All your social media eggs

by: Michael Ogden

Never….never, ever rely on one social media platform.

Are you all Facebook or all Twitter or even all Google+? There were times when you could get away with that, but those days are now numbered, if not gone completely. But, you say “our audience is so engaged with us on Facebook and we’ve put so much effort in growth there.”

That’s all great that you’ve dedicated time and effort into building your audience. But there’s trouble ahead. The first sign for you should have been when Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, WhatsApp for $19 billion and then WaveGroup Sound for an undisclosed amount last fall. My point? They are diversifying because soon they will not be the Facebook you’ve been using.

Facebook, like Google+ has already announced, will most likely break into pieces to appeal to music-lovers, texting addicts and photo hounds. Google+ is doing the same. Recently, Google+ announced they are splitting their Streams and Photos into stand alone products. Business 2 Community has a nice write-up about what that means for you: “What the Pending Demise of Google+ Means for PR and Marketing.”

Why would Facebook do something like this?

My best guess is the main reason falls into the demographics issues they are having on the platform. Teen user numbers continue to fall each quarter and that’s why they tried buying Snapchat for $3 billion (but Snapchat declined). Yet the Instagram purchase has worked out well for them. Those numbers look great. And texting? Holy crap, that’s the number one way younger generations communicate. And this is where WhatsApp comes in!

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