January 10, 2014
After the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year is it customary to sit down and reflect on the past year *yawn* and then (once you have woken up from your sleep) think about the year ahead.
It is safe to say the social media industry dramatically changed and grew in 2013, and 2014 will take the industry in a new and exciting direction. Unless you have a magical crystal ball, knowing exactly which direction the industry is going in is almost impossible but here are my top 3 predictions for 2014:
1) Snapchat will go public
“Snapchat shocked much of the tech community late last year when a report in the Wall Street Journal revealed that it had turned down a $3 billion cash acquisition offer from Facebook.” There has been a lot of speculation over why Evan Spiegel, CEO Snapchat, rejected Facebook’s offering in recent months. I would hazard a guess in saying that in 2014 Snapchat might follow the footsteps of Twitter and offer their shares to the public…but we will have to wait and see.
2) Facebook will buy and buy BIG!
If Facebook do not end up acquiring Snapchat, which I do not think they will be able to do, I predict that they will have to make a serious micro-site acquisition in order to be competitive or – to be more general – acquire another tech start-up to help their growth. I say this because the “growth in the US among users aged 18-29 fell 2% from last year.” This age group is extremely powerful and will follow “the next best thing”. I think Facebook needs to think new to “delight and excite” users in order to keep them away from jumping on the next social media bandwagon.
3) A social media policy is now a MUST!
Brands still don’t have social media policies for their employees. This is simply crazy. When will they learn? It is great that companies are turning towards social media but when in the wrong hands it can seriously destroy your brand image. I am sure you all read about the ugly events at HMV in January last year. I am sure they wish they had a social media policy in place at the time. For social media policy advice, check out this link.
What do you think will happen in 2014? Share your predictions!
© Jakub Jankiewics. “Crystal Ball” Photo. Attribution 2.0 Generic.