Originally posted on November 11, 2013
The Observers reports that teenagers say goodbye to Facebook and hello to messenger apps. The ability to chat privately and share pictures (selfies) in real time with friends is increasing in appeal to teens. The reports points out that teens are migrating to mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApps because of the presence of adults – their parents, grandparents, adults relatives and friends on Facebook – as well as the social media affordances of these apps. Many of these apps are no longer straight messaging apps as they also have games and music sharing abilities.
For more on this report, visit the website
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/teenagers-messenger-apps-facebook-exoduse.
The world of social media has greatly expanded since 2013. Nowadays, there are a few competitors out there. While Facebook once had the monopoly and dominated this new platform, today there are notable new players such as Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and so on. This phenomenon has even spilled over in new areas of our lives in the form of LinkedIn which allows professionals to connect and share views on matters related to their field of expertise. In the article, the author talked about young people moving to the new platforms that I mentioned above because Facebook had lost it coolness. I wonder how Facebook is going to reinvent itself to keep its market share and what features it will incorporate in the future. Should we expect a social media war among those big players? Or will a new form of technology take over and render them obsolete in the next 10 years?