Interactions in Social Media will Change in 2018
Interactions in Social Media will Change in 2018
When we look at behaviors with people interacting on the internet from the past 20 years, you will see a pattern, people are more likely to use platforms, interfaces, software that are more private than public. After all, once it's put on the internet you can't take it back. This all started with email on AOL, and then email became AOL instant messenger (RIP), and then on the other parts of the internet, you will see chat rooms and groups being formed that turned into forum message boards like Flckr and Livejournal. These were the early days of social media. Friendster, MySpace and of course Facebook were born soon after and the rest is history.
What Will Change?
Not much except you might see more ads in platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. These guys are now seen as an untapped market. According to SocialMediaToday social media is evolving again; more and more people are concerned about what they post publicly. Moreover, "the data suggests that people are becoming more wary, more inclined to converse in smaller groups, as opposed to broadcasting everything." Facebook groups are also taking this approach, (a new way of targeting perhaps?) and while the conversations aren't going to be the open forum as it once was, it will have more of a focus towards direct and targeted conversations.
How Does this Affect Me?
As a small business owner, the most important thing to note in 2018 is the fact that social media is getting personal. The algorithm is noticing how people interact with others on their specific platform and will most likely adjust. Remember, Facebook also owns Instagram so they too are looking into making a separate messenger entity just like Facebook. This is also important to note since private messaging has surpassed social media apps, as you can see in the graph below, more people spend more time private messaging than on the actual social media app.
What Can You Do?
Messaging bots have become all the rage now because of this new found popularity with private messaging. If you use them, you will be that much more valuable to your customer. Messenger has a very high open rate, and that means if you send a message there is a very likely chance the person on the other end will not only receive it, but answer you as well.
I Can Help!
As someone that has been in the industry for the last five years, I know all about Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many more social media sites. I can get you on these messenger bots and take your business where it needs to be! With all of the things you have to deal with in your small business, let social media management be one less burden! Send me an email at supriya@supriyaprasad.com or message me on Facebook today!