24 New Predictions for Social Media in 2017

Facebook

2016 was a year of great development for Facebook. In Facebook's recent earnings report, Zuckerberg emphasized that the future growth point of the network is in the field of video. In 2017, Facebook will also focus more on video and live broadcast.

Video First

Facebook is optimizing its video features. Recently, Facebook released a camera feature in testing. The interface is similar to Snapchat and includes multiple filter effects and interactive features.

Facebook's move can be seen as a counterattack against Snapchat, which is gaining momentum. This camera feature may be officially launched in early 2017. However, Facebook's move will not kill Snapchat, but it will make Snapchat's development path less smooth. I believe this will also bring considerable pressure to Snapchat.

Facebook Live

According to Facebook data, the number of users using Facebook Live has quadrupled since May. Promoting the live broadcast function will also become a major focus for Facebook in 2017. At the same time, Facebook will actively seek more live broadcast partners, hoping to broadcast more original content on the platform.

But Facebook's ambitions don't stop there. They hope to get a piece of the pie in the field of live TV . Last month, Facebook released a new feature that organically integrates Facebook through Apple TV or Google Chromecast.

Last year, Facebook revealed that it was developing its own smart TV stick. Developing new hardware devices means that Facebook needs to open up new markets. But we have to admit that once the development is successful, the rewards will be quite generous. For ordinary people, this will also become a groundbreaking product that subverts people's existing perception of television media. Perhaps in mid-2017, we can see the latest development results in this field.

VR Technology

Due to the high cost of equipment and the scarcity of compatible content, VR technology is not expected to be widely promoted to the whole society in 2017. However, the huge prospects in the field of VR still attract the attention of social media including Facebook.

In order to better show the charm of VR technology, Facebook may make some efforts in the next year. Including 360 panoramic content. Facebook is promoting 360 panoramic videos and photos on the platform. In 2017, Facebook may launch new features to help users better enter this " holographic panoramic era " and expand Facebook's VR information flow in this way. It is expected that Facebook will launch more than one panoramic movie next year to bring VR technology into the public's field of vision. This will accelerate the arrival of the VR era.

Facebook Search

In July this year, Zuckerberg pointed out in a memo that Facebook users conduct about 2 million online searches on the platform every day. In the past nine months, the activity of platform searches has increased by 33%. Next, Facebook will use new recommendations and event reminder tools to further explore user habits.

This not only helped the development of Facebook's online search platform, but also made it possible for Facebook to become a new portal to the Internet for people.

Facebook is developing new search tools, which will take their machine learning to the next level and provide a better experience for users. I look forward to seeing their new progress in search tools in 2017.

Developing the business value of Messenger

Facebook has been committed to transforming Messenger into a platform that can directly connect brands with consumers. Currently, there are more than 33,000 active chatbots on Messenger, but consumers' acceptance of chatbots is still low. Messenger has great commercial value, but it has not been well developed.

Next, Facebook needs to take some measures that are more conducive to attracting businesses. For example, simplifying the development process of chatbots. Replacing customer service with cheap chatbots will help save costs and attract more brands to try this product. However, simplifying the development process of chatbots is not easy. For Facebook, it is also a big challenge in 2017.

A response system that is better than likes

In February of this year, Facebook added a variety of feedback mechanisms for replying to messages, but the usage of users is not as optimistic as expected. According to the latest data, almost 93% of Facebook users are still more accustomed to using "Like" to reply.

Facebook has also added some different elements to make the response system more interesting, but the problem is that these responses don't seem serious enough in some political news.

Based on this "unreasonable appearance" situation, it may be a better choice for Facebook to remove these response buttons. However, on the other hand, these response buttons do allow users to express themselves better. In 2017, Facebook may launch a response system with more accurate emotional expression to replace the existing mechanism.

Twitter

Twitter's performance in 2016 was not very satisfactory. The microblogging giant faced many problems, but these problems were not properly solved. So what will Twitter do next to return to the public's attention?

