Where Social Media Is Headed in 2017: The Biggest Trends to Watch For
The standardization of platforms
Before we jump into each platform individually, I first wanted to touch on something that’s been a trend throughout the year.
2016 has been a period of consolidation for many of the biggest social media platforms out there. It seems that most products launch in a niche, with a unique perspective or angle, and then once they begin to hit critical mass, they start to blend into one another. Let me explain…
Until the launch of Memories, Snapchat had always been about unpolished, in-the-moment content. Instagram was always the place for us to share only our best images and videos until they opened up Stories and encouraged users to share more Snapchat-like content.
The blur between Snapchat and Instagram isn’t the only case of platform consolidation we’ve seen in 2016 either. For example:
- YouTube is testing community features allowing creators to share text and image based posts (aka, Facebook)
- Facebook is trying to be the go-to place for news and trending stories (aka, Twitter)
- Facebook is testing disappearing messages in Messenger (aka, Snapchat)
In 2017, I believe we’ll likely see more of this trend with every the major platform battling it out to become the go-to place for short, snackable and in-the-moment content. And by the end of 2017, we’ll likely see most of the major platforms enabling users to:
- Create and share video content
- Create and share live video content
- Discover news and what’s going on around them (based on location)
FB has launched Marketplace (discover, buy, and sell items with people in your community), Reactions (express yourself with five additional emojis, alongside a “like”), Instant Articles, Facebook Live (Live is like having a TV camera in your pocket. Anyone with a phone now has the power to broadcast to anyone in the world) along with Masquerade.
Masquerade allows users to record video selfie animations, change the way you look and send it to friends via your favorite messengers and social networks.
Facebook has already begun testing a MSQRD integration within the News Feed. Masquerade is similar to Snapchat’s selfie Lenses.
Significant launches in 2016 include Instagram Stories (enables users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours, much like Snapchat Stories), Business Tools (include new business profiles, analytics and the ability to create ads from posts directly within the Instagram app). Instagram is testing live video too.
In August, Instagram launched 24-hour Snapchat-style stories to “fill the gaps” between the posts in our Instagram feed. Stories have already evolved, and with one of Instagram’s latest updates, stories could potentially provide businesses with a way to drive some all-important traffic from Instagram. Instagrammers with verified accounts can now share links through Instagram stories using a neat ‘See more’ action which loads content in an Instagram-contained browser when a user swipes up on a story.
Snapchat
Significant launches include Memories (enable Snapchat users to share photos and videos captured outside of Snapchat to your stories), Spectacles (Spectacles are sunglasses that Snap! Tapping a button on the glasses enables you to record from your perspective. Then, relive the moment later in Snapchat).
Spectacles can record with a 115-degree field of view – similar to that of a human eye. The key benefit of this is that no matter what device you’re viewing on, you can view the content full screen in any orientation. So you could turn your smartphone from landscape to portrait while watching a video and you’ll still see the video full screen.
Snapchat has always been intrinsically linked to celebrating and sharing our lives in the moment. And the acquisition of Vurb could solve one of the platform’s biggest issues: discovery. Vurb is a local app helping consumers find local things to do and letting them save their ideas. Bitstrips gives you an entertaining and dynamic visual identity that lets you express yourself in ways that words can’t capture.
Snapchat opened up sponsored geofilters to everyone in 2016, enabling businesses of all sizes and individuals to create and sponsor their own filter in a location of the choice. And in 2017, I think we’ll see Snapchat double down on its ad product to enhance targeting and analytics for its advertisers.
We’ve already seen some signs of this, with Snapchat and Foursquare announcing a deal to power geofilters with more data so that marketers can use to pinpoint where their ads are served.
In 2016, Twitter has refocused. It’s no longer a social network, it’s a news product.
Significant launches: Twitter Moments enable users to stitch together multiple tweets into slideshow-like stories. Customer support features: Easier ways for businesses to provide support to their customers on Twitter. Twitter is also implementing advanced video upscaling, compression and enhancement.
Twitter wants to be the home of what’s happening, and what everyone is talking about across the world. And through Periscope, we may see Twitter focusing more on trending videos and live streams during 2017, alongside with their broadcast partnerships with organizations like the NFL. For brands and marketers, this could mean a ton of real-time conversation around the shows and events.
Solving harassment issues
Twitter has long been plagued by harassment issues and with the release of new ‘mute’ product and policy updates they’ve begun the steps to clean up their platform. On the product side, Twitter has enhanced its mute functionality by allowing users to filter specific phrases, keywords, and hashtags.
Twitter is also looking to add a new “hateful conduct” reporting option and make changes to its policy regarding how it deals with users who share hateful and abusive language.
Whilst this one may not be so much of a marketing trend, it feels like a key thing to keep an eye on during 2017 to see how Twitter cleans up its timeline and makes the platform a more inclusive, welcome place for all.
Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube
Pinterest opened up Promoted Pins to businesses of all sizes. And if you’re looking to grow your business through Pinterest in 2017, Pinterest Ads and Promoted Pins could be a great strategy. The data so far has been encouraging, too – showing advertisers who use the Pinterest Ads Manager received an average of 20% more (free) clicks in the month after the start of a Promoted Pins campaign.
LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in June. As the only professional-focused social network that has achieved meaningful scale, LinkedIn is an extremely unique asset for Microsoft and it’ll be interesting to see how the product evolves under Microsoft and how the tech-giant monetizes its ownership of the social network.
In the last year alone, the top 100 advertisers have increased their spend on YouTube video ads by 50 percent. That’s an impressive stat and shows the power of video for marketers and advertisers.
YouTube has also seen an increase in brands partnering with creators on branded content opportunities such as product placements, promotions and sponsorships. To help increase the number of branded content opportunities available to YouTube creators and advertisers, Google acquired Famebit – a technology platform company that helps creators and brands find and work with each other.
Thanks so much for reading. I hope you found a few interesting takeaways and trends to keep an eye on in 2017 and beyond here.