The Year of the Winner!

    There is no doubt that social media has forever changed the way we share and view information with other people.  Scholarly people are predicting that 2012 will be the year that separates the winners from the losers, I’m not talking about your friends of course, I’m talking about the social sites that we all use.  David Catalano, president and co-founder of Modea Corp., a digital advertisement agency in Virginia says that “Facebook is like scrapbooking for your life.”  Users establish virtual identities on sites like Google+ and Facebook.  What you choose to post on your page either in the form of a comment or of a certain “like” is really a form of advertising yourself to your community.

    Changes in these platforms are making it easier for the user to express what they really feel about a brand, service, etc.  Marketers will be able to target consumers better because of the more in depth categorizing system.

    I was reading an article written by Danielle Monroe called Google+ vs. Facebook and it talks about the future of advertising and how it ties in to social sites like Google+ and Facebook.  In her article she talks about what kind of pressure is being put on brands to produce content that people want.  Google+ is planning to modernize the way users search for content.  It will show search results according to the brands that have the most followers.  But are users ready for a social site that is also a search engine? 

     When you compare Facebook and Google+ you might find some important differences that will help up predict the future of these two sites.  Facebook puts the users experience up front as the most important aspect of the site, advertising and making money is secondary to a good experience.  I like this business plan, it still makes more money then I’ll ever see in a lifetime but it is set up to give me a good experience without pushing the advertising on me.  With the new “verbs” it will help marketers gather more information without actually asking for it, it will be information we supply ourselves without even realizing what we are doing, but in a good way, not underhanded or misleading. 

     Google+ seems to be trying to make money as their first priority; the user experience is secondary which might just get them a “thumbs down” and a much smaller “piece of the social pie” so to speak.  Well, I’m looking forward to seeing how social networking changes in the next year.  People are not going to put up with a platform that is annoying, confusing, or overcrowded. 

     I think the U.S. government should have a social site.  They should get our opinions on running the country.  Election Day is not enough, we should be friends with our elected officials and we should know what they are up to.  Nice idea but it will never happen; too many people would just scream and make stupid comments.   

     Anyway, sites need to stay relevant to their audiences and marketers need to know how to market to their intended customers.  So developers beware!  If people start leaving, many will follow and it’s a BIG Internet so do your best to hold onto your subscribers, you need them…or should I say us.      

MONROE, DANIELLE. "Google+ Vs. Facebook." Econtent 34.10 (2011): 8-9. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.