Social media dominates today’s society. Many are highly motivated to act and live accordingly to social media, as we learned in the section about social media and internet influencers. These new influencers are the people who run all of popular culture, and it will only continue to get worse and worse as the younger generations also become addicted to their technology just like our generation has.
Social media, and the internet as a whole is currently at its all time high of popularity. According to Forbes, however, this popularity is only going to further increase as the internet evolves more and more.
The article believes that in the future, the internet and social media will have a lot more to do with virtual and augmented reality, making the experience of influencers all that more important. Additionally, Forbes believes that the world will have generated an improved and permanent internet connection, allowing more wide availability of the internet and social media to those who desire to take part in it.
Another thing to consider about social media is its target market. Apps like Instagram and Tik Tok are extremely tailored to the younger crowd that primarily use them, however in the coming years this is likely to change. I come from a generation that is extremely dependent on technology and the internet as a whole, and I suspect that my generation will not ween from this tendency as we grow older.
As these apps realize my aging generation is still interested, they will have to evolve to accommodate multiple target crowds. Assuming every younger generation is just as infatuated with social media as my own, apps like Instagram will now have to have content for older people, middle aged and young kids. This is a phenomenon that we have never seen on the internet, as it has stereotypically been used only by a younger crowd in today’s age.
This article further states that privacy will be commoditized. In an era where privacy rights and internet security are already relatively a concern, these issues are only going to get worse, with more and more privacy sworn away through unread terms and conditions. Especially as uninformed users continue to flock to new technology, Forbes believes that only the rich will have the resources and technology to keep themselves truly protected from cyber issues. This will open up many opportunities for new firms and companies to create business to keep people safe online and on social media, and will create a heightened sense of importance for cyber security even more so than it is in today’s age.
Lastly, I wanted to write a quick goodbye to everyone in the class. It has been a great semester, and I have had a lot of fun learning about social media in a critical sense that I had never previously considered. Thank you so much for all of the cool stuff you taught me this semester, and I will miss you all! I wish you all the best.
DeMers, Jayson. “7 Predictions For How The Internet Will Change Over The Next 15 Years.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, April 18, 2016. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/04/18/7-predictions-for-how-the-internet-will-change-over-the-next-15-years/#5da0350622e0.
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