Trends are consistent ways which people use while doing something or it can also mean the ways through which a thing or an event is consistently changing or developing. These ways can either be positive or negative, with the positive ones being upwards and the negative ones downwards. In this paper, I chose to look into the trends that social networks are undergoing over the years to where they stand currently and some of the prospects that we can have on the insurgency of these networks in the next few years up to 2019.
The social network is experiencing a constant and consistent upward trend in the numbers of people who are using it and the data and information that is getting daily access to the users. The current situation in the world seems to make the use of social media such a necessary thing since it is posting enough substantial numbers in the increase on a daily basis. Several years back, in the years before 2007, the use of social media was subtle, almost negligible but just about a decade down the line now the use of the social networks is an order-of-the-day habit. It is quite notable how people have massively switched on to these digital communication sites as the technology that accompanies the social networks is evident. A lot of innovation in the field of information communication technology (ICT) has taken place, and new and sophisticated devices are continually reaching the people with the ability to use them (Bingley, Emerald, Groeneveld, Sandra and Steven, 2011). These communication devices are widely responsible for the insurgency in the use of social media sites.
The mushrooming that comes alongside social media use not only follows the technology trends and innovations but also comes around as a necessity to the people who use it due to the various applications it has. There are a large variety of requests in which people are always going to practice every day that makes it necessary to have the access to social networks. These types of applications are unique to the multitude of media, and each network has its favored trends of use. There are social networks that often provide grounds for business practices; others are for general social communication while others are formally for use by organizations and corporations for their executive communication. It is hard to imagine even how life would look like if there were no such social sites as Facebook, Whatsapp, among others that are consistently gaining access to more people daily.
The social network provides a very fast mode of communication. This swiftness is especially true because of the large social groups that people form in the social sites, and thus, it is very easy for a message, a video clip, news and advertisements as well as pictures to gain access to scores of people within minutes or even seconds. The nature of these social networks as a very fast medium of information conveyance makes it necessary for people from all over the world to pass and receive information through social media. More companies are currently using social media during their operations in some ways that range from inter-company communication, passing of important messages across the departments in the company as well as online marketing and advertising their products. We can acknowledge the influence of social networks on business as nowadays it is not difficult to buy items from supermarkets, online shopping sites such as OLX and other business companies that put their products on the online sites, while at home. The payments are cashless and all that happens through the use of the use of a Smartphone, a tablet or a computer/ laptop which many individuals all over the world.
Online marketing may not necessarily deal with commodities and goods; there are companies which offer online access to services such as jobs (Seikkula, Jaakko, Tom Erik Arnkil, and Lynn, 2006). Through the internet, people are in a position to find classified adverts that link them to the potential employers, and they later can make personal communication. Moreover, many individuals are currently working on the online sites as bloggers and writers, or even researching for various companies, and then they are paid through online payment means such as the Western Union or PayPal. Therefore, the individual may be in a job where he/she is working for an organization or an individual they have never met and also, some of the online jobs do not require a formal work setting or an office; many people work from the comfort of their homes.
Social sites are increasingly gaining popularity and membership. The years between 2010 and 2015 saw the numbers of people in the Facebook shoot to 1.59 billion people while the site records a global percentage of about 38.6% of the people who use social media. The number of people in the US who use their Smartphone to log into the social sites, especially Facebook is also steadily rising with the current standing of around 145.9 million people, up from 55.7 million people in 2011(Chaney and Paul, 2013). This number goes on upwards such that we would expect the number to range from 160.5 million people in the year 2017. This figure constitutes around 43.9% of the global social media visits thus making the US an attractive subject in the focus and study of the influence of social networks in our everyday activities. The worldwide use of social media also continues to rise, with the number of people on social sites standing at 2.22 billion people currently, which is an increase from 0.97 billion people in 2010 and with expectations showing the number to be around 2.55 billion in 2018 and 2.72 billion people in 2019. Other sites that have significant numbers of daily and monthly active accounts include Instagram, which boasts of over 400 million and Tumblr, a blogging service site with a daily and monthly attendance record of beyond 555 million people.
In conclusion, the openness of social media has resulted in a phenomenon for easier marketing and sales. Moreover, a definite close up of one’s marketing strategies is possible. Social media has led to a one on one cool interaction between the customer base and the organization. Marketing in Twitter enables the involved personnel to follow the tweets from their clients about the posted products. Marketing agencies have improved their customer base which in return creates an increase in profits. Therefore, in risking out competition or being left out of the current market situation, there is the need to improve on the social media entities in the marketing situation. Moreover, the essence of the social media platform in response to problems immediately influences the right process of initiating feedback in creating a solution. Organizations create their feedback platform in their social media creating the space for complaints.
The social media has initiated the progress for openness in creating the desired output to the entire universe. The increase in social activities through social media promotes unity among the users. Moreover, the ease of acquiring things or information that one needs has reduced where one has got no need of changing locality but by changing the mode of gathering the desired information. Without the social media trend, the world would be a dull place since the openness of pieces of information, marketing and the aspect of people in different diversities meeting to share common goals. The issue of a fair playing ground bypasses the traditional aspect of mobile campaigns for all individuals and organizations. The ideology of some companies having a better footing due to their financial capabilities is now happenings of the past.
Henceforth, we need to understand and improve the standards of the social media platform in basically all our activities. The social media trend is just what the world needs in promoting the world’s togetherness platform.
- Bingley, Emerald, Groeneveld, Sandra and Steven Van de Walle: New Steering Concepts In Public Management, U.K.:2011. Print.
- Chaney, Paul. The Digital Handshake. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2013. Print.
- Seikkula, Jaakko, Tom Erik Arnkil, and Lynn Hoffman. Dialogical meetings in social networks. Karnac books, 2006.
