Summary
"7 Emerging Social Networks To Watch In 2014" (Angela Stringfellow)
This article reviewed seven social networks that could make it big, though some have clearly not. They are:
"The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2015" (Jayson DeMers)
This article reviewed and predicted seven social media trends for 2015, most based around business applications: They are:
"7 Emerging Social Networks To Watch In 2014" (Angela Stringfellow)
This article reviewed seven social networks that could make it big, though some have clearly not. They are:
- Pheed (social sharing mobile app)
- Sulia (content curation; inactive)
- Thumb.it (crowdsourcing network)
- ShareBloc (B2B network; inactive)
- Medium (publishing platform)
- Chirp (mobile app)
- Learnist (content curation)
"The Top 7 Social Media Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2015" (Jayson DeMers)
This article reviewed and predicted seven social media trends for 2015, most based around business applications: They are:
- The rise of Ello, an ad-free social network ostensibly rivalling Facebook
- The rise in pricing and demand of Facebook advertising
- The popularity of Twitter's business advertising model
- The fading of Google+
- Instragram's increasing share of the image-based SMM field
- LinkedIn's popularity as a B2B networking platform
- Content marketing's embrace of social media
Response
I found it more than a little telling that two of the seven SNSs mentioned by Stringfellow are inactive a year after their prediction. It must be extremely difficult for small tech startups in the social media industry.
One of the most interesting of these tools was Medium, with which I am a little familiar. My wife and I discovered it some time ago and both of us really enjoy it from a pragmatic perspective. I usually hate reading online (especially articles hosted like the two to which I am responding right now, pages full of ads and irritating page turns). The thing about Medium that we liked so much is the ease with which you can actually read the content. I'm excited to see where Medium will go.
DeMer's article was interesting, but I must admit I was a little out of the loop for several bits (see questions below). In terms of our reading about SNSs, I found the trend regarding Ello very interesting. From its "Manifesto":
"Your social network is owned by advertisers. ... You are the product that’s bought and sold. ... We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate—but a place to connect, create and celebrate life."
As DeMer points out, it's perhaps unclear whether Ello could ever reasonably challenge Facebook, but the approach is compelling nonetheless.
I found it more than a little telling that two of the seven SNSs mentioned by Stringfellow are inactive a year after their prediction. It must be extremely difficult for small tech startups in the social media industry.
One of the most interesting of these tools was Medium, with which I am a little familiar. My wife and I discovered it some time ago and both of us really enjoy it from a pragmatic perspective. I usually hate reading online (especially articles hosted like the two to which I am responding right now, pages full of ads and irritating page turns). The thing about Medium that we liked so much is the ease with which you can actually read the content. I'm excited to see where Medium will go.
DeMer's article was interesting, but I must admit I was a little out of the loop for several bits (see questions below). In terms of our reading about SNSs, I found the trend regarding Ello very interesting. From its "Manifesto":
"Your social network is owned by advertisers. ... You are the product that’s bought and sold. ... We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate—but a place to connect, create and celebrate life."
As DeMer points out, it's perhaps unclear whether Ello could ever reasonably challenge Facebook, but the approach is compelling nonetheless.
Questions
- DeMer mentions Twitter's updated, "performance-based" advertising model, but I found myself lost in this discussion. What makes the model particularly noteworthy to businesses and why is it so good? (On a related note, some explanation of Facebook's model and DeMer's mention of the "filtered feed problem" would be nice too.)
- Ello has apparently been characterized by some as the "hipster Facebook." What makes it this way? Is it the ad-free model? What does this say about our understanding and assumptions about social media?