Live Video

It is no longer a secret that Twitter is betting on live video. However, since the target users of Facebook Live and Twitter Live overlap, how to make live content irreplaceable is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Twitter. In terms of live broadcast, Twitter, like Facebook, hopes to combine live broadcast and TV.

Comparing Twitter's video live streaming platform Periscope with Facebook Live, we can find that Twitter still has a difficult journey in the field of video live streaming. In the future, Twitter will not shut down Periscope and start a new one in the field of video live streaming. Instead, it will better integrate Periscope into Twitter's own software while retaining its independent APP. However, this integration also brings more technical challenges.

Make data more valuable

In the past few years, Twitter has been working to regain control of its data in order to establish a more stable source of income through this data. The openness of data is a serious problem for Twitter. Currently, many social media monitoring industries use third-party funds to make profits based on Twitter's open data. LinkedIn is also facing similar troubles. Strengthening data supervision has brought some income to Twitter. In 2016, Twitter's data revenue increased by 26%.

In 2017, Twitter will continue to strengthen data management and monitoring to improve Twitter's profitability. Therefore, Twitter will further highlight the importance and usage of data to provide more useful and effective data tools, including optimizing existing data search and data mining functions.

Holographic tweets

Twitter recently announced that it will release new information about holographic technology to the outside world early next year. Imagine what kind of sparks will be created when holographic technology is combined with Twitter? John McFarland, Twitter's vice president of market development, said that the content about holographic technology that Twitter will release will subvert people's current imagination of this technology.

Twitter sold?

So far, there is still much discussion about whether Twitter will usher in a merger or a leadership change. In fact, if Twitter can perform well in live video streaming, perhaps self-help is a feasible path without relying on mergers and acquisitions.

It is expected that Twitter will have a major leadership change in 2017. Twitter currently needs a rational and experienced leader to lead Twitter into a new phase. However, the current CEO does not seem to be that suitable. Therefore, it is not groundless to speculate that Twitter will have a leadership change next year.

Tweet modification

The tweet modification function has been long awaited. In fact, Twitter is also testing this function, and it is expected to be available to everyone in the near future. This function can bring back existing users who are about to lose interest in Twitter. However, it should also be noted that this modification function may make it more difficult to trace the source of cyber violence and collect evidence.

Cyberbullying

Twitter still needs some bold innovation and efforts to deal with online violence. Currently, Twitter is using some new tools and features to prevent and control online violence, but it still needs to launch something more powerful to show its determination. Twitter is already updating its machine learning system and hopes to use it to trace and eliminate online violence.

Instagram

Keep it stable

Instagram has undergone some huge changes in 2016, which have brought great experience to Instagram users. It is predicted that in 2017, Instagram will enter a period of stable development so that these new features can be better used and spread by users. For the current Instagram, it would be wise not to choose large-scale updates and changes in 2017.

Instagram Micro Business

Since Instagram has updated their advertising function, it means that in the next period of time, people can use the platform to better display their products under some Instagram hashtags.

The new feature allows Instagram to break through its own limitations as an art and photo display platform. Users also welcome this move by Instagram. According to a survey, 60% of users browse products on Instagram, and 75% of them visit the brand website, search or spread the information after browsing it on Instagram. In the future, Instagram may make a breakthrough in this new feature and bring more convenience to people.

New Stories Features

Instagram's Stories feature has attracted 100 million users. But this number has not changed between August and November. The cause of this problem is unclear, but it at least reminds Instagram. Perhaps in the future, Instagram will choose to add new visual features to videos to enhance the playability of the Stories feature. Instagram will also adjust the speed and rhythm of the video according to user suggestions to make this feature more perfect.

Insta live?

Reports indicate that Instagram is building its own live streaming system. It is speculated that Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom pointed out in August this year that adding a live streaming portal to Instagram is a sign of the company’s intention to enter the live streaming field.

