I remember back in high school being a MySpace addict. I
remember rearranging my Top Friends or being horrified when my so-called best
friend rearranged her Top Friends and I wasn’t in the Top Ten! It was the days
of “Emos” and everyone being so alternative they all shared the same skinny
jeans and mascara… I guess not much has changed really. I can’t exactly
remember when I changed to Facebook. I could go back on my profile and see but
that’s not fun, and the past is the past for a reason (I just wish it wasn’t on
my Facebook page).
Last year a good friend of mine, who is actually pretty up
with knowing all the latest trends, told me about Google+ and sent me an invite
and I distinctly remember her saying that it would be the death of Facebook. I
figured when a few more of my friends joined I would think about it some more.
Well. That never happened.
I now have a Google+ account, again because another class
gave me that added motivation of doing everything on Google opposed to
Facebook. There isn’t much there to make it incredibly special, but one thing I
am noticing is the lack of advertisements. I have advertisements in my Outlook
and Facebook accounts and it’s getting really annoying. It would be idealistic
of me to say I would consider moving to something without ads, but realism
strikes and if another social media site become popular… The ads would return.
I’m sure that there will be a Facebook and/or Google+ killer
out there. Social media sites are just like social communities – there’s a
constant evolution of what’s in vogue and what’s not. It will be interesting to
see however, how Facebook deals with that. MySpace is still around, I think it’s
pretty big on the independent music scene so up and coming bands can get out
there. That would be a pretty big crowd and would definitely keep MySpace
going. Facebook though hasn’t changed much essentially (apart from the constant
reworkings of the timeline and layout so people actually think they have
changed something when they really haven’t). While it has gotten to the core of
what people want in a social media site, would they have the innovation to
change if they actually got serious competition from somewhere?
And I wonder when that will happen… I bet there will be a
movie on it!
Personally, I think that Facebook will rise to the challenge and change and adapt to remain the top SNS. I think that technology has reached a point where devoted online organisation, such as Facebook, can see constant evolution of communities and change very quickly to suit that. I think a Facebook killer is still a very long way off.
ReplyDeleteInteresting what you say about Google+ I have never tried it.
Nice reflection! i wasn't on myspace (strict parents) but like it or not social media is here to stay although the format might change depending on how users react. I agree with tmullins, it may be a way off but like everything, eventually it will go out of style - who could have predicted facebook back in 2001?
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