The Future of Social Media

The Present

Snapchat is killin’ it right now.

Every morning, I wake up, check out the new Snapchat filters, and laugh my ass off for about half an hour. I’ve been doing this thing where I create characters out of the filters, and the feedback has been pretty good.

Here’s Jonathin:

The best thing about Snapchat is that everything is temporary. Ten seconds and the photo is gone forever. It gives you more freedom to do what you want. With Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, it’s tough to be genuine because what you post is there either until you decide to delete it or until the end of time. Everybody can see what you’re posting, and that can hinder creative freedom.

With Snapchat, I can send my buddies anything I want. My Snapchat story reflects exactly who I am, and not just the online representation of myself.

And it’s not to say my Snapchat is filled with entirely unprofessional content (although judging by the photo above, I’ve kind of dug myself a hole in that regard). My Snapchat stories are supposed to be fun and entertaining, and I think that is the difference between Snapchat and other social media platforms. Snapchat doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The Future

LinkedIn is going to rule. Just kidding, that’d suck.

In about fifteen years, every social media platform we know will either be dead, or be a very different version of what it is now. I’m sorry to say it, but I think even Snapchat is doomed.

Some people don’t like to admit it, but if things don’t change often, they just get old. People love to complain when social media changes at all. For example, Instagram is currently in the process of changing its timeline system, and people are pissed. But in reality, Instagram and every other social media platform need to implement something new every so often to keep things interesting, even if people are mad for a little bit. Yeah, maybe changing the chronological order of posts isn’t a great change, but they have to do something to avoid the whole ‘Myspace disaster.’ The old saying ‘if it ain’t broke’ doesn’t apply to social media in my opinion.

This is why Snapchat released filters. This is why Facebook released more options for the ‘Like’ button. This is why Twitter will probably increase the number of characters you can use in a Tweet.

The future is change. Everything will change. I’m not sure how, but it’s just how social media has worked in the past, and it’s how social media will work in the future. There will be new platforms to post on and new ways to share the things you like.

Just riffing here, but I think an emoji based platform is on its way. I don’t know what it will look like, but it just seems logical. I barely even use words anymore. I’d write this entire blog post in emojis, but I actually want people to read it. I’m just saying though, it’s possible.

That’s my rant for the day. Here’s Boromir tossing you some Snapchat insight.

Meme