Happy Belated Birthday Twitter

A Retrospective Look at Social Media

In 2006, social media was blossoming. Facebook had been around for a couple of years and was finally letting anyone over the age of 13 join, MySpace was still holding on by a thread and the very first Tweet was sent.

Last week Twitter celebrated its 12^th birthday, and it has come a long way in those 12 years. Upon launch, people wondered if a platform that allowed you to share thoughts in only 140 characters would survive. Just last year Twitter moved to allow 280 characters, but that’s not the only change that’s happened in the social media landscape. Let’s take a look down memory lane.

Live Streaming

Live streaming is somewhat of a norm now. If your phone is anything like mine, you receive a notification about 3-4 times a day about someone going live – “Check it out before it ends!” – But, that wasn’t always the case.

The first major platform to open to door to live streaming was periscope, which was launched by Twitter in January of 2015. Unfortunately for them, Facebook caught wind of the potential and 8 months later launched their own live streaming – although it was initially for celebrity use only and we plebs couldn’t use it until January 2016.

Live streaming has opened the door for a lot of opportunity. TV shows like The Late Show and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee use Facebook to live stream parts of their shows, celebrities (they’re just like us) show us what’s going on in their lives or what beauty products are the best, and heroes who shall remain anonymous, allowed me to see Kanye West’s first Adidas fashion show and Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather in real time.

Images

Pictures are worth a thousand words, or over $200 billion dollars in the social world.

Instagram launched in 2010 and has since become arguably the most hip, fresh and popular social media platform. With over 40 million photos posted a day, it has surpassed Facebook’s long standing #1 position for most daily users last year. Instagram is a force to be reckoned with.

They were ultimately purchased by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion dollars, and are possibly the reason no one really posts albums anymore. One has to wonder though, what could have been if Google, Twitter or Yahoo would have purchased the platform? Would Facebook be the juggernaut that they are today? Would Yahoo be more relevant? We’ll never know.

Since 2006, another photo app has come onto the scene and caused quite a big stir – Snapchat.

The app, which initially launched in 2011, allowed you to share risqué photos for up to 10 seconds, before disappearing forever. Now it’s one of Gen Z and Millennial’s favorite apps, and entering those awkward teen years that all social platforms go through, where they’re trying to figure out how to make money.

Another part of these awkward years, keeping one step ahead of Facebook.

In 2013 Snapchat launched its story feature – which allowed users to post photos and videos to their “story” for anyone to view as many times as they wanted for 24 hours. That same year they allowed women everywhere to turn themselves into a dog. Facebook took notice, and wanting a piece of the pie, practically copied Snapchat through Instagram – sans dog filter.

Although Instagram stories were slow to get off the ground, a recent update, a Tweet from Kylie Jenner and some controversy may be enough to switch users.

Influencers

Speaking of Kylie Jenner, influencer marketing is big today. Like REALLY big. Like $2.38 billion big. And it’s all thanks to social media.

With celebrities and non-celebrities amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on platforms like Vine, YouTube (sorry, we didn’t touch on these), Snapchat and Instagram, brands began to notice that these people had a lot of influence and could market to their followers though photos and reviews, because they were seen as a trusted source.

Within a couple of years, influencer marketers were everywhere and in 2016 the FTC began to crackdown. Too many posts didn’t make it clear enough to consumers that they were paid promotions, so the first round of Influencer Guidelines came down from Washington D.C..

Initially, posts had to include #ad or #paid within the description. But influencers started burying these hashtags beneath the fold in an effort to keep some of their credibility. Again, the FTC wasn’t pleased and cracked down on influencers like Kim Kardashian because of their unwillingness to make it clear to their followers when a post is being paid for by a brand.

Today, everyone wants to be an influencer for everything from running, to fashion and cooking. Influencers are supposed to include #ad or #sponsored within the first four lines of their post, and in an effort to make it easier for influencers, Instagram has incorporated a Paid Partnership Tag.

The future of social media is an interesting place now, especially with all of the news surrounding Facebook and data tracking. Will Facebook be the next Myspace? Probably not. Will Snapchat become a thing of the past? If they can’t find a way to get users to come back while at the same time, making money – possibly. Will Xanga become popular again? No.

If you need help with your social media strategy, influencers, or anything else digital marketing, contact Anvil today!Contact Anvil Today