Randi Zuckerberg's 10 Upcoming Trends in Social Media

Social Media isn't new anymore. It isn't the shiny new toy that only some people were lucky enough to get a hold of when it first came out. It's out there, everyone's involved (even those who have been trying to resist for so long) and now it is evolving. Which leads to a big scary question: Evolving into WHAT?

 At the BEA Bloggers Conference Randi Zuckerberg (yes that Zuckerberg - she's facebook family) presented what she has observed as ten upcoming trends in social media today.

1. You Are More Than What You Write

This was primarily geared toward bloggers, in recognition that while we started out blogging with a "niche" in mind, there is undoubted more to the writer than interest in that one topic. What's more is that Randi believes our audiences are interested in that back story, the "human side." Revealing to readers what causes you are in support of, for instance, is something that will probably increase popularity, even if it isn't exactly in your niche.

2. Brands Are Now Media Companies

This same comment was made at another panel at BEA.  All brands are becoming media moguls on their own. Randi presented us with a screen shot of the Red Bull Facebook page pointing out how they create, or curate, their own media content daily to keep their customers entertained. This may seem ordinary to you, but step back for a moment, think about that: Red Bull is a beverage company. They are supposed to focus on making DRINKS, not videos!

3. People Will Pay For Premium Content

With the over saturation of information on the Internet, it is oftentimes difficult to find the high quality something you are looking for. High quality, premium content has suddenly become quite valuable. So valuable, in fact, people are willing to pay for it. Whether you decide to transform your informative blog into an eBook people can purchase, or, if you are ready to design a course of instruction, then you can check out Udemy.com to host your course.


4. More Signal, Less Noise

This goes out to the curators. In other words, all of us. We each curate the stuff that is of interest to us. Those who come before us and have curated it already are godsends. Randi pointed to her favorite blog, Red Tricycle, which lists family friendly activities for her. Now she doesn't have to search all over the Internet looking for them herself, she just goes to one site that curated for her. Ask yourself: What can you be a curator of so that others can just seek you out?

5. Images Speak Louder Than Words

Don't worry readers and writers, I'm not saying that images replace words here, but in the big wide world of the Internet, they do stand out. Even if you are a writer, you need to embrace this. Get on Instagram and use some images to draw readers in. Post your links in the descriptions.

6. Think Of Yourself As An Entrepreneur

Randi said that even large companies are giving their employees some time to think this way during regular work hours. There is something rewarding about working for yourself and designing your own projects. The Internet is full of passionate people working on projects they are interested in.

7. The @reply is the new autograph

I can attest to this myself. I nearly flipped my lid last week when @neilhimself (Neil Gaiman) tweeted me. The same thing happened earlier this year when @realjohngreen (John Green) tweeted me. For the twenty seconds it took each of them to write to me, they knew I existed. This is the equivalent of the autograph experience. Take a screen capture of the event and you're golden! For those of you who are published authors, please don't undervalue the impact of a simple @reply to one of your readers!

8. Gamification of Everything

I've been on board with this for awhile. In my classroom, I tried to change as many things into a game for my students as I could tolerate. There were some people who would criticize me for this practice since I was teaching high school. They'd say my students were "too old" for that. Now I sit back and laugh as I see the APPs created for adults which reward you for going for your run or shame you when you don't go to the Gym.

9. Video for Storytelling

I am very new to Vine, but I can see the draw. You are put to the task of telling a story in six seconds. It is highly addicting to watch because you don't think you are wasting any time just watching six seconds of video, and it is fascinating to see what people do with it. One blogger said she made six second books reviews on her Vine account.

10. Etiquette and Digital Detox

As much as we all love the Internet, social media and all of hour connections, part of the evolution is recognition of the fact that there is a time and a place. We love our modern day conveniences, yet long for an unplugged life. There are hotels that will lock up your cell phones while you are on vacation (not sure how I would take pictures!) and other services you can hire to help your family with a digital detox. However you choose to do it, the fact is, if you are thinking about it, you are not alone.