check-in is established; it then comes down to customers leaving reviews and the help of word of mouth to gain more to the locations door, this however cannot always work well.
Social Apps is our final chosen trend. When coming to this decision, we also closely looked at Social Gaming since both of these trends amazed us. As for social apps, we found that 30% of all time was spent on these apps, including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flipboard and Foodspotting. The example we have gone with is the ever growing popular Instagram which has a 10 million user following and is regularly seen on Facebook. This app is a free photo sharing app, which allows you to upload and share photos with friends and family.
With this app, we found that the option to share to Facebook from Instagram really keeps the app alive and brings more interest in it each day and everyday and for that we really enjoy using Instagram, it’s a lot of fun and so easy to use!
ZEELOUS 