The Next Generation of Social Networks
We won’t be using today’s Facebook and Twitter forever.
Remember ten years ago when we were still playing Neopets, MySpace, and Friendster? We thought those sites will last forever, but they didn’t.
Here we are in 2013, bombarded with social networks all across our digital spectrum: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, App.net, Path, LINE, and many more. Do they make our lives better? Definitely.
I’m not going to argue about which social network is the most annoying, or which ones does not honour my privacy. My point is now I can see photos that my parents post everyday, and communicate with my girlfriend who lives 6,000 kilometer away from me with whatever I want to use.
Ten years ago, it was almost impossible for me to imagine that my parents will be posting photos to social networks. They don’t even see the value of having a Friendster account. But the world has changed for the better.
So back to our original point: we won’t be using those services forever. They’ll change. Even Twitter and Facebook that we knew in 2007 has changed. Most people don’t like change, but most things changed for the better.
Here’s what I’d like to see in the next generation of social networks:
- Greater coverage. I want to be able to reach everyone in the world. Even those with limited internet and computing device. Social networks should be as easy as watching TV.
- More emotion in communication. I use LINE because iMessage or WhatsApp just don’t have the emotions that LINE sticker delivers to my girlfriend. Similarly, I use video instead of voice call because it delivers so much more emotion.
- Separation of responsibilities. I don’t want anyone who’s thinking of employing me to check things that are private to my life, in the same way that I don’t want my work related social network needing me to use my personal social network.
- Grouping of audience. It seems that this is about time some artificial intelligence knows the social circles that I am in. I have stopped myself from posting a few things because I don’t want my other circles to see it. Google+ is definitely a step toward this direction, but nobody wants to sort their 500 friends manually.
There you have it. I can’t wait to see what we’ll be using in 2023.
