The next decade in social media: Overload, filter failure and narcissism

Having worked in digital strategy since 1999, Peter Kim was among the first analysts to have a briefing with Facebook in 2005 and has worked in digital strategy since 1999. This background places him perfectly in the crosshairs to track the trends that will shape social media in the next decade, based on what we see at present and social medias beginnings a mere decade ago.

Peter Kim, Chief Digital Officer at Cheil Worldwide

Hard to believe that in 2005, Facebook was restricted to university students and YouTube launched with a single video of the San Diego Zoo. Social media was all about convergence, based on understanding the necessary technology and how it worked, as well as how society functioned on entertainment, emotion and ego, as well as the economy and how we make money. If you consider just how much things have changes since then, it's amazing that many brands "continue to employ simple strategies from the pre-IPO days," Kim said.

That's because today, while devices are more powerful than ever, society is too "self-ie" absorbed and economies look bleak. Brands are still stuck in 2005.
It's not all gloom and doom though - if you start taking action right now. You can't expect things to stay the same, as social media will be gone in the way we know it.

How social media will change by 2025:

• Social media will be shoppable, such as in the Williams-Sonoma video channel, which incorporates easy home recipes using Williams Sonoma kitchenware products
• It will be snackable - get it, digest it and move on
• It will be automated. For example, think of IBM's Watson machine-learning project and programmatic spending

China as a top economy
• It will be connective - the power of social devices

Looking into the social media crystal ball...

In hypothesising what's still to come from social media in the next decade Kim emphasised the importance of brands and agencies understanding global digital trends. Especially as innovation is a global process, so "anticipating what's next requires an understanding of the 'East' and the 'West'", with consumers encouraged to think outside their borders, look East, embrace their inner tech and change to engage.

Agencies will, of course also need to change to engage, especially as their existing social media revenues will become obsolete and traditional models will be rendered ineffective.

But don't panic - go with the flow. There's just so much information out there that consumers face a constant deluge of information that threatens to drown them. Put yourself in your consumers' shoes. Kim advises brands to take this in and "evolve their approach in order to succeed in a new social world of overload, filter failure and narcissism."

Kim said: "Just as brands have figured out how to use social media, the game has changed. Trends are moving off in new directions and people don't want to just 'join the conversation' with brands. They want to engage brands in action.

In doing so, they're best able to seize the initiative in a new era of advertising opportunity.