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- Cryptocurrencies
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- Industry
- Geography
One of the most integral modes of communication in the 21st century is Social Media. It is quite unusual if none has heard of it yet. It has become an inevitable aspect of our lives, intertwined with all of our lives' arenas, be it entertainment, work, or communication. However, it definitely is not something stagnant and has been changing continuously in an impressive and accelerated manner. TikTok, Livestream, and Youtube, for example, continue to emphasize providing a social environment where users may safely share content. However, they take distinct approaches to the well-known social network business model of "If you're not paying for it, you're the product."
Whilst the term 'Web 2.0' was widely used, it didn't truly apply to any one thing in particular. It was never meant to be a permanent modification to the web's structure; rather, it was meant to draw attention to the fact of the changing content, created by people, at a very fast pace by leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
But now, the name "web 2.0" has been supplanted by "Social Media 2.0" services. These are expected to be almost entirely focused on users rather than businesses, which would be a significant disruption given how heavily corporations have come to depend on social media to spread their message. Nonetheless, it's just as probable that these claims are merely vaporware, referring to abstract concepts rather than actual changes, and are more of a notion of where matters are likely to go shortly.
One of the drastic changes that took place in the domain of online social media services is the fee that we have to pay to enjoy it. Generally speaking, activities of Social Media 1.0 are considered "free", which collects the data generated by the users while using these services and considers those as their fee, without the user really being aware of it. These data are then used as products to be sold and made a profit out of. Whereas, the term "social media 2.0 values" might be applied to services' attempts to be less shady and more transparent in this regard. They frequently just charge us a subscription fee to gain access to material created by creators we follow. YouTube, a video and streaming site, is an excellent illustration of this, as it allows users to subscribe to their favorite channels. The charge is in turn split between the service provider and the content creator to pay for the service's upkeep and to encourage them to keep creating.
The model for Social Media 2.0 is rather different. It still needs a large number of consumers, but it intends to monetize them more effectively. Premium subscriptions are used to fund the project. This is beneficial to everyone: there will be no more obtrusive advertisements, and the general quality will be improved. Facebook quickly transitioned to Social Media 2.0 by allowing one-click access to its platforms' businesses, particularly Instagram. For a long time, Facebook fought to continue to function with a social media 1.0 perspective, only supplying static ads, while Twitter tried to continue to work with the social media 1.0 attitude, only offering fixed ads. It only saw the light and now focuses on interaction (such as with Twitter Spaces) and monetization (newsletters, paid subscriptions, and contributions) later on.
Pinterest is doing the same thing: instead of focusing on gaining as many users as possible, it is focusing on monetizing the existing user base much more effectively.
The problem is that, while most organizations appear to have grasped the concept of Social Media 2.0, many analysts and investors appear to require more time to completely comprehend the shift that has occurred. It may take some time for them to see the big picture and focus on what is more important: the money.
Another element of social media 2.0 is the growing trend of relying more on deduced data to reduce user annoyance. By removing most of the functionality provided in its parent site Facebook and focusing on aspects related to picture sharing, Instagram can be considered as starting some of these trends. Its algorithms merely ensure that information that is viewed more frequently shows in the feeds of a larger number of people. This implies users don't have to rely on "liking and sharing" information to get it all out there. It also helps users to swiftly grow their own following by seizing on trends, boosting the chances of their films going viral outside their own fan base.
The generalization of modern social applications is often smaller than that of "conventional" social networks. They are more likely to cater to specific communities or demographics than they are to mainstream growth.
Twitch and Discord are two such social platforms geared toward gamers, while Slack and Teams are services that bring social media features to the workplace, whereas TikTok is mostly aimed at teenagers.
