What’s The Future of Social Media?

Facebook and Twitter seem to have become the hallmark of American life with incredibly large numbers of people on each site. In fact, Facebook has even crossed the 500 Million users, larger than the populate on the United States by almost 200 Million. That being said, is this the new face of the internet or a drop in the bucket?
The question is complex and hard to answer and will certainly only answered in time.

But we can certainly speculate on the matter.

It’s my opinion that the Social Media aspect of the internet is, as of now, an integral part of how most people function in, even if not day to day, average life. Come home from work and check the Facebook and Twitter (because we’re going to assume you don’t while at work for the sake of your bosses) and any number of other social sites and finally shut off the computer and go to bed (boring lives people!...wait, that’s my life…maybe It’s just me). This is the sum total of some people’s internet
experience. Is this what it’s going to be in 6 months? 1 year? 5 years?

Well, for sure, 5 years it will be different, the web experience will have changed but what about the shorter term? Some people will tell you that I am insane and that social media is here to stay forever (or whatever length of time that indicates in the internet world) but I tend to disagree that social media is going to be the new face of the internet for the future.

Rather, I believe that, however important the social aspect of the internet is, it is a temporary bubble that will burst and take an entirely different form in, most likely, the next year. Instead, social media will be the background noise of the internet where it still is an integral part of the experience but is by far not the focus of the internet. We will move from the idea that Facebook is the only thing worth doing on the internet and go back to using it for the original purpose, contacts and keeping track of friends.

The unbelievable draw that Facebook and Twitter have on the market right now may make this hard to believe but it is only a bubble that will, as all these bubbles do, burst at some point or another. This one in particular will most likely burst sooner rather than later. But don’t be concerned just yet, social media is not going to go away. In fact, it will be an integral part of the web experience but it won’t be the main reason that people are on the web. It will become the background for everything else that we do on the web. Websites will be built around integrating the social aspect but in a more subtle way. The idea of the truly connected web will come closer with every step.

This is, whether we like it or not, the future of the web. Now, I know I’m no tech pundit but I do know what I see with my own eyes as I use the web. Things are changing and, hopefully, for the better. But they are changing and the truly successful photographers and other tech savvy business people will be on the forefront when the change comes. We can’t be swept up in the tide of the current hype, we have to be constantly striving for the future and what may come. So, for nothing else, this article is an exercise in trying to figure out what may come so that we can be ready to meet it head on