The beginning stage:
When social media debuted on the internet scene and its usage peaked, online users flocked to it like bees after honey. This propelled Facebook, Twitter and other sites like Orkut in the forefront of social networking. Millions of people were added on a daily basis and the focus was on creating bigger and bigger social networks. 'Big' and 'Large' were the mottoes of the social networking world.
The changing phase:
Lately, however, people are migrating to smaller networks with limited number of people. The usage of Facebook has stalled and the modern teenagers are reductant to be actively part of it. Although the usage of twitter has slightly increased, it has fallen back on projections recently. The era where people were entrenched into having thousands of social friends are gone and they only want close and known friends around them.The usage has become more personal and targeted. The advent of smart phones has only fueled this trend. It is more observed in the emerging younger generation who are not so obsessed with social media.
Reason for this trend:
So what is the reason for this rising change? The primary encouraging factors are privacy concerns, lack of innovativeness and emergence of strong competitors. When an individual puts a post in Facebook, the audience will now be extended beyond its normal circle of social networking friends. The other parties involved can be snooping governments and hackers. The information gained can be used for nefarious gains. The increasing awareness about privacy concerns has encouraged multitudes of people to switch networks or reduce their usage. Also, net users are becoming tired of sharing their personal data with unknown friends. Data fishing and misrepresentation are increasingly progressive in the social media and hence, users want to safeguard their online presence.
The consequences:
The consequences can be that the value of social media giants can go down phenomenally. When Facebook's IPO was initially launched, it ended up with a whimper. Drastic changes in ads implementation revitalized the company. Here, if you are brand looking for a strong social media presence, you should enroll the services of an expert SEM service provider who are adept in targeting the audience over wide geographical references.
Page owners will have a tough task in their hands as Facebook wants to monetize its ad revenues. Organic reach can take a hit due to these changes. Facebook has noticed the increasing migration and wants to make full utilization of existing resources. So, when you plan out marketing activities, utilize the services of a good digital marketing service provider and other cities.
