2015 was a great year for social media but the question everyone wants to know is what will 2016 bring? From recent development and our experience as a social media agency in Lancashire, England we predict the following.  

360 Videos

Social media and technology often develop in pace with each other and this is certainly the case with 360 video. Recent months have seen Facebook and YouTube develop hosting for 360 video. A more immersive way of viewing a video. GoPro have lead the way with a 360 video rig with more to be released soon. These rigs shoot video on all sides with specialist software being used to patch all the videos together. Once uploaded the video plays as you would expect. The notable difference is that the users can rotate the view to look within the video at whatever they like. This experience is particularly immersive when on phone. Will this become mainstream video? We are not sure on that yet but expect to see many more of these videos in 2016. Especially if a cheaper 360 video rig is released.

Social Search

2015 has been the clash of the titans. Facebook vs Google. This clash has seen many huge developments the biggest of which is the joining of search and social. The concept behind this theory is that when a user searches a topic or place online they may wish to know what their contacts think. Do you prefer restaurant reviews from people you don’t know or by friends and acquaintance? A big development will be Facebook’s introduction of its artificial intelligence search. Designed to understand exactly what you want before you even search for it by analysing your behaviour and predicting needs. Expect to see the early versions of this new type of search towards the end of 2016.

Google & Twitter

The working alliance between these two companies came as a surprise to many in 2015. Showing tweets in the results of Google searches, however, has been welcomed by many in the social media sector. Rumours are afloat in the digital world that this alliance is a test of the waters by Google. If successful many expect a large corporate buy-out. Will Google and Twitter merge? Time will tell and in 2016 it is pretty certain that you will see these two organisations working more closely together. Will any more social media platforms be integrated into Google search?

Facebook & Uber

Now you can order a taxi straight from your messenger app. This could very much be the future of chat and travel. That’s right in a recent major announcement Facebook confirmed that they would embed Uber within their Messenger app. An interesting development that paves the way for more embeds into the Facebook Messenger app maybe? FYI – Uber is an app that allows users to order taxis straight from their mobile phones.

Multi-Platform Adverts

As social media becomes widely used by the majority it makes for an exceptionally powerful marketing platform. Which companies would pay to subtly get their brand, name, product or offer in front of their exact target market? We think most would. Add to this the continuing development of the advert platforms and analytics and you have a perfect solution for most marketers. Expect 2016 to be the year of the social media advert. Will use be running any adverts this year?

LinkedIn Popularity

This year our team has seen this platform go from strength to strength. Once a niche platform for professionals to connect LinkedIn is now a news and publishing site. What we mean by this is prior to 2015 LinkedIn was a glorified CV site. With the introduction of their Pulse section, this quickly changed. 2015 has seen LinkedIn become a powerful blogging site where professionals can share their expertise with their professional community. More recent developments have added the ability to attach notes to contacts adding a customer relation management feature to the site. We expect LinkedIn to continue these developments and become more of a ubiquitous tool with sophisticated features. Watch this space! 2016 is going to be a fascinating and exciting year for social media. What do you expect to see develop in social media? Thanks for reading and Happy New Year from all the Lucky 6 Marketing team.