The most important changes in apps
Social media apps won’t lose their cult status in the virtual world any time soon. The followers of the icons of modern advertising (such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube…) form an ever-growing and increasingly diverse community, which brings to mind outstanding advertising results. It might seem that in the boundless web of virtual connections there will always be room for another app, system or social space – with characteristics similar to its predecessors. Does the social media market really know no bounds? What are app makers doing to hold on to their users? And above all – how, as a result of all this, are the apps we know so well changing?
2 000 000 000 000 hours ripe for monetisation
The “State of Mobile 2023” report states that in 2022 all Android OS users together spent more than 2 trillion hours on social media! This staggering amount of time points to the globally growing popularity of apps and the constant need to modify their functionality – the question is where is all this heading?
Certainly towards ever greater app monetisation. The huge hopes of the makers of fledgling systems are no guarantee that huge profits will ever materialise – nevertheless, the earning potential lies dormant and may wake up at the least expected moment.
Improving from the start, with no end in sight
In the world of social media change is constant – sometimes it is simply less visible. Its clarity and pace depend not on the whims of app makers but on the behaviour of every social media user. The virtual community’s needs and expectations are growing at express speed, and when they go unmet they drive the urge to switch to a “newer model” of virtual medium.
The TikTokisation of society
TikTok’s spectacular success shows that the online community can still be surprised! This example motivates and inspires app makers, but it sometimes also frightens them and exposes them to an unbridled hunger for success in the social media market. Many try to imitate TikTok, borrowing heavily from its business model, its approach to interaction design and the format itself.
Besides the typically indirect – advertising – form of selling, TikTok has started testing solutions that allow shopping directly in the app, as well as so-called live shopping. It could be compared to 21st-century teleshopping. The live shopping model is expected to steadily gain popularity (given the presence of this sales trend in China).
TikTok-style reels have quite literally wrapped a large share of social media users around their little finger. The same video format, adopted on Instagram, has practically displaced the traditional videos previously posted in the app. Reels have also appeared on Facebook and on classic YouTube, encouraging users to step outside TikTok’s frame and pursue the trend on other social platforms. Content of this kind is rewarded with much greater reach and recognition.
Time for audio!
It’s time to strengthen the message by turning up the speakers! Activity on social media is increasingly accompanied by deliberate audio messages. Audio forms an inseparable part of the visual layer, and the pioneer in sound remains the Clubhouse app – which lets you visit thousands of virtual rooms that form (as the name suggests) clubs on all kinds of topics. Through it, members can talk to one another live (in the Live Audio Rooms format). The audio layer will gain in importance – in well-known apps, we can expect new ways of using sound, options for modifying it, and perhaps even for creating our own sound formats.
