Social Media Trends for 2013

Nobody can predict the future; it’s not an exact science. It’s not even science, but that’s not the point here. Remember the December 2012 apocalypse? A lot of people went wrong there, and we don’t want to be those idiots who wrongly predict the social media trends for 2013.

Honestly, in the world of social media, there are no certain predictions. Take Pinterest’s sudden popularity over the last year. Nobody anticipated that. However, even though there’s a lot of uncertainty, there are still continuing social media trends that can be tracked and predicted with a fair degree of accuracy.

Social media is unstoppable; it’s going to witness a monumental rise in the years to come, and if there’s one place to be to reap its goods, then that would be emerging markets.  Internet penetration is going to be at its maximum there. In 2013, India itself is expected to witness a huge growth of 37.9%, leaving behind the US at a mere 4%.

And if you want to demarcate emerging markets by region, then Middle East and Asia-Pacific are going to see the biggest growth rates. Break up the statistics howsoever you want to; either way there’s no denying the exponential growth opportunities hidden in emerging markets. Be the early bird that catches the worm before everybody else.

Many people have leafed out the year 2015 when mobile web searches and such online activities will have the biggest static usage the world over. And if we take into consideration social media, we could witness this tipping point sooner than later.

The 2012 reports of Nielsen’s Social Media revealed that in the U.S., 43% internet users used smartphones to access social networking sites, with Apps being not so far behind. Users showed an increased social app time by 76%, as compared to 2011.  One has to understand that in emerging markets, accessing internet via mobile phones is convenient and cheaper for most people, which means that mobile social media is soon going to be the norm. In the case of developed markets, 4G will make accessing the internet quicker and more versatile.

Remember back in 2009, when there were over 15 social networking market leaders? Today, it’s Facebook everywhere, followed closely by Twitter and then by LinkedIn. But, the emergence of Pinterest and Instagram proves that there is room for new players on the block!