For the past few months we've seen a plethora of product changes from Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. From Facebook's new user timeline profile to Google+'s hashtag support that has a tie-in with search results, it seems that social media platforms continue to be spontaneous and relentlessly throwing changes at users. Social networks continue to come up with innovations that enhance their sharing functions, but most of the time users get lost when they can’t comprehend to these changes that sometimes lead to a lack of interest in increasing social activity in networks.
Unless you're a social media manager for digital marketing agency, working for a dotcom, or still hanging out at your folks' basement, a person who's pre-occupied with his day job doesn't log in every minute on his Facebook or Twitter account. How frequent a social network rolls out such changes that we don't know, but one thing's for sure - social networks think changes help sustain their existence on the Web.
Instant Access Increases Usage
Arguably, Facebook is a success because of changes that present itself as improvements of their functionality. Just think of it, MySpace and Friendster were stagnant in terms of functionality and accessiblity. And when I mean accessibility, there weren't enough smartphone users when those social networks were riding the waves of momentum. It's not a secret that a glut of social media activities are being done by using a mobile phone.
Today, anyone can log in on their social media accounts through their mobile phones. Thus, instant and spontaneous access keeps social giants like Facebook and Twitter alive and sporadic in terms of use. Friendster and the old MySpace bit the dust because they were complacent in making innovations to improve functionality, but the lack of exposure on mobile gadgets failed to increase usability through instant access.
"New and Improved" Doesn't Always Bring Improvements
The sub-title says it all, some changes are only good on paper. Social networks couldn’t ascertain if a new function or feature is useful or not, users determine if a new function even makes sense for their daily use. Just look at Facebook Deals, Questions, and Places, those sounded good before they were launched but were ditched after users discontinued use because interest was slowly fading.
It simply suggests that users opt to ignore every function when it's eventually not used by a majority of users. And when people don't use a certain function anymore, it doesn't present any value at all. Recently, a survey from Mashable reports that about 56% of Facebook users who know about its recent changes actually dislike them. Facebook's much ballyhooed Timeline feature that gives a user’s contacts a glimpse of their "history" which poses some privacy issues for a number of users. Perhaps this is the reason why a definite date for Timeline's worldwide launch has yet to surface.
Enhanced Content-Sharing
The notable features on Facebook and Google+ are functions that urge marketers to think like publishers. Google+ rolled out its hashtag support and real-time search while Facebook launched its People Talking About metric. The former's function is very helpful because of its direct tie-in to Google search results, while the latter has given page admins and marketers something to look forward to, though has yet to present its value to ordinary users. The common denominator of these new functions is to increase user engagement through content-sharing.
The only thing that Facebook's People Talking About metric has yet to show is the value of knowing who's talking about a particular brand or product in order to determine substantial demographics. User-generated content fuels a brand's Facebook page, marketers and page admins should not only urge fans to click the Like button beside a post, they should promote thought-sharing to generate UGC which increases SEO as well. User-generated content is essential to all social platforms, it's the fuel of every brand's Facebook page or Twitter account that helps sustain user engagement.
The Rise of Social Advertising
If Twitter wants to put hair conditioner ads on Justin Bieber's tweets, they can do it. Why? Social media platforms are free, but they have to monetize their service and generate revenues in order to exist. Just picture out how TV began, TV networks needed ad placements to produce shows. Nowadays, most people are not watching TV, they are watching TV on the Web. This is why the Internet has become a destination-location for advertisers and consumers.
The use of social networks tend to consume people's time, for some it's been a routine already! And that's a clear opportunity for social platforms to monetize their service through paid social ads. It's a win-win situation, users get to use the social network for free and marketers can leverage social ads to increase ROI.
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