Just like real-time was once the biggest theme of the social networking world, which was introduced by Twitter and then copied by Facebook, temporary is todayu2019s new big theme.u00a0 This time it was introduced by Snapchat. If 17 year olds are of any indication to the future of social networking, people no longer want their posts to appear online permanently. This is the catalyst for time-limited posts, and they are gaining importance.
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When Google came up with its own Google+, the idea was to kill Facebook with Circles — a fancy name for context. It didnu2019t work for a lot of reasons, but mainly because creating a new social graph from scratch is no easy feat, even for Google. But the importance of context is real. People have been shifting towards instagram and whatsapp because for many, Facebook is no longer a place for close friends. LinkedIn has been consistently doing a great job in the professional context, and there are many more emerging in categories such as neighborhoods (Nextdoor), classrooms (Edmodo), workplaces (Yammer), gyms (GymGroups) as well.
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A real social operating system should be in the social fabrics of anything that touches social relationships. Itu2019s great that Tinder and airbnb use Facebook in order to verify the authenticity of a member, but the new marketplaces such as the ubers and the airbnbs of the world could also benefit from enabling new social connections among their suppliers and consumers. From the marketplacesu2019 side, this would augment their suppliers from being purely profit-driven, which is the last thing any such marketplace should want.u00a0 It would make them no different than their predecessors (old-school hotel or taxi businesses)
“Image Credits:Andrew Caballero-Reynolds
In the online world, Facebook Connect is pretty much everywhere. And nowadays so is Google Accounts and Twitter and even Yahoo. But these online passports are yet to make themselves readily available in the real world.u00a0 For example, when you visit 1 Hacker Way, you sign on with your Facebook ID. Great but why not elsewhere? Or better yet, why donu2019t airlines check you in in one click with your social networking ID and organize the seatings according to your interests or social proximity? These are all feasible and could take place sooner than later.
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By leveraging the increased number of IoTs, the new social networks may sense more of whatu2019s happening in our world and make the sharing more frictionless. It may sound creepy today to imagine a camera attached to your body as a wearable, or in your car or home, that continuously logs & perhaps streams whatu2019s going on in your daily life.u00a0 These may all happen someday and they can make our lives richer if provided with the right privacy and selection options.
“Image Credits:Anton Balazh (opens in a new window) / Shutterstock (opens in a new window)
Rather than apps, imagine a mobile phone with your friendsu2019 or groups of friendsu2019 pictures on its screen.u00a0 You click the name, then the actions (apps) appear; phone call, text, etc. This would be a social-first phone of which T-Mobile owns patents, from 2006.
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Glasses and augmented reality are becoming an important theme and a new hotbed of platform wars. The ability to sift through peopleu2019s public profile info effortlessly, will probably become one of the most important components of the augmented world to come.
“Image Credits:Annette Shaff (opens in a new window) / Shutterstock (opens in a new window)
Todayu2019s political scene and tensions in the world may make it sound impossible, but a social network will never become ubiquitous without connecting all the countries of the world. Facebook is doing everything it can to try to accomplish its goals, even by giving free internet access to the most challenging parts of the world. But,even with their persuasive ways, China and Russia remain something only politicians can seem to crack into.
“Back in 2007, after watching Mark Zuckerberg on stage at Facebook Platform announcement, one thing became clear to many; this appearance would one day be remembered as historic as the 1983 Apple Keynote of Young Steve Jobs. Flash forward today, Facebook is a 200 billion dollar behemoth.
But the game is still on, and social networking landscape keeps changing quickly. Twitter is back in the game with Jack Dorsey at the helm. Facebook is no Myspace. It’s on top of its game and is fast at adapting to those changes with its quick pivots (e.g native mobile apps) and multi billion dollar acquisitions such as instagram and Whatsapp, not to mention futuristic bets such as Oculus VR. But there’s more happening and more to come.
Below is a list of things to happen in the social networking world, starting with the most obvious and moving to the most utopian ones.
Social image: Peshkova
