Today the world is connected more than ever before and if you ask what brought about this connectivity, then without a doubt, the answer will be the presence of social networks. Social media has transformed or should we say matured from its cocoon as a broadcasting platform into a highly sophisticated and complex mesh of connections as well as interpersonal networks.
Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have become a part and parcel of our lives. October 2012 saw Facebook breaking the milestone of 1 Billion active users on its platform.
Is Facebook The Only Player?
So will Facebook be the ultimate name in networking in future? Well other reports unfortunately do not side with this fact much. A recent survey report pointed out that 34 % of the surveyed personnel responded that they have reduced their time spent on the social network considerably over the past year. But this is not to be taken as a serious blow, because the inflow of new users will obviously counter the fall. Google Plus has also taken center stage in the race for social media dominance with the network overtaking Twitter as the second largest social network towards the end of 2012. Google Plus has over 400 million active users now way ahead of Twitter’s 300 million users.
More Than Just Sharing What’s On Your Mind
But when we look into the future of social networks what really matters is not just the number of users active on these websites, but how they are turning into hotspots for innovation, businesses, marketing and entertainment. Experts believe that Social media usage is expected to increase by over 50 percent by the end of 2013.
Where Brands Meet Their Meat
The future of businesses as we have come to see depends on how effectively they are able to generate positive social media signals. Facebook posts become the launch pad of new products or offers and Twitter serves up a massive brand subscription base. A YouTube channel for a brand serves as a better publishing media for video ads than television channels.
Today social media is the number one platform for SME’s and Start-up enterprises to get a name for themselves.
This is reflected in a recent survey report published by online advertising portal Manta which pointed out that nearly 90 percent of small businesses are using Social Media networking to improve their businesses outreach. With such a massive user base dwelling in social networks today, this report is quite understandable without further clarifications. According to the survey most of the respondents believed that the biggest benefit they enjoyed courtesy of social media was that they were able to target and build relationships with customers.
Generating Leads Was Never So Easy
No other medium offered them with so much valuable insights and turning of followers into actual business leads was quite easy. It was reported that 78 percent of the participating SME owners admitted to have found a considerable number of new business customers via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. So the numbers do speak for themselves.
The future of networking is all set to make use of the power of social media to the fullest. And from what we saw in the past and from what we are seeing in the present, businesses will continue to promote social networks because of its ability to offer personalized marketing as well as lead generation benefits.
How are you going to use the future of networking for your own business? Please share your ideas with us.
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