This decade seems to be basically closing in style. Many things happened during this decade, but especially in the world surrounding the internet, communications, and new services/products creations by companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and many others. We saw many of the video game platforms (Xbox, Playstation, Wii, etc.) take off like nobody’s business, new computers and gadgets for the home, cell phone indutry took off (every quarter we see more and more cool handsets), people using PCs as media entertainments, etc., etc. But one thing is for sure, it’s clear this decade has also been a huge changing period by computer/internet users. The social networking world has almost become a “De facto” standard in the way people communicate.
The decade saw major changes at the way people communicate with the creation of social communication sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. We saw millions of non-technical users become regular users of social networks.
In the early years the user base of social networks was primarily college students and teenagers. But over the last year or so, “boy”, that user base has expanded immensely from the teenager and college student base to now including parents and grandparents who now use the technology as a primary mode of communication. Hey, sometimes this could be a bit weird for the tweeners/teenagers since they see surprising invitations or wall messages posted in their walls by a certain parent or grandparent. Nevertheless the social networking continues to grow! Hey look. I’ve even seen my parents, in-laws, and great uncles become Facebook addicts. I’ve been able to stay in touch with friends I have not seen in years and via Twitter and Facebook plan social dinners while I’m on travel in different cities.
Then, we’ve also seen companies and small personal businesses take advantage of the social community created amongst the people as a direct venue to advertise their services, products, viewpoints, etc. taking advantage of what we call Web 2.0.
All of this has opened great opportunities for everyone. Developers have been able to create new apps that you use all the time (remember Farmville?). There are talks of home and consumer devices working with Twitter’s API to allow you control things via Twitter. It allows Hollywood stars and former stars stay relevant amongst the people by simply “tweeting” stuff about their lives and allowing people to follow them. The opportunities have been endless!.
What remains now is how everyone can take advantage of this model and make some money out of it. We know Facebook and Twitter will get their big payday soon. Twitter had signed potential revenue generating contracts with Google and Microsoft to help them offer users the ability to get real time results from the Google and Bing search engines. And Microsoft signed a similar deal with Facebook.
But still the social networking companies need to continue to find ways to generate revenue and profit. How about the service providers like AT&T, Verizon and others that could look for ways to enable their subscribers to use social networking sites blended with new services (like TV for example) and in the process find ways to share some revenues?
erhaps most significant is that companies in various industries started
to see how social networks can help boost business even in a recession. While many CEOs may still be a bit disconnected from the social networking phenomenon, many companies, like Zappos.com and Dell Inc., have found ways to draw in new customers using Web 2.0 methods.
“Really, 2009 has been a watershed year for social networking,” said Olds. “Business has embraced both Twitter and Facebook as a way to communicate directly with customers and to inexpensively get their points across to a large number of folks. Much of the fear that business had of social networking seems to have abated as they become more comfortable with the concept and see the advantages. We’re still at a point where only a small number of businesses have social networking strategies, but that number is increasing quickly over time.”