But in fact, this so-called live streaming portal is still not shown on Instagram's products. Video live streaming has become a hot topic at present, and all platforms are looking for opportunities to get a share of this field. But it is hard to imagine that users on the Instagram platform will be very active in using this new feature. After all, there are more complete live streaming services on larger platforms - Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps for Insta live streaming, a better way is to turn it into an extension of the Stories function, rather than listing it as a separate option.

Image Search

Another more significant innovation for Instagram is image search. Facebook has already begun to lay the foundation in the field of image search. If Instagram can add image search function to the platform, it will bring great benefits to the data collection of the Instagram platform and the precise delivery of advertisements. It is expected that this function will be released in mid-2017.

Snapchat

2017 is more difficult than 2016

It was not easy for Snapchat to stand out from the crowd in 2016 between Instagram and Facebook’s expansion of short video features. According to reports, Snapchat will conduct an initial public offering in early 2017, but 2017 is still a year of great pressure for Snapchat. Facebook’s new features overlap a lot with Snapchat’s features, and under the pressure of Facebook’s large platform, Snapchat must accelerate innovation. But innovation is not easy. How to innovate and break through will be a problem that Snapchat will have to face for a long time.

Explore your own business value

Snapchat may continue to work on advertising promotion and delivery. They hope to attract some business cooperation by improving the analysis and computing capabilities of their platform. If Snapchat can continue to optimize advertising promotion tools and make advertising delivery more accurate, it will attract the attention of many advertisers, especially for those brands that want to open up the young people market.

Spectacles wireless glasses

Spectacle wireless glasses are a new hardware device released by Snapchat to expand the user experience of its software. It can connect to the Snapchat software in the mobile phone through the wireless network and record a short video of about 10 seconds through the camera on the glasses.

Spectacles will be successful, largely due to its 115° wide-angle lens. But Spectacles glasses are not enough as an extension of Snapchat software. If you want to achieve greater success in the future, you can combine it with AR and VR functions.

Pinterest

Visual search innovation

Last year, Pinterest has innovated in their image recognition and visual search capabilities, especially in image recognition.

Pinterest's image recognition function may extend to the field of shopping, especially in the field of home furnishing shopping, which may bring significant changes. People can use Pinterest to check how furniture may appear in their homes to help decide whether to buy it. However, the future development of this technology may have a certain impact on Pinterest's platform positioning.

Video Ads

Pinterest's recently introduced video ads will become a new hot spot. Video ads have grown by 60% on the platform last year, and this growth momentum is expected to continue in the next year. However, as more and more brands choose video ads, how to divert people's attention back to the website itself is also a new challenge for Pinterest's future development.

LinkedIn

Data Revolution

LinkedIn has been criticized in the past for not managing the data on its platform well and not letting the data play its due role. However, as shown by LinkedIn's current series of actions, they are doing something to make the data on the platform play its role in a better way.

This is not only beneficial to platform users, but also to LinkedIn's own advertising business and platform development. Better integration of data on the platform will help HR better search for suitable targets for positions, and also help job seekers improve their resumes and improve job matching. I hope that in 2017, LinkedIn will publish more content with significant transformational significance in this regard.

More content options

Linkedin's business growth mainly comes from the production and consumption of native content on the platform, so it is committed to improving relevant content recommendations and search functions within the platform. In order to enrich the content, they are trying to add native video services to better provide career news and information.

In addition to setting more possibilities for platform content and providing users with more relevant content with a higher degree of matching, by setting a more traceable "attention path", each user can find more information they need under a given topic. LinkedIn also mines needs from user data, such as providing users with professional career advice through LinkedIn learning. Therefore, the importance of social behavior on Linkedin is not only reflected in the establishment of self-relationships, but also serves the purpose of tracking and analyzing user data.

Social media has different characteristics due to differences in platforms and is driven by multiple factors based on user needs. As for the new developments that major social media may have in 2017, which one will you like?

From: All Media