The Future of Social Media

Social media has exploded over the past few years. It's rare to encounter someone who either does not use social media or who is not aware of it. The question on many people's minds is, "Where is social media going to go from here?" Many people, especially people in my generation, already use social media sites almost daily and business are starting to get their feet wet too. So what happens next?

Honestly, no one really knows where social media is going and what is going to be the new hot thing in the coming years. It doesn't take long for a social media outlet to take off and be on everyone's radar. Twitter is a prime example of that. Twitter only launched about 4 years ago and now everyone from private individuals to celebrities to huge corporations are using it to connect with people. In class we talked about a few things that we thing are going to really take off in the next few years in regards to social media.

I personally think that the use of smart phones to engage in social media is going to be huge in the next year or so. Smart phones are already very popular and I think there will be a big push for people who do not already have a smart phone to get one. With more and more people having phones with the capability to download apps and use the internet, I think we are going to see companies take advantage of that more and more. On my iPhone, besides games and apps of that nature, I have at least 15 that can be considered social media. Of course I have the basics like Facebook and Twitter, but I also have an app for Digg and ESPN. I think as more people get smart phones, companies are going to develop apps so people can connect with their company and products via their cell phones.

I also think social media is going to further integrate with smart phones with the developed of more social networking programs like Foursquare. These types of programs allow the user the "interact" with specific places by checking-in. Foursquare is now even partnering with some companies to give prizes or coupons as rewards for checking-in to a place a certain number of times. In the near future I think we will see more and more companies getting involved with things like this in efforts to connect more their their publics and better build positive relationships with them.

Social media is already a big part of today's society, and it is only going to keep growing. As PR professionals, we need to keep up with what is going on in the world of social media. We need to be knowledgable of these technologies so we can determine if they could be useful in furthering our companies goals. It's an exciting time for PR professionals and I an eager to see where social media will take us in the future.