The festive season has started, which means 2018 is at our collective doorstep. In the spirit of the New Year, we decided to look back at what has happened with social media in 2017, and give you, our readers, a little hint at what may be coming next!
2017 was a whirlwind in the world of social media. If you’ve been stuck in a forest somewhere with no access to the internet for a year, your return to the land of the digital might lead to a bit of confusion. All our favourite social media platforms had some serious work done this year, and we’ve covered pretty much all the biggies.
Facebook:
The social media mogul is not ending the year the way it started, and we’re all very much aware of it. What started with Facebook stories ended with a mission to end the rise of fake news on the popular platform. The global platform also introduced a snooze button for all those pesky ‘friends’ you can’t possibly unfriend, GIF polls for those times when you need a thousand opinions to add to yours, and a rubric that guarantees transparency in advertised content.
Instagram:
Instagram linked it’s all-too-loved InstaStories with Facebook’s canvas ad, making it easier for brands to market their products in new and creative ways. The photo-friendly platform also introduced Poll stickers, a wonderful upgrade that lets you ask your followers to weigh in on all your important decisions; which breakfast you should pick, what outfit looks better, and all your existential questions answered en masse! But what’s the best of all the upgrades? Instagram lifted the time limit on post-able content, which means that absolutely adorable picture you took a few days ago is 100% sharable!
Twitter and LinkedIn:
On to Twitter, who ended the year with an absolute bang! What’s new this year in the tweetosphere? More. Words. Twitter doubled its character limit to a whopping 280 characters! While the upgrade was met with mixed feelings, our content team practically threw a party. Thanks, Twitter! We owe you one!
The biggest upgrade on the professional social media platform this year was Talent Insights, which allows recruiters to narrow down their search specifications and refine their results easily, making it all the more useful to use the platform for all your job-related queries.
What’s next?!
2017 was a whirlwind, and 2018 looks like it’s going to be a tornado! We searched the internet for the 3 most significant social media trend predictions for the big one eight, and what we found did not disappoint.
1) It looks like videos are here to stay! This trend doesn’t seem to be settling down, as 90% of the content mostly viewed online in 2017 was video content. What’s the biggest challenge for video marketing? Making a splash the first 3 seconds!
2) From public to dark: Dark social media channels, like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Emails, and Kik, are finally catching up in the marketing world. More and more brands are going for a direct approach with their consumer base, targeting people up-close-and-personal. We can’t wait to see how this trend makes use of the new year!
3) The Age of the Influencers: Influencers aren’t going anywhere, and brands are partnering up with all the hottest online-celebs to provide their consumer base with a more relatable product. The challenge for this trend? How social media platforms will deal with the amount of influencer generated advertisement definitely coming their way.
Stay tuned to #SocialSpeak for more on the latest social media trends, and for the inside scoop on what’s happening in 2018.
