Social networking, blogging, and microblogging, collectively social media, is not only here to stay, but growing at an astronomical rate.
It's been commonly reported that Facebook has over 500 million users.
Twitter is reported to have over 24 million unique visitors every month, posting microblogs at a rate of approximately 50 million tweets per day, at about 600 tweets per second.
That is somewhat mind boggling.
However, the big questions remain.
Where is this going to go? What is the next level? Social media expansion and growth naturally leans toward creating niche groups, or communities, in which to share similar passions or interests.
I believe the company, or companies, that begin focusing on carving out lifestyle-specific 'space' on the Internet will emerge as the next-level providers in the highly competitive world of social networking.
Critical to the success of such companies will be the integration of the most popular, but non-competing, social media tools to share information (e.
g.
Facebook, Twitter, Email).
Members will then be able to connect, share, self-promote, and broadcast information.
Leaders in this emerging trend will create interlinking communities or networks, allowing members to join one or several communities using the same user login and password.
Successful companies will recognize that users are not one-dimensional in their activities and offer numerous communities in which to join.
Each community in the network should be an online extension of the member's hobby or social lifestyle.
The online interface and tools must be simple, allowing members to quickly upload a limited amount of photos, video, and text to a user's online 'space' or microsite (vanity URL).
Multimedia content (photos and video) should be illustrative of the member's lifestyle.
Companies may opt to brand this new and developing concept using less commonly used terms such as microblogs, tumblelogs, or life 'sessions'.
Regardless of the term coined, they should quickly and efficiently capture the essence of a person's unique lifestyle.
To gather a loyal base of users, communities within each network must be lifestyle-specific and much more niche, or focused, then a typical, generic blogging site.
Each community site with its integrated social networking tools will act as an uplink to connect a community of like-minded people with similar passions and interests.
Communities will be activity, or hobby-centric.
For example, passionate mountain bikers will join a mountain biking community while being offered a seamless membership option to join other communities for fishing, hiking, or hunting.
Ideally, communities should be free to join, assuming the developing company desires to expeditiously harvest users.
Revenue models should be driven by advertisers or by selling enhanced or 'premier features', offering visitors and users a more enhanced experience on the community site.
The emergence of niche communities marks the beginning of what I believe is the next level in social media trending.
Just as blogging has become mainstream, we see the need for pioneering concepts and tools that bring value to the Internet user's online experience.
This next generation of microblogging is unfolding before us in the form of microblogs or 'life-sessions' featuring a user's unique lifestyle.
This is an exciting and new trend that will powerfully influence the next generation of social media.
It's been commonly reported that Facebook has over 500 million users.
Twitter is reported to have over 24 million unique visitors every month, posting microblogs at a rate of approximately 50 million tweets per day, at about 600 tweets per second.
That is somewhat mind boggling.
However, the big questions remain.
Where is this going to go? What is the next level? Social media expansion and growth naturally leans toward creating niche groups, or communities, in which to share similar passions or interests.
I believe the company, or companies, that begin focusing on carving out lifestyle-specific 'space' on the Internet will emerge as the next-level providers in the highly competitive world of social networking.
Critical to the success of such companies will be the integration of the most popular, but non-competing, social media tools to share information (e.
g.
Facebook, Twitter, Email).
Members will then be able to connect, share, self-promote, and broadcast information.
Leaders in this emerging trend will create interlinking communities or networks, allowing members to join one or several communities using the same user login and password.
Successful companies will recognize that users are not one-dimensional in their activities and offer numerous communities in which to join.
Each community in the network should be an online extension of the member's hobby or social lifestyle.
The online interface and tools must be simple, allowing members to quickly upload a limited amount of photos, video, and text to a user's online 'space' or microsite (vanity URL).
Multimedia content (photos and video) should be illustrative of the member's lifestyle.
Companies may opt to brand this new and developing concept using less commonly used terms such as microblogs, tumblelogs, or life 'sessions'.
Regardless of the term coined, they should quickly and efficiently capture the essence of a person's unique lifestyle.
To gather a loyal base of users, communities within each network must be lifestyle-specific and much more niche, or focused, then a typical, generic blogging site.
Each community site with its integrated social networking tools will act as an uplink to connect a community of like-minded people with similar passions and interests.
Communities will be activity, or hobby-centric.
For example, passionate mountain bikers will join a mountain biking community while being offered a seamless membership option to join other communities for fishing, hiking, or hunting.
Ideally, communities should be free to join, assuming the developing company desires to expeditiously harvest users.
Revenue models should be driven by advertisers or by selling enhanced or 'premier features', offering visitors and users a more enhanced experience on the community site.
The emergence of niche communities marks the beginning of what I believe is the next level in social media trending.
Just as blogging has become mainstream, we see the need for pioneering concepts and tools that bring value to the Internet user's online experience.
This next generation of microblogging is unfolding before us in the form of microblogs or 'life-sessions' featuring a user's unique lifestyle.
This is an exciting and new trend that will powerfully influence the next generation of social media.
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