Social Media Trends in 2011: Give the People What they Want

From privacy issues to monetization, to mobile applications, 2011 holds many changes for the world of social media and the businesses and consumers who utilize it.

As social media continues and to spread and more people begin using location-based services like Foursquare and Facebook check-ins, privacy is going to continue to be a major issue in the social media world.

Social networking juggernaut Facebook has come under fire many times over privacy concerns. Recently, Facebook has been in the news again and is even receiving criticism from Congress for putting their user’s privacy at stake by allowing third party applications to have access to sensitive user date such as home addresses and phone numbers. With this in mind, it will be very important for companies to instill trust in the people who are using their services.

It is becoming harder and harder to avoid or escape social media and conducting business on the Internet, but I think many people would be more like to do it if they knew that they could trust their privacy was being protected. A company like Facebook is walking a dangerous line by pulling so many fast moves on their users. When this happens, people lose trust in the company and become more likely to leave.

I predict that there is going to eventually be a mass migration away from Facebook. It seems that a lot of people are waiting for the next big thing, like maybe a new social networking service that is far more private and secure. Will Facebook go the way of Myspace?

Another major trend that’s happening in 2011 is the prevalence of smart phones and other mobile devices like iPads taking the place of laptops. People are doing more and more on-the-go these days, and this trend toward mobility is only going to continue to expand with increased mobile applications and services catering to the growing number of people who are purchasing these devices.

Web content is another trend. The web is a huge database of content. Lots of people are turning to the Internet for information, and with this trend there is going to be an increasing demand, not just for content, but for high-quality content from reliable sources.

One of the biggest issues surrounding social media and social networking is how to monetize it. One example is how some businesses have started using Foursquare to offer discounts/deals/incentives to people who come and check in to their business. Businesses that are smart will get on board with this trend.

I think perhaps the smartest move that any company can make in 2011 is to use social media to get feedback directly from consumers, listen to what the consumers want, and find a way give it to them. Hopefully we see a lot of this in the coming year.

- Erika Hansen (@erikathehansen)