Chat #92 – The Future of Social Media

6 years ago

This is Talk Number 18 in a series that will become the You are a media company course. This is the 4th of the 4 that I will speak about social media and what it is. In the last chat I spoke about the 12 things that you should keep in mind about social media. This chat, I will focus on the future of social media.

Definition of a Social Media: Social media is the media we use to be social (according to The Social Media Bible. 2nd edition). Social media marketing is all about listening first, understanding the conversation and speaking last.

Story of the future of social media

Imagine that you wake up from your smart speaker that gives you a rundown based on your Social Media Friends. You put on your VR glasses and watch the updates from yesterdays basketball game. You also automatically runs a feed in the bottom corner of all updates from across all your social media sites of the accounts you to go.
Because you always start your day with a short yoga session, you roll your yoga mat on the floor and with your glasses, you go through a quick yoga session that allows you to be in your local studio in your home. You automatically share via social media and add and update to your stories.
You send a private message through your direct messages to your connections sharing your morning breakfast and routine.
You ask your smart speaker for an Uber to pick you up and take you to your coworking space where you work. You share your experience on social media about how the ride was and tag your driver.
You aren’t sure what to eat but one of your coworkers wants some thai food so you look through social media for the local social food influencer. When you go to their website, they have a chatbot that ask you if you want to make a reservation or delivery.
You answer the chatbot, make a payment and make your order and your delivery is on the way. You send a request to your coworker and they make a payment directly.
You check your phone to see the comments from your dog walker and to make sure that everything has gone according to plan
You teach a webinar and rather than trying to get people to come in person, you go live and engage with followers
You finish your workday and message your friends to find out where you will go for happy hour. You find out there’s a popup bar that you will meet your friends at after work that you found reviews for.
You take pictures and add share them on social media and tag the location.
You give your review of your experience and send it directly to your followers.
You complete your day and make it back home. 30 minutes before you make it home your home has already adjusted to the heat that you like.
You put on your VR glasses and get a quick rundown of everything you might have missed during the day.
As you wind down your day, your smart speaker automatically starts to play peaceful meditating music one of your friends recommended online and you fall asleep.

Future Trends

Social will only increase in activity
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning will be even more evident
Smart speakers will be created by social media platforms or at least integrated more
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will be on the rise
Influencer marketing – global and micro influencers will rule social media
Messaging will be an integral part of social media
Social video continues to increase
Direct Social Media / Private social media / Dark Social will emerge
Everyone has a brand
There will be rapid change from social media platforms