What does the life cycle of social media look like?
In this age of information, social media is one of the most important tools that we have. However, despite its immense usefulness, it’s still not immune to competition and demand. Some of the most popular social media websites, that were once considered as everlasting are now nothing but a memory of the past.
In this article, we’d like to bring examples of social media websites gaining and losing popularity all over the world and why that may have happened in the first place.
In order to remain as objective as possible, we will talk about 3 companies. Facebook (the popular one that is now failing), Instagram (the one that held onto its popularity), Snapchat (the underdog that is doing better every day).
Facebook is commonly referred to as the parent’s social media in many Western countries nowadays. The beginning of the platform was promising amazing performance in the beginning. Note that we are only focusing on North America in this case.
The core user base for Facebook started off as young adults or teenagers, going on the platform to play some flash games and chat with their friends. But once this became very common, parents started to become more and more interested in the platform just to know what their kids were up to.
Because of this, within just a couple of years after Facebook’s launch, the platform was teeming with adults (which it was primarily designed for). However, in gaining a new user base from adults, Facebook lost its user base of young adults and teenagers, thus limiting how much it could innovate and have that innovation be appreciated.
Nowadays, North American countries view Facebook as nothing but a gathering place for the “adults” rather than the “fun” and “cool” place to be on that it once was.
Instagram was the only destination that ex-Facebook users could have migrated to, and that’s exactly what they did. Due to the platform’s relatively smaller scope of focus (videos and pictures), it immediately became a sought after website for young adults.
However, once the user base started to grow out of proportion in terms of demographics, Facebook parents also migrated over to the platform.
However, due to Instagram’s unique ability to provide a “career” for its users is what has kept it going. Promoting products and services from accounts that have a lot of followers is the cultural norm in the US and Canada nowadays.
Sometimes, it can get pretty out of hand as well. According to representatives of PlayAmo, an online gambling company. There was literally nothing stopping influencers from accepting deals on whatever they liked. A casino could easily convince influencers to tell their followers to go to a platform and Instagram would not necessarily intervene in any way.
Thankfully though, through the implementation of regulations, Instagram has managed to remain a popular platform for people of all ages. It has become like a necessity for most people in North America and the rest of the world. Thus having it disappear out of the blue would not necessarily be likely.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a rather weird success story. A social media platform that was once considered to be a failure by most people that first saw it has become one of the most used websites in the United States and Canada. And we all know that most of the “funds” lay in exactly North American countries.
The unique feature of Snapchat was having messages be deleted once viewed, thus making the whole “avoid parental control” thing much easier.
It is still most popular with young adults and teenagers, while slightly older people tend to avoid it completely.
Most of the lifecycle relies on the interest of young people, according to most experts. This is quite a weird phenomenon considering that the most valued customers are usually in their 30s or 40s.
A Blogger and Author! Mansoor Bhanpurawala is recognized as a leader in digital marketing and Tech space. I’m a professional full-time blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I’m here to help bloggers like you create an outstanding blog and earn money from it.
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